Comoros: history, politics, population and geography

Created: 12/21/2021, 3:50 PM

The old port of Moroni, Grand Comore, Comoros © Michael Runkel / robertharding / IMAGO

The Comoros archipelago can look back on an eventful history.

Today's Sunni-Islamic, federally governed state was successively headed for by Australonesian, Persian-Arab and French seafarers who shaped the tropical archipelago.

Moroni - its favorable location on the trade routes in the Indian Ocean made the Comoros an important stop for seafaring for centuries.

The tropical archipelago, now an independent state, is one of the smallest and most densely populated countries in the world.

Comoros: The History of the "Islands of the Moon"

The small state in the Indian Ocean can look back on an interesting history - the first settlers reached the Comoros from the so-called Australonesian area, i.e. today's Central Pacific and Southeast Asia. But the Comoros were also headed for by enterprising Bantu from the African east coast - after all, the archipelago is on the way to Madagascar and can also be approached by coastal shipping.

In the 16th century, the islands, which had been dominated by Africa until then, came under Portuguese rule for a few years.

The Portuguese were replaced by the arrival of Persian-Arab settlers, who arrived in the Comoros in 1506 in a larger fleet.

Although the islands had already made acquaintance with Islam before the arrival of the so-called Shirazi, the Comoros took on an increasingly Islamic character.

The Comoros in the tug of war between Malagasy and French

From the 18th century on, the two southern islands of Mohéli and Mayotte targeted the inhabitants of Madagascar, who at times claimed and settled the small islands, so that a Malagasy language has survived there to this day.

By the beginning of the 19th century, various smaller sultanates had established themselves on the islands, around a dozen tiny principalities on Grande Comore and a sultan on Anjouan and Mohéli.

From 1841 the French increased their presence in the Comoros, first with a protectorate on Mayotte, then in 1866 on Anjouan and finally in 1886 on Grand Comore.

From 1912 the islands were officially considered a French colony.

Comoros: geography and demography of the state

The Comoros archipelago owes its name to the Arabic name Juzūr el Qamar.

The small state consists of three larger islands that lie northwest of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, between the northern tip of Madagascar and the coast of Mozambique.

The islands are named in French or Comorian:

The French overseas territory of Mayotte, located southeast of the archipelago, which the Comoros do claim, does not belong to the Comoros.

The "islands of the moon" owe their origin to the more or less active volcanoes that shape the geography of all islands.

Especially the 2,316 meter high Karthala on Grande Comore near the capital Moroni is classified as dangerous.

Despite the frequent eruptions that occur every five to ten years, the volcano can be climbed.

The climate of the islands close to the equator is tropical, there are no or hardly any seasons and seasonal differences in the length of the day.

The volcanic soil is fertile.

About 70 percent of the area of ​​the islands is devoted to agriculture, mainly spices, but also coconut palms are grown.

Young population, high unemployment

The population of the Comoros was shaped by the changing settlement - Australonesian seamen, Bantu from East Africa, Arab and Persian settlers shaped the language, culture and traditions of the Comoros. The Comoros belonged to the Swahili region, which includes the east coast of today's Mozambique and Tanzania with the island of Zanzibar, and can be seen as a melting pot of cultures. The national language, Comorian, is closely related to Swahili, and French and Arabic are spoken.

A total of around 650,000 people live on the three islands; World Bank estimates for 2020 assume a population of more than 800,000.

The high birth rate is decisive for the demography, the very young population has a life expectancy of little more than 60 years.

The infrastructures are poorly developed, so that only around half of the children have access to schooling.

The majority of the residents follow Sunni (conventional) Islam, which is taught in Koran schools.

Unemployment, which remained stable at around 4.5 percent until 2010, has doubled since 2011.

Migration efforts mostly go towards the French territory of Mayotte.

Comoros: poorly viable economy and high debt

The areas of the Comoros are mainly used for agriculture and forestry, there is no industry.

Tourism is also poorly developed.

In an international comparison, the gross domestic product demonstrates the weakness of the state's economy: while the global gross domestic product in 2020 was just over 9,500 euros per person, it was only 1,228 euros per inhabitant in the Comoros, a total of just 1.07 billion euros.

In the ranking of the national economies, the Comoros are far behind the last positions, they are considered to be poorly developed and, moreover, highly indebted.

The economy of the state is negatively affected not only by a lack of effectiveness, but also by a high level of corruption, especially in the public sector.

The archipelago is a member of various trade agreements and organizations:

• African Union

• Arab League

• Movement of the Non-Aligned States

• g7 + states

• OIC (Organization for Islamic Cooperation)

• UNESCO

• United Nations

• COMESA (Common Market East and South Africa)

• COMESSA (Community of the Sahel-Sahara States)

Comoros: Fragile state with unstable politics

The Comoros archipelago gradually became independent from 1961. The Comoros have been independent since July 6, 1975 following a referendum, with the exception of Mayotte, which by majority voted to maintain French overseas territory status. The politics of the state since gaining independence can be described as extremely unstable and is characterized by numerous coups and coup attempts, especially up to the turn of the millennium. In 1968, the "Islands of the Moon" adopted a constitution that gave the individual islands a relatively large number of powers of their own, so that secession efforts were repeatedly made on Anjouan and Mohéli.

With the presidency of Azali Assoumani on Grande Comore from 1999 and until 2006, the islands were united after a reform of the constitution in federal form as a union or "Federal Republic" of the Comoros, with each of the islands having its own "vice" president and office of the head of state is filled by rotation.

Another coup on Anjouan and an attempt by the local president to claim central government power was ended in 2008 by intervention by the African Union.

Increasing restrictions on federalism

The federal organization of the Comoros was significantly modified in 2009 by a new constitutional referendum. Since then, the government in Grande Comore has had further powers and claims, and the islands have been an Islamic state based on Sharia since then. Another referendum was held in 2018, under the government of Azali Assoumani. The official, who was in power between 1999 and 2006, was re-elected in 2016 and further restricted federalism on the islands.

On the one hand, experts judge the measure as a sensible reduction of the complex and, for the small number of inhabitants, overly inflated electoral and administrative system.

On the other hand, it is also seen as a clever strategy for cementing one's own position of power and restricting the traditionally strong opposition, especially in Anjouan.

In addition, Assoumani abolished the separation of state and religion and endeavored to bring the Comoros closer to (Sunni) Saudi Arabia, from which the islands are also financially supported.

Another election in 2019 was largely calm and confirmed Assoumani despite a strong oppositional candidate in office.

The expansion in the sectors of infrastructure, education, energy and health care is considered to be a particular challenge for politics in the Comoros.