The first Europeans to visit were Portuguese. An Englishman, James Lancaster, visited them in 1591. The islands may have been part of the jurisdiction of the Sultan of Zanzibar before they became a French colony. The French occupied them because they are near Madagascar.

Colonisation by the French began in 1843 when France took Mayotte. Only from 1886 were the other islands made a protectorate which may be why Mayotte voted to remain French in 1974.

They were ruled as a dependency of Madagascar.

The Comoros are part of the Indian Ocean culture which also included the Swahili coast of east Africa. The people are a mixture of Arabs, Africans from Tanzania and Kenya, and Sri Lankans and Indians.

Arabic has been the main cultural and government language but Comorian, a variety of Swahili, is the language of the people.

In 1975 they became independent, except for Mayotte.

In 1978 there was an invasion by European mercenaries who restored to power an overthrown president.

In July 1997 two of the islands attempted to secede from the federation claiming oppression from the central government. The insurgents asked to go back to French rule but were dissuaded by the French government. By the end of 1997 there was still a standoff with neither side winning. The seceded islands are unlikely to be recognised internationally, but the central government has not succeeded in conquering them.

Kiswahili (more arabised than in Zanzibar)

Arabic

French

The government is regarded as a dictatorship. For 13 years it was ruled by a French mercenary Bob Denard, turned Muslim. He was deposed and replaced by Said Mohammed Djohar, whose legitimacy is poor. December 1993 elections probably rigged.

Subsistence agriculture. Bob Denard used the islands to assist the former regime in South Africa to break sanctions. Tourism might be possible.

Serious soil erosion due to population pressure on the land. The low lying parts will be submerged by sea level rise.

Sea level rise will be a problem.