History of the Comoros facts for kids
The history of the Comoros islands began around 800–1000 AD when people first settled there. Over time, different groups and leaders called sultans ruled the islands. France took control in the 1800s, and the Comoros became an independent country in 1975.
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Early Settlers
We don't know for sure who the very first people on the Comoros were. Some studies suggest that sailors from Southeast Asia might have arrived first. This is similar to how Madagascar was settled.
These Austronesian sailors, who had also settled nearby Madagascar, arrived between the 8th and 13th centuries. They brought the first signs of farming to the islands. Crops found at old sites in Sima include rice from Southeast Asia. They also brought other Asian crops like mung beans and cotton. Only a few crops were from Africa, such as finger millet and sorghum.
The Comoros are thought to be the first place where African and Asian people met and mixed. Today, Comorians still have some Austronesian family roots.
Around the 1400s, traders from Shiraz set up trading ports. They brought enslaved people from mainland Africa. In the 1500s, changes on the East African coast, possibly due to the arrival of the Portuguese, led to Arabs from Hadramaut arriving. They formed alliances with the Shirazi people and started several royal families.
Over many centuries, different groups settled the Comoros. They came from the coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia, and Madagascar.
European Visitors
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Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to visit the islands in 1505.
For most of the 1500s, only Portuguese ships visited the islands. British and Dutch ships started arriving around the early 1600s. The island of Ndzwani (also known as Anjouan) soon became an important stop for ships traveling to the East Indies. Ndzwani was usually ruled by one sultan. This sultan sometimes tried to control Mayotte and Mwali. Ngazidja (Grande Comore) was more divided. It was sometimes split into as many as 12 small kingdoms.
In 1591, Sir James Lancaster made the first English attempt to join the spice trade. This trade was mostly controlled by the Portuguese. Only one of his four ships returned from the Indies. It had only five men and a boy left alive. Lancaster himself was stranded on the Comoros by a storm. Many of his crew were killed by angry islanders. Lancaster eventually found his way home in 1594.
Both Britain and France became interested in the Comoros islands in the mid-1800s. France eventually took control of the islands. They used clever methods, including dividing the local leaders and using money to gain influence. There was even a story of a French trader and a sultana that helped France keep control. France put down any unrest or uprisings.
William Sunley, a British planter and Consul from 1848 to 1866, had a lot of influence on Anjouan.
French Comoros
France had been present in the western Indian Ocean since the early 1600s. They set up a settlement in southern Madagascar in 1634. They also took over the islands of Réunion and Rodrigues. In 1715, France claimed Mauritius. In 1756, they claimed Seychelles.
When France gave Mauritius, Rodrigues, and Seychelles to Britain in 1814, they lost their ports in the Indian Ocean. Reunion, which stayed French, did not have a good natural harbor. In 1840, France got the island of Nosy-Be near Madagascar. But it wasn't a great port.
In 1841, the governor of Reunion, Admiral de Hell, made a deal with Andrian Souli. He was the ruler of Mayotte. Mayotte was given to France. Mayotte had a good spot for port facilities. Admiral de Hell said France needed to take it, or Britain would.
Even though France had a start in the Comoros, getting the other islands took time. Sometimes, the French were pushed by the threat of Britain getting involved, especially on Nzwani. Other times, they were pushed by the constant fighting between the sultans. In the 1880s, Germany's growing power on the East African coast worried the French.
However, it wasn't until 1908 that the four Comoro Islands became part of France's colony of Madagascar. The last sultan didn't give up his power until 1912. Then, a French colonial government took over the islands. They set up their capital at Dzaoudzi on Mayotte.
Treaties that made the islands "protectorates" were a step between being independent and being fully taken over. Such treaties were signed with the rulers of Ngazidja, Nzwani, and Mwali in 1886.
French colonial rule had mixed results. It ended slavery. But there were still economic and social differences between former enslaved people and free people. Health improved with modern medicine. The population grew by about 50 percent between 1900 and 1960.
France continued to control the economy. Growing food crops was ignored. French companies set up large farms for cash crops along the coasts. This made the economy depend on exporting things like vanilla, ylang-ylang, cloves, cocoa, and copra. Most of the money from these exports went to France. It was not invested in the islands' development.
Development was also limited because the colonial government focused public services on Madagascar. Because of this, many Comorans moved to Madagascar. Their presence there would cause problems between Comoros and its large island neighbor for a long time. The Shirazi elite continued to be important as large landowners and government workers.
Before independence, Comoros was poor and undeveloped. It had only one high school and almost no national media. The islands were cut off from important trade routes after the Suez Canal opened in 1869. They had few natural resources. France mostly ignored them. So, the islands were not well prepared for independence.
On September 25, 1942, British forces landed in the Comoros. They occupied the islands until October 13, 1946.
In 1946, the Comoro Islands became an overseas department of France. This meant they had representatives in the French National Assembly. The next year, the islands' administrative ties to Madagascar were cut. Comoros set up its own customs rules in 1952.
A Governing Council was elected in August 1957. This was done according to a French law from 1956. A constitution that allowed for self-government was created in 1961. This followed a 1958 vote where Comorans voted strongly to stay part of France. This government had a local assembly with 39 members by 1975. It also had a Governing Council of six to nine ministers who reported to the assembly.
An agreement was made with France in 1973 for the Comoros to become independent in 1978. However, on July 6, 1975, the Comorian parliament voted to declare independence right away. The representatives from Mayotte did not vote.
In 1961, the Comoros gained the right to rule themselves. In 1975, they broke all ties with France and became an independent republic. From the very beginning, Mayotte refused to join the new republic. It chose to stay with France. But the other islands remained committed to independence.
The first president of the Comoros, Ahmed Abdallah Abderemane, did not stay in power long. He was removed in a coup d'état by Ali Soilih. Soilih had socialist ideas to modernize the country. But his government faced problems. A French mercenary named Bob Denard arrived in the Comoros on May 13, 1978. He removed Soilih from power. Soilih was shot and killed during the coup. The mercenaries brought Abdallah back to power. The mercenaries were given important government jobs.
In two votes, in December 1974 and February 1976, the people of Mayotte voted against independence from France. They voted 63.8% and 99.4% against it. So, Mayotte remains under French control. The Comorian Government only controls Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli.
Later, French settlers, French companies, and Arab traders set up a farm-based economy. About one-third of the land is now used for crops to export.
Abdallah's Rule
In 1978, President Ali Soilih, who was against France, was killed. Ahmed Abdallah then came to power. Under Abdallah's rule, Denard was the commander of the Presidential Guard. He was basically the real ruler of the country. He was trained, supported, and paid by the white governments in South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). In return, they got permission to set up a secret listening post on the islands.
South African agents listened in on important ANC bases in Lusaka and Dar es Salaam. They also watched the war in Mozambique, where South Africa was involved. The Comoros were also used to avoid rules about selling weapons.
When François Mitterrand became president of France in 1981, Denard lost support from French intelligence. But he managed to make the link between South Africa and the Comoros stronger. Besides the military, Denard started his own company, SOGECOM, for security and construction. He seemed to make a lot of money from this setup. Between 1985 and 1987, the relationship between the Presidential Guard and the local Comorians got worse.
By the late 1980s, the South Africans no longer wanted to support the mercenary government. France agreed. President Abdallah also wanted the mercenaries to leave. Their response was another coup. President Abdallah died during this coup. Denard and his men were likely involved. South Africa and the French government then forced Denard and his mercenaries to leave the islands in 1989.
Years of Change (1989–1996)
Said Mohamed Djohar became president. His time in office was difficult. There was an attempt to remove him in 1991 and a coup attempt in 1992.
On September 28, 1995, Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries took over the Comoros islands in a coup. This was against President Djohar. France immediately spoke out strongly against the coup. With a defense agreement from 1978, French President Jacques Chirac ordered his special forces to take back the island.
Bob Denard started preparing to stop the invasion. A new presidential guard was formed. Strong points with heavy machine guns were set up around the island, especially near the two airports.
On October 3, 1995, at 11 p.m., the French sent 600 soldiers against 33 mercenaries and 300 rebel soldiers. However, Denard told his mercenaries not to fight. Within 7 hours, the airports at Iconi and Hahaya, and the French Embassy in Moroni, were secured. By 3:00 p.m. the next day, Bob Denard and his mercenaries had given up. This operation, called Azalée, was amazing because no one was hurt. Plans were made and soldiers were sent in just seven days. Denard was taken to France and put in jail.
Prime minister Caambi El-Yachourtu became acting president until Djohar returned from exile in January 1996. In March 1996, after presidential elections, Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim became president. He had been part of the civilian government that Denard tried to set up in October 1995. On November 23, 1996, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 crashed near a beach on the island. It was hijacked and ran out of fuel. 125 people died, and 50 survived.
Anjouan and Mohéli Break Away
In 1997, the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli declared they were independent from the Comoros. The government tried to take back control by force, but they failed. Now, the African Union is helping with talks to bring them back together. This process is mostly finished, at least in theory. Some sources say Mohéli did return to government control in 1998.
In 1999, Anjouan had internal problems. On August 1 of that year, the 80-year-old first president Foundi Abdallah Ibrahim resigned. He gave power to a national coordinator, Said Abeid. The government was overthrown in a coup by army and navy officers on August 9, 2001. Mohamed Bacar soon became the leader of the military government that took over. By the end of the month, he was the country's leader.
Despite two coup attempts in the next three months, including one by Abeid, Bacar's government stayed in power. It seemed more willing to talk with the Comoros government. Presidential elections were held for all of the Comoros in 2002. Presidents were also chosen for all three islands, which became a confederation. Most notably, Mohammed Bacar was elected for a 5-year term as president of Anjouan.
Grande Comore had its own problems in the late 1990s when President Taki died on November 6, 1998. Colonel Azali Assoumani became president after a military coup in 1999. There have been several coup attempts since then. But he gained strong control of the country after stepping down for a short time and winning a presidential election in 2002.
In May 2006, Ahmed Abdallah Sambi was elected from the island of Anjouan to be the president of the Union of the Comoros. He is a Sunni religious leader who studied in the Sudan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. He is sometimes called "Ayatollah" because of his time in Iran and his love for turbans.
Anjouan Crisis (2007–2008)
Azali Assoumani's Recent Rule (Since 2016)
Azali Assoumani is a former army officer. He first came to power in a coup in 1999. Then he won the presidency in the 2002 election, holding power until 2006. After ten years, he was elected again in the 2016 election. In March 2019, he was re-elected in the elections. The opposition claimed these elections had many problems.
Before the 2019 election, President Azali Assoumani had arranged a constitutional vote in 2018. This vote approved extending the presidential term from one five-year term to two. The opposition groups did not take part in the vote.
In January 2020, his party, The Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros (CRC), won 20 out of 24 seats in the parliamentary election.
On February 18, 2023, the Comoros took over the leadership of the African Union. In January 2024, President Azali Assoumani was re-elected with 63% of the votes in the disputed presidential election.
See also
In Spanish: Historia de Comoras para niños
