|
COMORO ISLANDS |
|
Les Comores |
Coelacanth -
Livingstone's Flying Fox - Shirazi - Volcano - Coral
Reefs - Islam - Western Indian Ocean - Ancient Maritime Trade - Ylang-ylang
The Comoros consist
of four islands and several islets in the western Indian Ocean. They are
located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and
Africa with each of the islands: Ngazidja (Grande Comore),
Mwali (Moheli),
Nzwani (Anjouan),
and Mayotte having distinct characteristics due to their different ages.
Mayotte, the oldest of the islands, is an ancient volcanic island with highly
eroded mountains and slow, meandering streams. Grande Comore,
the youngest of the islands has a massive, active volcano and recent lava
flows. The other two islands are mountainous but have had no recent volcanic
activity. The Islands occupy a strategic position in the western Indian Ocean
and have played an important role in the history of the area. They have been
involved in the ancient maritime trade of the Indian Ocean for many centuries
and this is reflected in the makeup of the population. It is primarily a
mixture of peoples from Africa, Arabia, Asia, and Madagascar.
Ancient documents tell of large, seaworthy sailing vessels and a
widespread maritime trading network in the Indian Ocean. The tales of
Sinbad the Sailor are an entertaining and fanciful view of sailing in the
Indian Ocean but they are based on factual information about the centuries old
maritime trade. Sailors traveled between ports in the Comoros, the East African
Coast, Arabia, and India trading in a wide variety of goods including gems,
rare animals, slaves, exotic woods, and spices. Comorians were intensely
involved in this trade. The town of Domoni on the
eastern shore of the island of Anjouan was
specifically mentioned as a major trading center in the fifteenth century by Ibn Madjid, the famous navigator
who purportedly guided the famous Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, from East
Africa to India. Ibn Madjid
visited the Comoros on his travels throughout the littoral of
the Indian Ocean and noted
that Domoni was a port for African, Indian, and
Persian sailing vessels. Archaeological
evidence, furthermore, indicates that the town, founded before the 12th
century, became involved in a vast network of trade that stretched as far away
as Japan.
Traditional sailing vessels of the Indian Ocean, much like the 60 foot merchantman pictured
at right, carried tons of cargo and were notably fast sailing ships. They were
especially remarkable in that nothing on a ship was made of metal. No metal nails, for
example, were used to construct the vessels. Their hulls were made of wooden
planks sewn together with rope made from coconut fiber. They were very
seaworthy, long lasting vessels well suited to the conditions of the Indian
Ocean maritime trade. They were flexible, shallow draft craft able to stand the
pounding of surf without breaking apart when they approached a landing spot.
Traditionally, few ports in the Indian Ocean had deep water facilities and
ships would be beached or anchored close to shore.
During the sixteenth
through the nineteenth centuries, large numbers of European and American ships
visited the islands. American whalers and pirates, including the infamous
Captain Kidd, would anchor in Comorian waters to restock water and food. The
island of Nzwani, in particular, was a favorite stopover for reprovisioning. Occasionally, ships would take aboard
islanders as crew or American sailors that had been sick or had been put ashore
for other reasons and left there. It was also a place where ships entering the
Indian Ocean could trade mail with those preparing to return to the U.S. With
the demise of the whaling industry, the introduction of steamships, and the
opening of the Suez Canal, the Comoros ceased to be an important port of call
in the Indian Ocean. The British navy had a coal refueling station on Anjouan in the last half of the 19th century and
in the 20th century French colonial administrators, plantation
owners, and mercernaries were involved in the
Islands. But, outside of brief references in The Book of Mormon, they have become
the "Forgotten Islands" of the western world.
The mountainous
islands have diverse microecologies with spectacular
scenery, exotic plants and rare animals. Several species of animals are unique
to the Comoros. One, Livingstone's
flying fox, is a fruit bat that soars on wings spanning more than four
feet. It roosts in steep-sided valleys high in the mountainous forests of
Nzwani and Mwali. With pressure being put upon the
forests from increasing human populations on these islands, the bat's habitat
is redically changing through deforestation and the
species has become seriously endangered.
Several different
kinds of insects and over a dozen bird
species are also unique to the islands. Many are now are facing extinction.
In the waters around the islands, lives the coelacanth, a species
of fish with
an amazing history. It was once thought by western scientists to have been
extinct for 60 million years. But it was discovered in 1938 that they still
exist and in the 1950s an ichthyologist learned that local fishermen catch
coelacanths in deep water close to the Comoro Islands. Several specimens have
since been caught, preserved, and sent to museums around the world. Today,
Comorian fisherment still catch coelacanths. To learn
more about this remarkable story visit the National Geographic web site.There
are also videos of the fish on YouTube.
There is an
abundance of life in the Indian Ocean surrounding the Comoros. One can find
everything from giant whales, large sharks, big manta rays, sailfish, sunfish,
to lobsters, crabs and tiny shrimp. Deep water close to the islands, coral
reefs, miles of sandy beaches, plus fresh water streams and shoreline springs
provide multiple habitats for marine life. In recent years, there has been an
increase in pollution from human activity, unfortunately, that now seriously
threatens the coastal life of the islands. The coral reefs and their associated
sea life, in particular, are being affected.
THE UNION OF THE COMOROS
The islands became
a French colony following the Berlin conference of 1884-5 in which European
powers divided up Africa. They remained under direct French political control
until 1975. In that year, the local government declared itself independent from
France and formed the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoro Islands. Three of
the islands: Ngazidja (Grande Comore),
Mwali (Moheli), and Nzwani (Anjouan),
became members of the Republic but the fourth major island of the archipelago, Maore (Mayotte), continued to be administered by France.
Although it's control by France has been continuously
challenged by the Comorian government and the claim that Mayotte belongs within
the sphere of the independent nation of the Comoros has been recognized by the
United Nations General Assembly, it became a Department of France and an
integral part of the French Republic in March, 2011.
In 1997,
separatists on the islands of Nzwani (Anjouan) and Mwali (Moheli) demanded more independence from the
Republic. This led to the breakup of the Federal Islamic Republic and a
reformation of the central government under a new constitution in 2001 as the
Union of the Comoro Islands. The new constitution gave each of the three
islands considerable autonomy. Besides an elected president of the Union, each
island would have an elected president. In 2007, the president of Nzwani, who
favored complete independence from the Union, refused to relinquish his
position and agree to the results of a proper general election on the island.
Consequently, in March of 2008, he was removed by a combined military force of
soldiers from the Comorian Union and the African Union. This led to a
constitutionally elected president of Nzwani and a return to a normalized
relationship with the central government.
Under the Union's
2001 constitution, presidential elections were scheduled to be held every four
years with the office rotating between the three islands. In 2006, Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi from the
island of Nzwani (Anjouan) was elected President. He
replaced Azali Assoumani
from Ngazidja (Grande Comore).
The current President, Ikililou Dhoinine,
is from the island of Mwali (Moheli).
On 17 May, 2009, a
constitutional referendum was passed by a large majority of those voting
extending President Sambi's term in office until
2011. Other results of the 2009 referendum were that the President will have
the power to dissolve Parliament, the President can make Islam the state
religion and the office of president on each of the three islands will be
changed to governor. Elections in December, 2009 resulted in a large number of
supporters of the President's reforms being voted into office. The extension of
the President's term in office was, designed to reduce the costs of the
election process by aligning federal and local elections, was ratified by the
Comorian legislature on 1 March, 2010.
On 8 May, 2010,
Comoros' highest court annulled the law extending the mandate of the president
and said the term in office would end before the end of the month and not in
November 2011. The constitutional court also recommended an interim period in
which the date of the next election would be established. After considerable
discussion it was decided in June that President Sambi
will serve as interim president. In November, 2010, elections were held to
determine the three candidates from Mwali who will
run for the presidency and to determine the governors of the islands. The
national election to determine the new President took place in December, 2010. Ikililou Dhoinine was elected and
sworn in on May 26, 2011.
- Go
to the site of the Permanent
Mission of the Union of the Comoros to the United Nations.
Further
information about the Comoro Islands can be found below under the following
categories. A young Comorian woman from the island of Nzwani (Anjouan) says, "Wangalie!"
("Take a look!")
For those interested in doing research about the islands an
extensive bibliography
is available.
For details about each of the islands of the archipelago select
from:
Other world wide web sites with information about the Comoro
Islands you may want to visit are:
The World Tourism Directory provides addresses and telephone numbers
of a range of useful resources.
Official
Site of the President
of the Union of the Comoros. (In French)
Al-watwan, daily news about the Comoros. (In French and Arabic)
Radio and Television from the Comoros. (In French, Arabic, and Comorian)
The Marine Science Country Profile of the Comoros provides
an overview plus details of the marine environment.
World
Bank Country Profile.
BBC
News Country Profile.
Comoro Islands Resources Page of
Stanford University Libraries.
University
of Pennsylvania's African
Studies Program.
Library of
Congress Country Studies.
United
States Department of State Background
Notes.
United
States Central Intelligence Agency World
Factbook.
IMF (International Monetary Fund) publications on the Comoros.
Interested in
examples of Comorian money? Go to Coins of the
Comoros.
Interested in recent
military actions in the Comoros? Visit the site of the South African Air Combat Information Group.
For more general
background information you may want to visit the following sites:
There have been virtual visits
to the Comoro
Islands.
Any questions, suggestions, or comments contact
Martin Ottenheimer
or Harriet Ottenheimer
Traditional doll
from Nzwani.
Copyright
(C) by Martin and Harriet Ottenheimer. (Last
update 1 May 2012)