History of Anjouan

The first inhabitants of the island were explorers and immigrants from Indonesia-Polynesia. After that people all around the Indian Ocean began to come to Anjouan and the Comoros Islands. In about 1500 the sultanate of Ndzuwani was founded, which took over the entire island. The island came under French protection in 1866. It was annexed by France in 1912 and the sultanate was crushed. Anjouan joined the Comoros nation when it became independent in 1975.

Separatist flagged in 1997, the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli declared their independence from Comoros. However, the island is now part of the Republic of Comoros. For more detail, see History of Comoros. Over the centuries, the Comoro Islands were invaded by a succession of diverse groups from the coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Indonesia, and Madagascar. Portuguese explorers visited the archipelago in 1505. The Portuguese failed to capitalize on being the first to reach the islands, and for the next century or two the islands were used only as a pit stop during voyages up and down the coast of East Africa.

From the 15th century to the middle of the 19th, the power brokers happily played musical sultanates between themselves until the French turned their attention to the Comoros islands in the middle of the 19th century. The French finally acquired the islands through a cunning mixture of strategies, including the divide and conquer ploy, cheque book politics and a serendipitous affair between a sultana and a French trader that was turned to good use. Comoros history from this era reads like a cross between a Walt Disney animated film, a Merchant Ivory production and a Shakespearean tragedy. Through all the ups and downs, the French kept an iron grip on the islands, quelling peasant unrest and the occasional uprising.

In 1997, the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli declared their independence from Comoros. A subsequent attempt by the government to re-establish control over the rebellious islands by force failed, and presently the African Union is brokering negotiations to effect a reconciliation. This process is largely complete, at least in theory. In May 2006, Ahmed Abdallah Sambi was elected from the island of Anjouan to be the president of the Union of Comoros. He is a well-respected Sunni cleric that studied in the Sudan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. He is respectfully called "Ayatollah" by his supporters but is considered a moderate Islamist. He is also a successful businessman and set to be the first president of the Comoros to ever peacefully gain power.

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