THE ISLANDS OF THE COMOROS LIE AT THE NORTHERN ENTRANCE TO THE MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL IN THE INDIAN OCEAN. They include Grande Comore (also known as Njazidja), Mohéli (Mwali), and Anjouan (Nzwani).
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CLIMATE |
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The Comoros have a tropical climate. From April to October the climate is pleasant, cooled by southeasterly winds. In November the weather turns hot and humid, and northwesterly monsoon winds bring rain.
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The Islands of the Moon
The coast of eastern Africa is fringed with islands, from Kenya’s Lamu archipelago in the north, through Zanzibar, and down to the Comoros (KAH-muh-roez) and Madagascar. In ancient times the Comoros were sometimes called the Islands of the Moon. Today, three of the Comoros make up an independent state.
The great volcanic peak of Karthala on Grande Comore has been a useful landmark to seafarers crossing the Indian Ocean since ancient times. The first people to settle the islands, probably about fifteen hundred years ago, were Malays and Polynesians who sailed from Southeast Asia. They were followed at some point by peoples from the African mainland (the ancestors of the modern Swahili) and from Madagascar. Little is known of the history of this early period because it was never written down.
Between the 900s and 1400s C.E., traders from Arabia, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf sailed down the coast of eastern Africa. They included Muslims called Shirazis (shi-RAH-zees), who were fleeing their homeland over a religious dispute. The Shirazis took over the Comoros and ruled each island as a separate and competing sultanate (Islamic kingdom). The sultans traded in spices and African slaves and used the islands’ existing population as a labor force.
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FACTS AND FIGURES |
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Official name: Union des Comores Status: Independent state Capital: Moroni Other towns: Mutsamudu, Fomboni, Mitsamiouli Area: 718 square miles (1,860 square kilometers) Population: 691,000 Population density: 962 per square mile (372 per square kilometer) Peoples: Mixed Malagasy, African, Arab, Malay descent, French Official languages: Arabic, French Currency: Comorian franc National day: Independence Day (July 6) Country’s name: Comoros comes from Djazaïr al Qamar, which means "Islands of the Moon" in the Arabic language.
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The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the Indian Ocean by sailing around Africa, and by 1527 the Comoros were appearing on European maps. The French negotiated a treaty in 1841 that gave them control of Mayotte (or Mahoré), the southernmost of the Comoros (see MAYOTTE). Forty-five years later, the French took advantage of the competition between the rival sultans to acquire all the islands. From 1912 onward the Comoros were governed as part of Madagascar, which was also ruled by France at that time. In 1947 the Comoros became an overseas territory of France independently of Madagascar.
