The archipelago of Comoros used to be a trading centre during 15th century, later European and American ships stopped there. After opening of the Suez Canal awareness of the islands lowered and now the islands are called the “Forgotten islands”.
The Comoros are a group of islands situated in the Indian ocean on the halfway from northern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique. The archipelago consists of three main islands with French names: Grande Comore, Moheli and Anjouan and Mayotte, but this island is a French Overseas collectivity. The surface is predominantly mountainous. Lots of rare animals and plant species lives on the islands and in sea waters around. The islands have tropical climate – hot and rainy from December to March and dry and pleasant from May to October. This possible holiday place is now stabiliziting its political situation.

Politics and Economy

Officially the Union of the Comoros has Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi as a president. The office rotates between the three semi-autonomous islands. The state is said to be a microstate with the area of about 2 200 km². Comorian franc is the state currency. Fishing, hunting and forestry are important for its economy as well as the production of vanilla, cloves, copra and ylang-ylang, which is a parfume essence. The Comoros still belonges to the poorest countries in the world. The goverment is now trying to improve the level of education, technical training and health services.

People and Language

The Comoros with the population of about 800 000 people is one of the least inhabited countries in the world. The Comorians are mostly of African-Arab origin. Malagasy and Indian minorities and small groups of Chinese people live there too. Arabic and French are the official languages, but commonly spoken is Comorian dialect of Swahili.

History

The first inhabitants were Polynesians and Melanesians. Then Malays and Indonesians came. They were followed by people from coastal Africa, the Persian Gulf and Madagascar. During Bantu expansion on the African continent the Swahili people got to the islands. By the 19th century Sunni Arabs from Shiraz, Iran established colonies in the Comoros and Islam gained in popularity. In the 16th and 17th cent. diverse sultanates ruled in the Comoros. In 1841 France colonizated the islands and in 1912 the Comoros were officially made a French colony. On July 6, 1975 the Comoros became independent. Only Mayotte stayed under French control. There have been around 20 coups or coup attempts since getting independence. The presindential elections in 2006 were the first peaceful and democratic ones.

Conclusion

Comoros is a mixture of cultures, which were influencing the life on islands for centuries. Now it is slowly becoming the place, where tourists go for holiday. Volcanic terrain and mountain streams attract adventurous people. In any case, Comoro islands are worth to get to know!