Comoros history

The history of Comoros goes back to when they were populated from the second half of the first millennium, the different islands of the Comoros archipelago had a very related history, although not totally common. It was France, which made them part of its colonial empire, which united them administratively. The history of the islands separated again in 1975, after in a referendum the island of Mayotte chose to remain under French rule and the rest of the islands were integrated into the Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros.

Given the breach of the French commitment to respect the territorial integrity of the Comoros, the Eighth Conference of Non-Aligned Countries, which took place in Harare (Zimbabwe), stipulated:

"The Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Countries reaffirmed that the Comorian island of Mayotte, which is still under French occupation, was an integral part of the sovereign territory of the Islamic Republic of Comoros. They regretted that the Government of France, despite its repeated promises, had so far not taken any measure or initiative that could result in an acceptable solution to the problem of the Comorian island of Mayotte".

In October 1991, the United Nations General Assembly reaffirmed Comoros' sovereignty over Mayotte Island by a large majority.

The original settlement

The first traces of population date from the VI century and they are probably Bantu, coming from the African coast. These first inhabitants created a properly African political and social organization on the island. Between the 7th and 12th centuries it is believed that a wave of Austronesian peoples, who contributed to the settlement of the island of Madagascar, passed through the island, but did not settle. Initially, the towns were governed by the heads of the most important families. These bore the title of mafé, mfaume or mafani in Anjouan and Mohéli (Mfalume in Kiunguja).

Islamization

Islam made its appearance on the islands in the 11th century, as witnessed by the Muslim rite burials discovered in Mayotte in the Bagamoyo funerary necropolis. It came mainly from the hand of passing merchants who came from the Middle East, from the city of Shiraz, who constituted the first Muslim communities in the archipelago. These Shirazi dynasties, originating from the Swahili coast, actually founded the first sultanates, uniting under their authority the local communities, then commanded by mafés (Anjouan, Mohéli and Mayotte) and a bedja (Grand Comore). It was with his contact that the Comorian elites progressively became Islamized. It is believed that already in the 12th century the entire Comorian aristocracy was fully Islamized.

The oldest mosque in the archipelago is located in Anjouan, on the site of the ancient Sima and would date from the 12th century. The Islam practiced on this date was highly influenced by Shiism and its echo is particularly observed in the presence of tombs in the axis of the mihrab of numerous ancient mosques (cult of the holy founder). Chaffite Sunni Islam did not become established in the southwestern Indian Ocean until after the 14th century. Sima became the capital of the Shirazi Sultanate of Anjouan. It was at this time that the shirazi mosque was built, its ruins are still visible today. Domoni was the site of another Shirazi mosque in the late 15th century. An inscription present in Moroni's Vendredi Mosque dates its construction to 1427, while in Mbeni, an inscription dates the Vendredi Mosque to 1470.

The installation of Shafiism

In 1506 a Shirazi fleet, commanded by Mohamed ben Haissa, boarded the archipelago and upended the economic and social order. This was the beginning of the Shirazi age in the Comoros, who introduced carpentry and architecture. Since then, manuscripts in characters of the Arabic alphabet and written mainly in Arabic, Comorian or Swahili, have made it possible to reconstruct the genealogies of clans and sultanates. Through subjugation and the game of alliances, they thus contributed to the establishment of new matrimonial lineages, especially in Grand Comore and on the island of Anjouan. The installation of the Shirazi sultanates contributed to the adoption and then to the generalization of the Shafi'i doctrine in the Comoros as witnessed by the description of the archipelago by the Turkish admiral Piri Reis in 1521.

The Shirazi Mosque of Tsingoni, long believed to be the oldest, actually dates from 1538, as shown by the inscription preserved on its mihrab.

Meanwhile, the elitist character of Islam in the Comoros and the existence of an overwhelming majority of slaves among the population resulted in the weak diffusion of Islam in Comorian society until well into the 19th century. This is why mosques, notably Shirazi royal mosques, are made to accommodate a small number of worshippers. The abolition of slavery and the success of the brotherhoods from the end of the XIX century explain the extensive conversion of its inhabitants to Islam on this date.

During this time, power was in the hands of numerous sultans. Finally Anjouan, the most Arab of the islands, ends up taking control, little or a lot, of Mohéli.

The Social System

The systems born from this union superimpose African customs and Muslim Arabs but are not in a position to supply the holder of the power of means to control large surfaces. Thus, several sultanies cohabit in Grand Comore led by different sultans who decide to grant honorific importance to one of them, Sultan Tibé. In Anjouan, three royal lineages established in the three main cities (Mutsamudu, Ouani and Domoni) share power.

Such a system must take into account the opinions of a Grand Council (Mandjelissa) that brings together the main great notables. The sultan is also seconded by viziers, who are delegates of power in certain regions. We also find other employees at the local level: naïbs (assimilable to canton chiefs), police chiefs, tax collectors, village chiefs (appointed by the sultan) and religious chiefs. Written documents and manuscripts in Arabic, Swahili or Comoros date from this time, all presented in Arabic alphabet.

The Malagasy invasions

Starting in the 16th century, the Malagasy Skalavas began landing on the islands and stealing slaves. The Comorians, at that time, were already themselves slaveholders, traffickers in the Arab and European world. The Malagasy ended up settling on the islands and more especially on Mayotte. For this reason, Malagasy is still spoken in Mayotte.

During this period, in the course of the systematic exploration of this entire region, the Portuguese approached the islands of the Moon (K'm'r in Arabic means moon) in 1505. In 1529 the French, through the intermediary of a brother of Parmentier, they visited the archipelago as well as the north coast of Madagascar. The islands constituted for many centuries, both for European navigators and for pirates, a stopover on the coast of Africa. The relations between these Europeans and the local sovereigns were based above all on the recruitment of forces. A tradition reports that a chief of Greater Comore had to escape once fleeing from the tyranny of the Portuguese and take refuge with a party of his own in Mayotte. Anjouan was subservient to a single power during this century.

In the 18th century the archipelago became a supply point for European, Dutch and French ships traveling the Silk Road, Anjouan became equally popular for pirates and corsairs berthing passing Western ships around the Cape of Good Hope. The Combat of Anjouan was a consequence of these events.

From an unknown date Moheli was subordinated to the Sultanate of Anjouan until 1830. In 1830 immigrants from Madagascar led by Ramanetaka, who would later take the name Abderemane, invaded the island and established the Sultanate of Mohéli.

Colonization

Sultan Said Ali ben Said Omar (sister of Sultan Saidi Abdallah bin Salim) with other Ngazidja leaders.

The Sultan of Anjouan Abdallah I surrendered in 1816 on Bourbon Island to ask for the protection of Louis XVIII of France. Internal divisions and the Malagasy threat allowed the colonial powers, which were vying for possession of this strategic area at the center of Eastern trade, to intervene in the political affairs of local sovereigns. On April 25, 1841, as a result of the signing of a treaty, Mayotte became a French protectorate and Sultan Adrian Tsouli, who had conquered the island for 9 years, received, in exchange for the loss of royal power, a sum silver in compensation and payment of school fees for their children on the island of Réunion. France obtained with this agreement, which constituted in fact a forced sale although presented as a commercial agreement, a strategically important port. King Louis Philippe I confirmed this acquisition in 1843. Slavery was abolished in 1846.

In 1866 France established a protectorate over Anjouan and used its navy to prevail over Sultan Saidi Abdallah bin Salim. On June 24, 1886, the Sultan of Grand Comore finally gave allegiance to France. He was then exiled never to return, his dreams of ruling a sultanate made up of all the islands were thus shattered. Mohéli was also placed under a protectorate this same year. They still had some autonomy given the fight between the colonial powers, the islands were strongly submissive and the local sultans could not do anything about this. From 1892 power over the local islands passed from the subordinate residents to the governors of Mayotte, who gradually seized power.

As labor in Réunion became increasingly expensive, the Comoros, forgotten by the central administration, offered settlers and colonial societies (such as Bambao) prospects and cheaper labor on plantations perfume plants and vanilla. During this period the settlers totally expropriated the lands of the Comorian peasants and employed them in the colonial plantations.

French became the official language, displacing Arabic in education. The use of Swahili was imposed in turn in the middle of the trade.

In 1904 the legal unification of the islands became official. It was followed, on April 9, 1908, by a second decree uniting Mayotte and its dependencies with the colony of Madagascar.

The annexation of Madagascar

After many abuses, colonization went ahead, the islands were annexed by law to the colony of Madagascar.

Little by little, the lands were returned to the Comorians. A major revolt took place in 1915 in Grand Comore. France sent Malagasy troops, followed by a detachment of Senegalese marksmen, and at the same time asked his administration to seek the support of local notables to restore peace. Little by little, the movement fizzled out, and the government sent some agitators into exile. In 1940, a strike broke out in Anjouan at a time when the administration was in dire need of a labor force for the colonial economy. Acts of violence followed the suspension of the strike, the notables ended up appealing for calm. From 1940 to 1942 the colonial administration was exercised by the Vichy regime. On September 25, 1942 Madagascar and the Comoro Islands were occupied by British forces in cooperation with the Free French. On May 9, 1946 they acquired administrative autonomy; On December 11, 1958, the new French Constitution was approved, they opted to become an overseas territory, and from December 22, 1961 to December 22, 1974 they enjoyed full internal autonomy.

Independence

On that date in 1974, a popular referendum called for total independence, a decision officially adopted by the country's Chamber of Deputies on July 6, 1975, calling Ahmed Abdallah president. But it was overthrown on August 4, in a pro-French coup. Two days later, the National Revolutionary Council was created, which provisionally assumed powers, which were later transferred to the National Executive Council, chaired by Prince Said Muhammad Jafar. On January 2, 1976, the defense minister, Ali Soilih, considered to be of the left, assumed the presidency, in which he remained until May 1978, when he was replaced by a military directorate. On October 1, a new federal Constitution was approved and on the 22nd of the same month, the former Ahmed Abdallah was re-elected president with broad powers. In 1979 the Federal Assembly established a one-party regime and in 1982 President Abdallah dissolved the Council of Ministers and the Assembly. On November 30, 1984, Ahmed Abdallah was re-elected president for another six-year term. On March 3, 1985, forces loyal to the president were able to suppress an attempted coup.

The legislative elections of March 1987 once again demonstrated the absence of democratic freedoms in the archipelago. The only legal party, Union for the Progress of the Comoros (UPC), won all 42 seats in the Federal Assembly of the Comoros. However, the political power of President Ahmad Abdallah depended more and more on his personal guard, led by the French-born mercenary Bob Denard, who had been playing a fundamental role in state affairs since the moment of the independence of the Comoros Islands, in 1975. In fact, the archipelago had become a protectorate of the Republic of South Africa, a country that financed the permanence of the presidential guard in exchange for the use of its infrastructures (port and airport), both in favor of the South African airlines and to provide military aid to the Mozambican guerrilla RENAMO.

Although France had less and less influence in the Comoros, due to the protection granted to the island of Mayotte (declared a territorial collectivity under French sovereignty), it continued to be the archipelago's main source of foreign aid. Although the economy of the Comoros was seriously affected by the drop in its main exports (vanilla, cocoa and other tropical species) at an unfavorable situation in international trade in tropical agricultural products. In November 1989, President Abdallah was assassinated by his presidential guard in a confused military coup attributed to the mercenary Bob Denard, shortly after the referendum, held on the 4th of that same month, thanks to which a constitutional amendment had been approved that would have allowed a new term of six years, after the end of the previous two in 1990. With this ended, tragically, the long period in the presidency of the pro-independence leader Ahmed Abdallah.

Said Mohamed Djohar, president of the Supreme Court, took over the interim leadership of the state, while the presidential guard led by Bob Denard actually controlled the islands. But nevertheless, both South Africa, Bob Denard's main supporter, and France denounced their seizure of power and, after complex negotiations, they managed to get Denard to agree to retire to South Africa along with his followers. At the same time, a detachment of French paratroopers, coming from the island of Mayotte, ensured public order in Moroni, taking over from several French warships that had remained in front of the port of the capital to put pressure on the new mercenary regime. The new interim president announced an amnesty for all political prisoners and agreed with the opposition to hold presidential elections in January 1990, which would be followed by multiparty legislative elections to democratize the Federal Assembly.

The first democratic elections for the presidency of the Republic took place on March 4 of this year, after being delayed twice, but none of the eight candidates reached a majority, so a second round was held on March 11 March, with two candidates: the interim president Said Mohamed Djohar (as leader of a broad coalition that included some of the candidates discarded in the first round) and Mohamed Taki Abdulkarim, former speaker of the National Assembly, who had returned from exile to head the National Union for Democracy of the Comoros (UNCD). The results of the elections gave Djohar the winner, with 55% of the votes, who appointed a coalition government with the incorporation of some of the candidates who had supported his election, such as Prince Said Ali Kemal (leader of the Unity Party and Fraternidad de las Islas Chuma), which in fact became the second political figure in the country.

21st century

Invasion of Anjouan in 2008

Azali Assoumani government

Azali Assoumani is a former army officer who first came to power in a coup in 1999. He then won the presidency in the 2002 elections and held power until 2006. After ten years, he was reelected in the 2016 elections. In March 2019, he was re-elected in elections that the opposition claimed were fraught with irregularities.

Ahead of the 2019 presidential election, President Azali Assoumani had called a 2018 constitutional referendum that approved extending the presidential term from five years to two. The opposition had boycotted the referendum.

In January 2020, his party, the Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros (CRC), won 17 out of 24 parliamentary seats in parliamentary elections, meaning President Azali had a very tight grip on power.