Comoros Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

Comoros: population and cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, around 870,000 people live in the Comoros Union.

Ethnic composition

The Comorians are about 98% a mixed people of Arabs, Madagascans and Bantu (descendants of slaves). There are also some Indians and Indo-Melanesians living in the country. There is also a small minority of a few hundred Europeans.

Religious affiliation

The Sunni Islam of the Shafiite school of law is the state religion of the country. About 98% of the population belong to it.

The Shafiite school of law goes back to the Shafiites (Shirazi) expelled from the Persian Shiraz, who settled on the four main islands in 1510 and founded their sultanates mainly in the coastal regions of the Comoros. In addition, there is a small minority of Indian Ismailis in the Comoros, as well as Catholic charitable missions. One must remember, however, that the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros is a country in which followers of the Christian faith are persecuted. Overall, around 1% of the population profess Christianity.

National language The national language of the country is Shikomorisch or Shimasiwa, a Swahili dialect. The official languages are Arabic and French. Various Bantu dialects are also in use.

Capital and other cities

Ikoni, Moroni, Mutsamudu, Nioumachoua

This is one of the oldest settlements on Grande Comore. It is a short taxi ride from Moroni and has an interesting city center. Many women are said to have thrown themselves from the sea cliffs in the 19th century, who would rather have died than fall into the hands of the Malagasy pirates. According to Abbreviation Finder, COM stands for Comoros in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Moroni

Moroni has about 70,000 residents and is the largest city and the capital of the Comoros. The city is located on the west coast of the Grande Comore Island. The largest city in the Comoros has also been the capital of the island kingdom since 1962. Moroni, a very picturesque town with large squares and narrow streets, spreads out on the western coast of Grande Comore and is the traffic “junction” for travelers within the Comoros and Africa. In the city center there are two of the island’s large Friday mosques. They form the religious center of the Komori. Most notable is the Vendredi Mosque, from whose minaret you can enjoy a fabulous view. The harbor is also interesting, where the wooden barges (boutry) are located, which are only used for unloading the cargo ships.

Mutsamudu

Mutsamudu has about 25,000 residents and is located in the north of the island of Anjouan.

Nioumachoua

The city of Mohelis is so worth seeing because from July to October you can watch whales, go fishing with local fishermen and see gigantic bats and civets (small leopard-like cats).

Comoros: geography, map

The Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros is located in the Indian Ocean northwest of Madagascar and east of Mozambique. It consists of three main islands of volcanic origin, which are surrounded by small coral islands and covers a total area of 2,235 km². The main islands are:

  • Grande Comore (Ngazidja) with an area of 1,147 km² and 345,000 residents. The main town is Moroni
  • Anjouan (Ndzouani) with an area of 424 km² and a population of 240,000. The main town is Musamudu
  • Mohéli (Mwali) with an area of 290 km² and 40,000 residents. The main town is Fomboni

The island of Mayotte (Mahoré), located in the southeast of the Comoros, measures 374 km² and is a French overseas territory and therefore does not belong politically to the Islamic Federal Republic. However, it is claimed by this. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Comoros.

The Comoros have a coast to the Indian Ocean with a length of around 340 km.

Around 59% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing vanilla, ylang-ylang, cloves and coconuts.

Tidal range

In the Comoros the tidal range is between about 3 and 4 meters. You can find detailed explanations of ebb and flow under tides, ebb and flow, general.

Compare

The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax. On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

The Union of the Comoros extends over the following latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from 11 ° 15 ‘to 12 ° 25’ south latitude Δλ = from 43 ° 15 to 44 ° 35 ‘east longitude

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

For the Comoros, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without summer time) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A minus sign means that it is earlier there and a plus sign that it is later than after CET:

Δt (CET) = + 2 h

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Moroni

Moroni lies at a southern latitude of around φ = 11.5 ° = 11 ° 30`. If the declination of the sun has the value of 11 ° 30 ‘S, and so the image point of the sun is above the city or island, the sun is perpendicular there. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 1.5 months after September 21st and then again 1.5 months before March 21st.

Attention

If the image point of the sun and thus the declination is north of the latitude of Moroni, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.

Mountains

Karthala

At 2,361 meters, the active volcano Karthala is the highest mountain in the Comorian Islands. The Karthala, one of the most dangerous volcanoes, is located near the capital Moroni on the island of Grande Comore (Ngazidja) and last erupted on May 29, 2006. It is almost a miracle that the island has so far been spared the eruptions of the volcano, especially since it has erupted more than 20 times since the 19th century. If you want to visit the volcano, you can climb it and take a look into the gigantic crater. Overnight stays are offered in the nearby mountain huts.

Mzé Koukoulé

The highest point on the island of Mohéli is the Mzé Koukoulé, located on a volcanic ridge at an altitude of 790 m.

Mont Nfringui

With a height of 1,595 m, Mont Nfringui is the highest mountain in Anjouan (Ndzouani)

rivers and lakes

There are no major rivers and lakes in the Comoros.

The Indian Ocean

The Comoros are completely enclosed by the Indian Ocean.

Comoros Population