ComorosKomori

The four islands of the archipelago — Grande Comore (Ngazidja), Mohéli (Mwali), Anjouan (Ndzuani) and Mayotte (Maore) — are volcanic, youngest in the west. Grande Comore is dominated by Mount Karthala, one of the world's largest active volcanoes, whose summit caldera measures several kilometres across; its eruptions in 2005 and 2006 covered Moroni in ash.

Young lava means thin soil and few rivers on Grande Comore, while older Anjouan has deep valleys, streams and forests. Mohéli, the smallest, is quiet and green, with a marine park where green turtles nest and humpback whales pass in the southern winter.

In 1938 a coelacanth, a fish thought extinct for 66 million years, was identified off South Africa; the population that proved it still lived was found around the Comoros, where fishermen had long caught it at depth.

Bantu-speaking farmers and fishers settled the islands in the first millennium, joined by Austronesian sailors on the way to Madagascar. From around the 10th century, traders from the Swahili coast and the Persian Gulf brought Islam and built stone towns; later rulers traced their lines to Shirazi (Persian) founders.

By the 15th and 16th centuries each island was divided among rival sultans, who fought each other and raided Madagascar for slaves, while Malagasy raiders attacked the Comoros in turn. Stone palaces, mosques and walled towns such as Iconi and Mutsamudu date from this era.

Comorian, the shared language, is a Bantu language close to Swahili, with dialects on each island and many Arabic loanwords. Islamic scholarship, taught in Koranic schools from early childhood, has long been a source of prestige.

France bought Mayotte in 1841 and made the other three islands protectorates in the 1880s, attaching them to its Madagascar colony in 1912. Colonial companies planted vanilla, cloves and ylang-ylang for the perfume trade, much of it on land taken from islanders.

In a 1974 referendum the archipelago voted for independence, but Mayotte voted to remain French. The other three declared independence on 6 July 1975; Mayotte stayed French and became a department in 2011. Comoros still claims it, and the stark income gap drives dangerous migrant crossings from Anjouan to Mayotte in small boats.

Independent Comoros has seen around 20 coups or attempts, several led by the French mercenary Bob Denard. In 1997 Anjouan and Mohéli tried to secede; a 2001 constitution created a union with a presidency rotating among the islands. Azali Assoumani, who first took power in a 1999 coup, has been president again since 2016, and a 2018 referendum let him extend his rule; the January 2024 election that returned him was disputed and followed by deadly protests.

On Grande Comore, the anda, or grand mariage, is the most important event in a man's life. It can cost the savings of decades: gold, feasts for the whole town, and days of ceremonies. A man who has completed it joins the town's notables, wears special dress and gains a voice in community decisions.

Society is matrilineal in important ways: houses and land often pass through women, and a husband moves to his wife's family home. Towns are organised by age groups and by lineages, and each town has a public square (bangwe) where elders meet.

Hundreds of thousands of Comorians live in France, especially Marseille. Their remittances are a large share of the economy, and every July and August the diaspora flies home for weddings, filling flights and hotels.

Almost all Comorians are Sunni Muslims of the Shafi'i school, and Islam is the state religion. Sufi brotherhoods such as the Shadhiliyya are influential, and the call to prayer shapes the day. Friday midday prayers close shops and offices.

Women's clothing is colourful: the chiromani wrap on Anjouan and Mohéli and the leso cloth, with msindzano, a sandalwood-and-coral paste worn as a face mask for beauty and sun protection. Men wear the white kandu robe and embroidered kofia cap on Fridays and at ceremonies.

Ramadan transforms the rhythm of life: quiet days, busy evenings and shared meals after sunset. Visitors should eat and drink discreetly in daytime during that month.

The Comoros are sometimes called the perfume islands. Ylang-ylang, a tree whose yellow flowers are distilled for essential oil used by major perfume houses, grows mainly on Anjouan, where small family stills produce much of the world's supply.

Vanilla and cloves, introduced in the colonial period, are the other big exports. Prices swing with world markets, and farmers struggle with poor roads, fuel shortages for the stills and competition from Madagascar.

Food follows the Swahili coast: rice with fish curried in coconut, cassava leaves (mataba), plantain and breadfruit, and lobster with vanilla for special meals.