History Of Comoros
History Of Comoros: One of the most important parts of the history of the Comoros Islands—Ngazidja (Grande Comore), Nzuani (Anjouan), Mwali (Mohéli), and Maoto (Mayotte)—is where they are located. The islands serve as stepping stones between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique. They’re also the main way people moved between Africa and Madagascar, bringing their culture.
It’s possible that Indonesians who came to Madagascar used this route to get there. People have been moving from central Africa to Madagascar for hundreds of years. When Islam came to Africa in the tenth century, it was Islamic people who used this way to bring the cultures of the Swahili coast to northern Madagascar.
The Bantu people of central Africa, the Islamic culture of the Swahili cities, and Madagascar’s culture all had an influence on the Comoros Islands’ welcoming attitude toward newcomers. Early towns and burial grounds on the islands show that there was a busy trade society as early as the tenth century. However, written records of trading towns like Domoni don’t appear until the fifteenth century.
The town histories, written long after the events, clearly show that the leading families of the islands, like the rulers of Kilwa, had ties to Kilwa and claimed Shiraz as their home. In the 1600s, island traders did business with both the coast of East Africa and the towns in northern Madagascar.
The islands primarily produced food, but they also built boats and probably traded people. Even though there are many stories that say otherwise, there is no proof that the Portuguese ever took over or settled the islands. However, boats from Mozambique Island would often make the short trip to get supplies.
At the start of the 1600s, Portuguese was known as a useful language for dealing. Merchants from as far away as the Red Sea and the Gulf came to the islands to buy slaves, using Spanish money. When Dutch, English, and French traders came to the Comoros Islands, they became crucial in world events very quickly.
Because the Portuguese controlled the coast of East Africa, strangers had to look for other places to stop. By the end of the 1600s, the Comoros Islands had become their main focus. During 1607 and 1608, Dutch ships attacked Mozambique Island from Mayotte Bay. French traders stopped to fix their boats and get food.
The British East India Company most frequently used the islands as a post office, a place for sick people to stay until they recovered, and to restock their ships. The ships that visited the islands did not share the same sentiments. Grande Comore got a negative name for having hostile locals who didn’t want to do business with foreigners, along with a rough, unfriendly coastline and almost no fresh water. Anjouan and Mohéli, on the other hand, had fresh water, relatively safe anchorages, and people who were eager to do business.
However, the coral reefs surrounding Mayotte and its narrow lagoon entrances made it difficult to reach. European ships often went to Mohéli and Anjouan, which is likely what made the ruling families richer. This was especially true for the ruler of Mutsammudu, the main port on Anjouan, who became sultan of the whole island and claimed to be in charge of all island affairs.
Because of the constant need for fresh food and supplies for the ships, the island’s agricultural resources grew. They brought slaves to the islands to work on farms and later sell them, forming a plantation economy. Because of this, there was a cultural split between the mostly African people who lived on the farmland and the Islamic families who lived in the towns and had ties to East Africa, Arabia, and the Gulf.
As more commercial ships used the islands and the islands themselves became more successful, pirates started to pay more attention to them. Corsairs were patrolling the shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean and setting up bases in northeastern Madagascar. As a result, the Comoros Islands became more and more involved in their actions. Pirate ships went to Anjoan and Mohéli to get rid of stolen goods or slaves they had taken. They also used the Mayotte lagoon to get around British East India Company ships.
Business ships and pirates engaged in numerous battles in the waters surrounding the Comoros Islands. The 1730s saw the capture or resignation of most pirates. Until the 1790s, the islands were not really in danger from outside forces. Ships from the British East India Company kept going to Anjouan and Mohéli.
The British saw the Sultan of Mutsammudu as the sultan of the whole island, and he became the most important political person in these islands. The Sultan of Anjouan also gained more power over Mohéli, which had two old trade towns called Fomboni and Numa Choa.
Europeans didn’t come to Grande Comore very often, but by the 18th century, the 20 towns on the island were already competing with each other. Each of these places had its own sultan. One of them was known as Sultan Thibé, which meant he was the most important and ceremonial sultan.
That being said, Sultan Thibé didn’t really have any power, and the feuding families that ran the towns, some of which were only a few miles apart, kept fighting. In the second half of the 1800s, the French started to build a trade route for slaves from Madagascar and eastern Africa to their sugar farms in Ile-de-France and Ile de Bourbon.
These islands were once again a major place to buy and sell slaves. However, in the 1790s, Sakalava and Betsimisaraka raiders from northern Madagascar found the islands to be an easy target for their attacks. The slave trade was bad for the people who lived there.
Also Read: Who Are The Oromo People?
