History of the Comoros

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The history of the Comoros encompasses the pre-colonial and colonial history of the archipelago of the same name with the main islands Grande Comore , Anjouan , Mohéli and Mayotte as well as the current independent state Union of the Comoros in the Indian Ocean.

Settlement and founding of the state by 1700

The Comoros have been settled since the middle of the 1st millennium. Its name means "moon island" and comes from the Arabic "Kamar". Originally Bantu from East Africa settled here, later also - as in neighboring Madagascar - Austronesians. The Austronesian population group, however, was overlaid by later immigrants (some of them also of Austronesian origin) from Madagascar and the East African coast. From around 750 or 800 the Comoros islands were under the influence of Arab and Persian sailors, pirates and traders. This is confirmed by excavation finds of imported pottery from the area of ​​the former Sassanid Empire . There were also waves of immigration from the African east coast and Madagascar. The political and social structure of the islands was influenced by Africa.

In 1505 Portuguese sailors reached the islands and occupied Grande Comore for five years. The arrival of an Arab-Persian fleet under the command of Mohamed ben Haissa in 1506 had a greater impact. The group brought their slaves with them and stayed. These immigrants were called Shirazi, after the city of Shiraz in Persia. The Shirazi brought about great changes in the social and political structure of the islands. They brought their architecture with them and built mosques and palaces. The oldest mosque in the Comoros was built on the island of Mayotte in 1566 in the town of Chingoni . On the main islands they founded their own sultanates , which, however, differed little from the chiefdoms of the East African coast. The Comoros became part of the Swahili society of East Africa, culturally linked to the Sultanate of Zanzibar and the cities of the East African coast . At the time of the first attempts at colonization by Europeans, Persian and Arab families made up the upper class of the islands.

From the 11th or 14th century, Islam began to spread in the Comoros. Later traders from the Hadramaut settled on the coasts and in the cities of the Comoros. Here played Saiyids from the family of Āl Bā'Alawi associated with the Sufi order of Ba'Alawiyya were connected, a particularly important role. Some Hadrami traders also came to the Comoros via the island of Pate in the Kenyan Lamu archipelago.

Malagasy invasion

From the late 18th century, the number of attacks by slave-trading Malagasy people from the Sakalava people and pirates increased on the islands. They took control of Mohéli and Mayotte, the smaller of the four islands, and from there they exerted a strong influence on the two larger ones. In 1830 the Madagascan Ramanetaka, who soon changed his name to Abderemane , led a larger group of Malagasy migrants to Mohéli, where a Malagasy language is still spoken today.

The Comoros around 1800

Until the early 19th century, the islands were a frequent stopover for seafarers from various European countries - Dutch, British, French - on their way to India, the Persian Gulf or the Far East without them setting up permanent bases.

At the beginning of the 19th century, immediately before the colonization of the Comoros by France, the conditions on the islands were different. Anjouan was united under a sultan, who was also responsible for the island of Mohéli until the middle of the century. From the middle of the century, Mohéli gained independence from the Sultanate of Anjouan through the invasion of the aforementioned Ramanetaka, whose dynasty ruled there until 1885. In 1816 the Sultan of Anjouan, Abdallah the First, fled to the French island of Île Bourbon (today "La Reunion") after this invasion . The largest island, Grand Comore, was originally split into 12 sultanates, each of which, however, elected a common head.

French colonial times

Postage stamp of the Sultanate of Anjouan from 1892

Period of the protectorates 1841–1912

In 1841 the French declared Mayotte a protectorate and from here began to exert influence on the other islands. In 1847 they forbade slavery on Mayotte and promoted the settlement of the island, largely depopulated by Malagasy raids and slave hunts, with released slaves and French settlers. In 1842 the Sultana of Mohéli sought French protection against the Sultanate of Zanzibar and in 1861 and 1871 the French intervened militarily on the island in connection with internal conflicts. In 1886 the island officially became part of the French Protectorate of Mayotte. In 1866 Anjouan became a French protectorate and in 1886 also Grand Comore, where the French had established their first military and trading post in 1844. On Grand Comore, as on the other islands, the sultans remained in office. B. own flags. In fact, with the "protectorate" they had submitted to French rule. Since 1887, the islands of Anjouan, Grand Comore and Mohéli have been collectively called the "Protectorate of the Comoros". In 1908 they were merged with Mayotte to form a colonial unit and in 1914 they were subordinate to the Governor General of Madagascar . The colonization of Grand Comore was prepared by the French businessman Léon Humblot , who bought significant parts of the island from the then Sultan Said Ali and also gave him loans that had to be repaid through the work obligations of his subjects. Humblot's "Societe 'de la Grande Comore" became the most important of the French colonial societies that exercised de facto rule over the islands. Forced laborers produced coffee, copra, sisal, cocoa, ylang-ylang, vanilla and cloves on the companies' plantations. Humblot was also known as the "White Sultan of Grand Comore" at the height of his power.

In the late 19th century, the two Sufi orders of the Qadiriyya and the Shadhiliyya gained great influence in the Comoros. The Comorian Schadhiliyya Sheikh Muhammad ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Maʿrūf (1853–1905) spread this order along the East African coast, where it found particularly many followers on the Comoros. He died in Moroni after establishing a Zawiya there. His tomb is a destination for pilgrims from all over East Africa. At the end of the 19th century, however, there was a large wave of Comorian Muslims who emigrated to the territory of the Bū-Saʿīdī sultans in Zanzibar . In 1899 alone, 15,000 Comoros emigrated to Zanzibar. Some Comorian Arabs such as Ahmad ibn Sumait also directly entered the service of the Bu Sa -īdī sultans.

Colonial period 1912–1975

In 1912 the "Protectorate of the Comoros" received the status of a colony, from 1914 they were administered from the French colony of Madagascar. The colonial societies thereby lost their direct rule, but remained extremely powerful. In the 1930s they owned 46 percent of the land area of ​​Grand Comore, 37 percent of Anjouan, 22 percent of Mohéli and 15 percent of the area of ​​Mayotte. Nevertheless, it remained politically calm on the islands. In 1946 they achieved the status of a TOM (territoires d´outre-mer, French overseas territory ) and thus a partial autonomy and first political institutions such as a “Conseil General” (local assembly). According to the Loi Lamine Guèye of 1946, all citizens had the right to vote in elections to the French parliament and also in local elections. This introduced a limited right to vote for women . The right to stand as a candidate was not specifically mentioned in the law, but it was not excluded either. There was a two-class suffrage, which favored the French-born citizens. The islands were now represented by one member each in the French Parliament and Senate. Two factions appeared in the elections, the more traditionalist “Whites” and the “Greens”, who are more involved in the colonial economy and administration.

On June 23, 1956, the loi-cadre Defferre was introduced.

In 1961 the Comoros gained partial autonomy. In 1962, the Mouvement de la Liberation Nationale des Comores (MOLINACO), the "National Liberation Movement of the Comoros", was founded in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam and was recognized by the newly founded Organization for African Unity (OAU) as the representative of the Comoros people. However, the movement was limited to a propaganda war from exile. The "Mouvement (populaire) mahourais", the popular movement of Mayotte, on the other hand, turned out to be a serious threat to the existing regime. The relocation of the capital from Mayotte and Grand Comore, decided in 1959 and carried out in 1962, had caused great unrest in Mayotte, as the relocation was associated with significant economic losses for the island. In 1967 the president of the local government Said Mohammed Sheikh was expelled from Mayotte by throwing stones. The French then stationed units of the Foreign Legion on Mayotte, which compensated for the economic disadvantages of the loss of the capital status of the place Dzaoudzi on Mayotte.

The constitution of 1968 granted the individual islands of the Comoros extensive independence and thus encouraged secessionist aspirations. Ahmed Abdallah Abderemane, then President of the Territory, had the infrastructure on Mayotte expanded and encouraged the settlement of people from Anjouan. Nevertheless, there was a strong mood for final independence on the other islands, while on Mayotte the people supported the retention of France. A "Roadmap to Independence" negotiated with France in 1973 provided for a referendum in 1978, by which time a local administration should be established. In 1973, however, there were demonstrations by young people for independence, which had to be ended by troops from La Reunion . In an early referendum in 1974 , around 95 percent of those questioned were in favor of independence; most of the votes against independence came from the island of Mayotte, which was subsequently still French.

Independent Comoros

Flag of the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros

On July 6, 1975 the Comoros declared their complete independence without the island of Mayotte , without giving up their claim to this island. Universal suffrage was confirmed.

After independence, the country was politically chronically unstable and has seen 19 coup attempts to date , four of them under the leadership of the French mercenary Bob Denard . From 1975 to 1978 the country was ruled by Ali Soilih , who pursued a policy of Arabization. In July 1977 the country applied for membership in the Arab League . However, the application was rejected because Ali Soilih wanted to make Comorian rather than Arabic the official language of the country.

Denard helped Ahmed Abdallah to power again in 1978 . Until the fall of Abdallah in 1989, the two of them systematically exploited the country. During this time, the regime was mainly supported by France , Southern Rhodesia (until 1980) and South Africa . South Africa handled arms deals via the islands and thus circumvented the international embargo . It was also allowed to set up an eavesdropping station on the islands to monitor the ANC offices in Lusaka and Dar es Salaam .

In 1978, President Ahmed Abdallah declared the Comoros an Islamic Federal Republic. In 1982 a unity party was introduced and in the 1978 and 1984 elections his “Progressive Party” received over 99 percent of the vote. He ruled authoritarian with the support of French mercenaries and South African businessmen and the tolerance of France, since Abdallah refrained from attempts to rejoin Mayotte in the Comoros. Support also came from conservative Arab oil countries, which agreed to the Islamic orientation of the republic.

At the same time, the universities of the Arab-Islamic countries became an important point of attraction for the young Comoros, especially because access to French universities, where the Comorian elite had previously received their education, was difficult. In 1985 there were 600 Comorian students studying at Islamic universities, while France had only 250 Comorian students and trainees.

In 1989, Abdallah and Denard gambled away the support of the Arab Gulf countries. Abdallah was killed in a sham coup presumably initiated by Denard in 1989 under unexplained circumstances. Said Joher became president, but the country did not find peace. In 1995 Denard staged a successful coup for the fourth time. His rule was ended bloodlessly after only a week by a French expeditionary force. Denard was arrested and charged with the murder of Abdallah in France in 1999, but acquitted for lack of evidence.

Coup and secession attempts since 2001

Flag of the Mohéli separatists
Flag of today's Union of Comoros

In 1997 the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli declared their independence. However, they continued the Comorian tradition and were themselves shaken by several coups. Ultimately, each island had its own president. In 1999 Azali Assoumani became president of Grande Comore. Since then he has survived several coup attempts and was able to reunite the islands through a constitutional reform in 2001 in a loose union , the "Union of the Comoros". The Presidency of the Union has since rotated between the three main islands. In May 2006 the Islamist Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi was elected President. On the island of Anjouan, Mohammed Bacar , who seized power on Anjouan in a coup the year before , was elected president of the autonomous island in elections in 2002. When his term of office expired in April 2007, there were renewed conflicts with the central government. Since the elections were not scheduled for June 10, 2007, the Constitutional Court of the Comoros appointed an acting president who was kicked from office by Bacar's followers. The central government postponed the election for a week due to poor conditions for holding it. Bacar had votes on the original election day and received 90 percent of the votes. His choice was therefore not recognized by the Comorian federal government.

On March 25, 2008, the island was captured by an invasion of the African Union with the participation of Tanzania, Senegal, Sudan and Libya. Bacar fled to Mayotte and asked for political asylum there .

The Union of the Comoros: reorganizations of the political system in 2001 and 2009

The Union of Comoros was created in 2001 through a constitutional referendum . The constitution of this union was an attempt, also financially very costly, to establish a political balance between the three main islands of the country. Each island had a semi-autonomous parliament headed by a president and the presidency of the entire state rotated between the islands. In another constitutional referendum in 2009 , Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi pushed through a radical change in the political system that significantly strengthened the power of the central government and declared the Union of Comoros an Islamic state. However, the Comoros Constitutional Court deleted a clause in the new constitution that would have allowed him another term of office. In 2010 he was therefore no longer allowed to run and his previous - and still incumbent - Vice President Ikililou Dhoinine emerged as the new president from the 2010 elections . From May 26, 2011 to May 25, 2016 Dhoinine was President of the Comoros. Azali Assoumani has been President since May 26, 2016, and he held the office from 1999 to 2006.

literature

  • Abdallah Chanfi Ahmed: Islam et politique aux Comores. Evolution de l'autorité depuis le Protectorat français (1886) jusqu'à nos jours. L'Harmattan, Paris, 1999.
  • Anne K. Bang: Sufis and scholars of the sea. Family networks in East Africa, 1860-1925 . Routledge Shorton, London / New York 2003, pp. 47–56.
  • Ali Djalim: "Les arabisants, le cheikh et le Prince aux Comores." In: René Otayek (ed.): Le radicalisme islamique au sud du Sahara: da'wa , arabization et critique de l'Occident. Karthala MSHA, Paris 1993, pp. 151-159.
  • Walter Schicho: Handbook Africa. In three volumes . Volume 1: Central Africa, Southern Africa and the States in the Indian Ocean. Brandes & Appel, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-86099-120-5 .

Web links

Commons : History of the Comoros  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anna-Lena Forslund: Pottery and East Africa. Uppsala University, 2003, pp. 27–30 ( Memento from February 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ See Bang: Sufis and scholars of the sea. 2003, p. 47.
  3. ↑ Schicho: 25
  4. ↑ See Bang: Sufis and scholars of the sea. 2003, p. 53.
  5. ↑ Randall L. Pouwels: The East African Coast, C. 780 to 1900 CE In: Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels: The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press, Athens (Ohio) 2000, p. 261
  6. ↑ See Bang: Sufis and scholars of the sea. 2003, p. 54.
  7. ↑ Schicho: 26
  8. ^ Franz Ansperger: Politics in Black Africa: The modern political movements in Africa with French characteristics. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH Wiesbaden, 1961, p. 73.
  9. ↑ a b - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. June 23, 1956, accessed September 30, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Cf. Ahmed: Islam et politique aux Comores. 1999, p. 18.
  11. ↑ Cf. Ahmed: Islam et politique aux Comores. 1999, p. 154f.
  12. ↑ Cf. Djalim: "Les arabisants, le cheikh et le Prince aux Comores." 1993, pp. 155f.
  13. ↑ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83144 irinnews.org, accessed on January 14, 2011