The Comoro Islands or officially, the Union of the Comoros is a small but an independent state in the Indian Ocean. You can find the country on the map fast if you know where Madagascar is located because the Comoros sits close to it in the Mozambique Channel.
The country consists of three islands: Ngazidja, Mwali, and Ndzwani. These are the traditional names of the islands that were returned after the Comoros gained independence from France. Their corresponding French names are Grande Comore, Mohéli, and Anjouan and we have to openly admit that the French names are used much more often by international travelers than the traditional ones.
There is a fourth island in the archipelago called Mayotte that France and the Comoros dispute. The French claim that this particular island has had closer ties with France than the other three have and it should remain under French administration. Influential groups in the Comoros, however, claim that Mayotte should be part of the Union of the Comoros because geographically, the island is part of the archipelago and historically, residents of all the four islands have identified themselves as a single nation. The dispute continues.
The capital of the country is Moroni and it is located on Grande Comore, the largest of the islands. It is also the largest city in the country even though its population does not exceed 40,000 people.
The Comoros has a democratic Government, a President, and a Parliament. It even has a regular army even though the total number of soldiers and officers is only 1,000 people and that’s including the police. Anyway the number of soldiers per capita is still rather high in the Comoros because the total population of the country is less than 800,000 people. Even if you take the disputed Mayotte into account, the population of the Comoros is going to be below 1 million people anyway.
Comoros as an offshore zone
The Comoros is also an offshore zone. It is one of the least prosperous countries on the planet and the local Government does whatever it can to attract some extra capital from abroad. The Comoros offer high-quality offshore services. It is one of the countries where you can obtain a Forex license, for example. The Comoros has become especially popular with Forex brokers after some other offshore jurisdictions (such as St Vincent and the Grenadines, for instance) have toughened their requirements under international pressure. The global regulators seem to have no heart to push the Comoros too hard because they realize how poor the country actually is. Thus, the regulations related to various offshore industry products are laxer in the Comoros than they are in most other places.
People of the Comoros
Comorians are descendants of Africans and Arabs who settled the islands in times immemorial. Almost 95% of the population belong to one nation. The remaining 5% are made up of Bantu people, Arabs, Malagasy, Persians, Indians, and French. The official languages are French and Arabic in the country but most people speak Comorian, a mixture of Swahili and Arabic. Most Comorians are Muslims but other religions are freely practiced in the islands too. Moreover, the level of pluralism is amazing in the Comoros.
Landscapes in the Comoros
As far as the terrain in the Comoros is concerned, the islands are of volcanic origin and you will find many mountains and mountain ranges in the country. What makes the country attractive for tourists is the coral reefs that surround the islands. They are extremely beautiful and if you go diving or snorkeling there, you will find a large number of underwater creatures that you can find nowhere else in the whole world.
Climate in the Comoros
The climate is tropical in the Comoros, which means that it is hot and humid there all around the year. The sun blazes ruthlessly and you need to take serious precautions against sunburn if you are planning to visit the Comoros as a tourist. Besides, catching malaria is easy in the Comoros so you have to get vaccinated before you go there.
