Comoros Civil Registration
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How to Find the Records[edit | edit source]
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Historical Background[edit | edit source]
In the 1790s, Malagasy warriors raided Comoros for slaves and crops. By the 1820s, the population was decimated. Slaves were brought from mainland Africa. These were traded to the French in Mayotte and the Mascarenes. In 1865, slaves were possibly as much as 40% of the population of Comoros.
France first established colonial rule in the Comoros by taking possession of Mayotte in 1841 when the Sakalava usurper sultan Andriantsoly (also known as Tsy Levalo) signed the Treaty of April 1841,[26] which ceded the island to the French authorities.[27]
Meanwhile, Ndzuani (or Johanna as it was know to the British) continued to serve as a way station for English merchants sailing to India and the Far East, as well as American whalers, although the British gradually abandoned it following their possession of Mauritius in 1814 and by the time the Suez Canal opened in 1869 there was no longer any significant supply trade at Ndzuani. Local commodities exported by the Comoros were, in addition to slaves, coconuts, timber, cattle and tortoiseshell. French settlers, French-owned companies, and wealthy Arab merchants established a plantation-based economy that used about one-third of the land for export crops. After its annexation, France converted Mayotte into a sugar plantation colony. The other islands were soon transformed as well, and the major crops of ylang-ylang, vanilla, cloves, perfume plants, coffee, cocoa beans, and sisal were introduced.[28]
In 1886, Mwali was placed under French protection by its Sultan Mardjani Abdou Cheikh. That same year, Sultan Said Ali of Bambao, one of the sultanates on Ngazidja, placed the island under French protection in exchange for French support of his claim to the entire island, which he retained until his abdication in 1910. In 1908 the islands were unified under a single administration (Colonie de Mayotte et dépendances) and placed under the authority of the French colonial governor general of Madagascar. In 1909, Sultan Said Muhamed of Ndzuani abdicated in favour of French rule. In 1912 the colony and the protectorates were abolished and the islands became a province of the colony of Madagascar.[29]
Agreement was reached with France in 1973 for the Comoros to become independent in 1978, despite the deputies of Mayotte voting for increased integration with France. A referendum was held on all four of the islands. Three voted for independence by large margins, while Mayotte voted against, and remains under French administration. On 6 July 1975, however, the Comorian parliament passed a unilateral resolution declaring independence.[1]