The history of the Comoros extends to about 1000 BC when the archipelago was first inhabited.
The Comoros have been inhabited by various groups throughout this time. France colonised
the islands in the 19th century, and they became independent in 1975.
Early inhabitants The earliest inhabitants of the islands were
likely people from the Swahili culture from as early as 1000 BC, small trading communities
of Bantu-speakers from the coasts of East Africa.
In the 8th to 13th centuries AD they were followed by an influx of Austronesian sailors
from Southeast Asia, who had earlier settled nearby Madagascar. They are the source for
the earliest archeological evidence of farming in the islands. Crops from archeological sites
in Sima are predominantly rice strains of both indica and japonica varieties from Southeast
Asia, as well as various other Asian crops like mung bean and cotton. Only a minority
of the examined crops were African-derived, like finger millet, African sorghum, and cowpea.
The Comoros are believed to be the first site of contact and subsequent admixture between
African and Asian populations . Comorians today still display at most 20% Austronesian
admixture.
From around the 15th century AD, Shirazi slave traders established trading ports and brought
in slaves from the mainland. In the 16th century, social changes on the East African coast probably
linked to the arrival of the Portuguese saw the arrival of a number of Arabs of Hadrami
who established alliances with the Shirazis and founded several royal clans.
Over the centuries, the Comoros have been settled by a succession of diverse groups
from the coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia and Madagascar.
Europeans Portuguese explorers first visited the archipelago
in 1505.
Apart from a visit by the French Parmentier brothers in 1529, for much of the 16th century
the only Europeans to visit the islands were Portuguese. British and Dutch ships began
arriving around the start of the 17th century and the island of Ndzwani soon became a major
supply point on the route to the East Indies. Ndzwani was generally ruled by a single sultan,
who occasionally attempted to extend his authority to Mayotte and Mwali; Ngazidja was more fragmented,
on occasion being divided into as many as 12 small kingdoms.
Sir James Lancaster's voyage to the Indian Ocean in 1591 was the first attempt by the
English to break into the spice trade, which was dominated by the Portuguese. Only one
of his four ships made it back from the Indies on that voyage, and that one with a decimated
crew of 5 men and a boy. Lancaster himself was marooned by a cyclone on the Comoros.
Many of his crew were speared to death by angry islanders although Lancaster found his
way home in 1594. .
Both the British and the French turned their attention to the Comoros islands in the middle
of the 19th century. The French finally acquired the islands through a cunning mixture of strategies,
including the policy of "divide and conquer", chequebook politics and a serendipitous affair
between a sultana and a French trader that was put to good use by the French, who kept
control of the islands, quelling unrest and the occasional uprising.
William Sunley, a planter and British Consul from 1848–1866, was an influence on Anjouan.
French Comoros France's presence in the western Indian Ocean
dates to the early seventeenth century. The French established a settlement in southern
Madagascar in 1634 and occupied the islands of Reunion and Rodrigues; in 1715 France claimed
Mauritius , and in 1756 Seychelles. When France ceded Mauritius, Rodrigues, and Seychelles
to Britain in 1814, it lost its Indian Ocean ports; Reunion, which remained French, did
not offer a suitable natural harbor. In 1840 France acquired the island of Nosy-Be off
the northwestern coast of Madagascar, but its potential as a port was limited. In 1841
the governor of Reunion, Admiral de Hell, negotiated with Andrian Souli, the Malagasy
ruler of Mayotte, to cede Mayotte to France. Mahore offered a suitable site for port facilities,
and its acquisition was justified by de Hell on the grounds that if France did not act,
Britain would occupy the island.
Although France had established a foothold in Comoros, the acquisition of the other islands
proceeded fitfully. At times the French were spurred on by the threat of British intervention,
especially on Nzwani, and at other times, by the constant anarchy resulting from the
sultans' wars upon each other. In the 1880s, Germany's growing influence on the East African
coast added to the concerns of the French. Not until 1908, however, did the four Comoro
Islands become part of France's colony of Madagascar and not until 1912 did the last
sultan abdicate. Then, a colonial administration took over the islands and established a capital
at Dzaoudzi on Mahore. Treaties of protectorate status marked a transition point between independence
and annexation; such treaties were signed with the rulers of Njazidja, Nzwani, and Mwali
in 1886.
The effects of French colonialism were mixed, at best. Colonial rule brought an end to the
institution of slavery, but economic and social differences between former slaves and free
persons and their descendants persisted. Health standards improved with the introduction of
modern medicine, and the population increased about 50 percent between 1900 and 1960. France
continued to dominate the economy. Food crop cultivation was neglected as French societes
established cash crop plantations in the coastal regions. The result was an economy dependent
on the exporting of vanilla, ylang-ylang, cloves, cocoa, copra, and other tropical crops.
Most profits obtained from exports were diverted to France rather than invested in the infrastructure
of the islands. Development was further limited by the colonial government's practice of concentrating
public services on Madagascar. One consequence of this policy was the migration of large
numbers of Comorans to Madagascar, where their presence would be a long-term source of tension
between Comoros and its giant island neighbor. The Shirazi elite continued to play a prominent
role as large landowners and civil servants. On the eve of independence, Comoros remained
poor and undeveloped, having only one secondary school and practically nothing in the way
of national media. Isolated from important trade routes by the opening of the Suez Canal
in 1869, having few natural resources, and largely neglected by France, the islands were
poorly equipped for independence.
In 1946 the Comoro Islands became an overseas department of France with representation in
the French National Assembly. The following year, the islands' administrative ties to
Madagascar were severed; Comoros established its own customs regime in 1952. A Governing
Council was elected in August 1957 on the four islands in conformity with the loi-cadre
of June 23, 1956. A constitution providing for internal self-government was promulgated
in 1961, following a 1958 referendum in which Comorans voted overwhelmingly to remain a
part of France. This government consisted of a territorial assembly having, in 1975,
thirty-nine members, and a Governing Council of six to nine ministers responsible to it.
Agreement was reached with France in 1973 for the Comoros to become independent in 1978.
On July 6, 1975, however, the Comorian parliament passed a resolution declaring unilateral independence.
The deputies of Mayotte abstained.
In 1961 the Comoros was granted autonomous rule and, in 1975, it broke all ties with
France and established itself as an independent republic. From the very beginning Mayotte
refused to join the new republic and aligned itself even more firmly to the French Republic,
but the other islands remained committed to independence. The first president of the Comoros,
Ahmed Abdallah Abderemane, did not last long before being ousted in a coup d'état by Ali
Soilih, an atheist with an Islamic background.
Soilih began with a set of solid socialist ideals designed to modernize the country.
However, the regime faced problems. A French mercenary by the name of Bob Denard, arrived
in the Comoros at dawn on 13 May 1978, and removed Soilih from power. Solih was shot
and killed during the coup. Abdallah returned to govern the country and the mercenaries
were given key positions in government.
In two referendums, in December 1974 and February 1976, the population of Mayotte voted against
independence from France . Mayotte thus remains under French administration, and the Comorian
Government has effective control over only Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli.
Later, French settlers, French-owned companies, and Arab merchants established a plantation-based
economy that now uses about one-third of the land for export crops.
Abdallah regime In 1978, president Ali Soilih, who had a firm
anti-French line, was killed and Ahmed Abdallah came to power. Under the reign of Abdallah,
Denard was commander of the Presidential Guard and de facto ruler of the country. He was
trained, supported and funded by the white regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia in return
for permission to set up a secret listening post on the islands. South-African agents
kept an ear on the important ANC bases in Lusaka and Dar es Salaam and watched the war
in Mozambique, in which SA played an active role. The Comoros were also used for the evasion
of arms sanctions.
When in 1981 François Mitterrand was elected president Denard lost the support of the French
intelligence service, but he managed to strengthen the link between SA and the Comoros. Besides
the military, Denard established his own company SOGECOM, for both the security and construction,
and seemed to profit by the arrangement. Between 1985 and 1987 the relationship of the PG with
the local Comorians became worse.
At the end of the 1980s the South Africans did not wish to continue to support the mercenary
regime and France was in agreement. Also President Abdallah wanted the mercenaries to leave.
Their response was a coup resulting in the death of President Abdallah, in which Denard
and his men were probably involved. South Africa and the French government subsequently
forced Denard and his mercenaries to leave the islands in 1989.
1989-1996 Said Mohamed Djohar became president. His
time in office was turbulent, including an impeachment attempt 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 against President Djohar. France immediately and severely denounced the coup,
and backed by the 1978 defense agreement with the Comoros, President Jacques Chirac ordered
his special forces to retake the island. Bob Denard began to take measures to stop the
coming invasion. A new presidential guard was created. Strong points armed with heavy
machine guns were set up around the island, particularly around the island's two airports.
On October 3, 1995, 11 p.m., the French deployed 600 men against a force of 33 mercenaries
and a 300-man dissident force. Denard however ordered 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 surrendered. This operation,
codenamed Azalée, was remarkable, because there were no casualties, and just in seven
days, plans were drawn up and soldiers were deployed. Denard was taken to France and jailed.
Prime minister Caambi El-Yachourtu became acting president until Djohar returned from
exile in January, 1996. In March 1996, following presidential elections, Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim,
a member of the civilian government that Denard had tried to set up in October 1995, became
president. On 23 November 1996, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 crashed near a beach on
the island after it was hijacked and ran out of fuel killing 125 people and leaving 50
survivors.
Secession of Anjouan and Mohéli In 1997, the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli
declared their independence from the Comoros. A subsequent attempt by the government to
re-establish control over the rebellious islands by force failed, and presently the African
Union is brokering negotiations to effect a reconciliation. This process is largely
complete, at least in theory. According to some sources, Mohéli did return to government
control in 1998. In 1999, Anjouan had internal conflicts and on August 1 of that year, the
80-year-old first president Foundi Abdallah Ibrahim resigned, transferring 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 rose to leadership of the junta that
took over and by the end of the month he was the leader of the country. Despite two coup
attempts in the following three months, including one by Abeid, Bacar's government remained
in power, and was apparently more willing to negotiate with the Comoros. Presidential
elections were held for all of the Comoros in 2002, and presidents have been chosen for
all three islands as well, which have become a confederation. Most notably, Mohammed Bacar
was elected for a 5-year term as president of Anjouan. Grande Comore had experienced
troubles of its own in the late 1990s, when President Taki died on November 6, 1998. Colonel
Azali Assoumani became president following a military coup in 1999. There have been several
coup attempts since, but he gained firm control of the country after stepping down temporarily
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 well-respected Sunni cleric who studied in the Sudan, Iran
and Saudi Arabia. He is respectfully called "Ayatollah" by his supporters but is considered,
and is, a moderate Islamist. He has been quoted as stating that the Comoros is not ready to
become an Islamic state, nor shall the veil be forced upon any women in the Comoros.
2007-2008 Anjouan crisis Azali Assoumani in power since 2016
Azali Assoumani is a former army officer, first came to power in a coup in 1999. Then
he won presidency in 2002 election, having power until 2006. After ten years, he was
elected again in 2016 election. In March 2019, he was re-elected in the elections opposition
claimed to be full of irregularities.
Before the 2019 presidential election president Azali Assoumani had arrenged a constututional
referendum in 2018 that approved extending the presidential mandate from one five-year
term to two. The oposition had boycotted the referendum.
In January 2020, his party The Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros won 17 out
of 24 parliamentary seats in the parliamentary election, meaning president Azali had a very
tight hold on power.