Africa A to Z: Continental and Country Profiles: Third Edition

Comoros

COUNTRY PROFILES A-Z 142 Africa A-Z: Continental and Country Profiles | Africa Institute of South Africa Orientation The Comoros archipelago consists of four main islands spread across the northern end of the Mozambique Channel between Africa and Madagascar. Three of the islands, Grand Comoro (Ngazidja), Anjouan (Nzwani) and Moheli (Mwali) constitute the Union of Comoros, an independent federal republic with a total area of 1 862 km2 and a combined population of about 600 000. The fourth island is Mayotte (Mahore) which is a French territory, 374 km2 in size and with some 150 000 people. The Comoran Union’s capital is Moroni, with about 20 000 people, situated on Grand Comoro (French Grande-Comore) which is the largest island in the group – about 70 km in length and 20–30 km wide. The capital of Mayotte is Dzaoudzi (pop about 10 000), which is located on a rocky islet opposite the town of Mamutzu (pop about 30 000). The distance from Moroni, in the far west, to Dzaoudzi, at the southeastern extremity of the archipelago, is about 300 km. From Moroni to Dar es Salaam, the nearest port on the African mainland, the distance is about 650 km. From Dzaoudzi-Mamutzu on Mayotte it is about 250 km to the nearest Madagascan port of Mahajanga. The main town on Anjouan Island is Mutsamudu (pop about 10 000) and on Moheli it is Fomboni (pop about 5 000). The islands are the summits of a submerged volcanic ridge. Mount Karthala, on Grand Comoro, is the highest point, rising to 2 040 m. It is still active and has the largest crater of all active volcanoes in the world. Grand Comoro has no rivers but lakes have formed in extinct craters; rainwater has to be stored in reservoirs. The climate on all the islands is tropical, hot and humid, with abundant rainfall in places and occasional summer cyclones. The islands are sometimes called the Perfume Islands because of the pervasive fragrance of their flowering plants. People The population is a mixture of Arab, African and Madagascan origin. Arabic and French are the official languages but most people speak dialects of the Swahili language and have cultural links with the Swahili-speaking peoples of East Africa. Islam is the dominant religion. Most Comorans live on either Grand Comoro or Anjouan. The islands are very densely populated with an estimated 400 people per hectare of arable land. More than 100 000 Comorans live abroad, mainly in France and Madagascar. Comoros COUNTRY PROFILES A-Z Africa Institute of South Africa | Africa A-Z: Continental and Country Profiles 143 Economy The islands’ meagre resources make it dif- ficult to sustain economic growth and their economic prospects remain bleak. Owing to the rugged terrain less than half the total area is suitable for agriculture. The principal cash crops are vanilla, cloves and ylangylang (a base crop for the manufacturing of perfume). Major food crops are cassava, sweet potatoes, rice, bananas, yams and coconut. Much of the land has degraded, resulting in exhausted soils and soil erosion, made worse by outdated farming practices and inadequate marketing facilities; about half of the islands’ food requirements have to be imported. While the potential for livestock farming is limited, the fishing industry offers greater potential than is currently being utilised. Manufacturing is generally confined to vanilla processing, the distillation of plant oils such as ylang- ylang and the production of household necessities. Tourism is still in its infancy, but has potential for growth with the improvement of infrastructure and political stability. Transport on and between the islands is poorly developed and so is telecommunications in general, but improvements are being planned. History From more than 1 000 years ago Arabs and Persians (Shirazi) and their slaves settled on uninhabited Anjouan Island. They expanded to the other uninhabited islands in the archipelago and traded with the settlements on the African east coast and with Madagascan communities. Slaves were brought from Africa and Madagascar and were resold elsewhere in the Muslim world. By the 16th century, when European merchant -mariners had arrived in the Indian Ocean, there were several prosperous rival sultanates on the Comoro Islands. Anjouan and Moheli, in particular, became important provisioning stations for ships plying the sea route around Africa to Asia. European pirates, plundering the merchant ships, based themselves at secluded harbours on the Madagascan coast, and at Mayotte Island as well. By the 19th century pirates from Madagascar regularly attacked the sultanates...