1.
Comoro Islands
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The Comoros Islands or Comoros form an archipelago of volcanic islands situated off the south-east coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and north-west of Madagascar. The islet of Banc du Geyser and the Glorioso Islands are part of the archipelago, the Comoro Islands are located in the Mozambique Channel to the north-west of Madagascar and facing Mozambique. Numerous peoples have crossed over and mixed, including those of Bantu, Malagasy, Indonesian, Arab, Portuguese, French, islam arrived in the 10th Century. During this period, power was in the hands of a number of local rulers, during their explorations of all this region, the Portuguese landed on the Islands of the Moon in 1505. In 1946, the islands were no longer attached to Madagascar. In 1974, France organized a referendum for self-determination in the archipelago in which the population except in Mayotte voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence, following the unilateral declaration of independence in 1975, France maintained sovereignty over Mayotte. The three remaining islands formed the Etat Comorian, which became the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoro Islands. In 1997, demands for increased autonomy on the islands of Nzwani, in 2001, the government reformed as the Union of the Comoros under a new constitution which gave each of the three islands more autonomy than had been enjoyed previously. In 2008, President of Anjouan refused to free elections. He was forced to flee following military intervention by troops of the Comorian Union, the island country continues its present form of confederal government albeit with minor changes approved in a 2009 referendum. Mayotte officially became Frances 101st department on 31 March 2011, on 30 June 2009, Yemenia Flight 626 crashed off the Comoro Islands. Out of 153 people, one girl survived. On Saturday,23 November 1996, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 ditched into the Indian Ocean at the shore of the Comoros islands, after being hijacked by three young, 20-year-old men. After the Boeing 767-200 climbed to the altitude of 39,000 ft. Additionally, they claimed that they were eleven men and they forced the first officer Yonas Mecruria out of the cockpit. The hijackers refused to let the captain to land, although they knew that the fuel was about to run out, after a four-hour struggle with hijackers, the captain crash-landed his the plane in the Indian Ocean. Fifty people from the 175 passengers survived, while 125 people died, the majority of the fatalities resulted from passengers who blew up their life jacket inside of the aircraft and were pushed towards the fuselage when water entered the aircraft. They were unable to escape the aircraft and drowned, the Comoro Archipelago consists of volcanic islands
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
4.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
5.
Swahili language
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Swahili, also known as Kiswahili, is a Bantu language and the first language of the Swahili people. The closely related Comorian language, spoken in the Comoros Islands, is considered a dialect. Estimates of the number of Swahili speakers vary widely, from 50 million to over 100 million. Swahili serves as a language of three nations, Tanzania, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Shikomor, the language in Comoros and also spoken in Mayotte, is related to Swahili. Swahili is also one of the languages of the African Union. A significant fraction of Swahili vocabulary is derived from Arabic through contact with Arabic-speaking Muslim inhabitants of the Swahili Coast, Swahili is traditionally regarded as being the language of coastal areas of Tanzania and Kenya. It was formalised after independence by presidents of the African Great Lakes region and it spread as a fishermans language to the various islands surrounding the Swahili Coast. Traders from these islands had extensive contact with the peoples from at least the 2nd century A. D. There is also evidence of early Zaramo people settlement on Zanzibar from Dar es Salaam in present-day Tanzania. Clove farmers from Oman and the Persian Gulf farmed the Zanzibar Archipelago, the earliest known documents written in Swahili are letters written in Kilwa in 1711 A. D. in the Arabic script that were sent to the Portuguese of Mozambique and their local allies. The original letters are now preserved in the Historical Archives of Goa, the British did not do so in neighbouring Kenya even though they made moves in that direction. Swahili was the only candidate in the two colonies. In the aftermath of Germanys defeat in the First World War, Swahili was to be subordinate to English, university education, much secondary education and governance at the highest levels would be conducted in English. One key step in spreading Swahili was to create a written language. In June 1928, a conference took place at Mombasa, at which the Zanzibar dialect. Swahili has become a language spoken by tens of millions in three African Great Lakes countries where it is an official or national language. In 2016 it was made a subject in all Kenyan schools
6.
Flag of the Comoros
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The national flag of the Union of the Comoros was designed in 2001 and officially adopted on January 7,2002. It continues to display the crescent and four stars, which is a motif that has been in use in various forms since 1975 during the independence movement. In its constitution, the government of the Comoros refers to the insigne as lemblème national, or the national emblem, the design consists of a white crescent with four white five-pointed stars inside of a green triangle. The flag has four stripes, representing four islands of the nation, yellow is for Mohéli, white is for Mayotte, red is for Anjouan, the four stars on the flag also symbolize the four islands of the Comoros. The star and crescent symbol stands for Islam, which is the major religion. The first official flag of Comoros was designed and adopted for use in 1963 by Suzanne Gauthier. It had a crescent at upper hoist facing the fly, four stars in a diagonal. This design continued to be used after independence in 1975, the flag changed in 1975 under Ali Soilih. The crescent was moved and the stars were rearranged into a diamond, two thirds of the flag became red and symbolized the regimes socialist ideology. When Ahmed Abdallah was returned to the presidency in 1978, the flag changed again and it returned to being completely green, with the crescent moving to the center of the flag and the stars forming a line between its horns. Information about the proportions of this variant suggest either a 1,2,2,3, with the adoption of a new constitution in 1992, the flag changed again such that the crescent and stars were rotated to face upward rather than down and to the right. The adoption of yet another constitution chaned the flag again in 1996, rotating the flag to face the fly and adding an inscription to the lower hoist. The inscriptions are writen in simplified Arabic with the former reading Muhammed, the proportions of this flag was reported to be 21,15. This flag was changed by referendum in 2001 to the modern one, star and crescent Comoros Comoros at Flags of the World
7.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
8.
African Union
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The African Union is a continental union consisting of all 55 countries on the African continent. It was established on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states. The AUs secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa, the objectives of the AU are, To achieve greater unity and solidarity between the African countries and Africans. To defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States, to accelerate the political and social-economic integration of the continent. To promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent, to encourage international cooperation, taking due account of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To promote peace, security, and stability on the continent, to promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance. To promote and protect human and peoples rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, to establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations. To promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies, to promote co-operation in all fields of human activity to raise the living standards of African peoples. To coordinate and harmonize the policies between the existing and future Regional Economic Communities for the attainment of the objectives of the Union. To advance the development of the continent by promoting research in all fields, in particular in science, to work with relevant international partners in the eradication of preventable diseases and the promotion of good health on the continent. The African Union is made up of political and administrative bodies. The highest decision-making organ is the Assembly of the African Union, the Assembly is chaired by Idriss Déby, President of Chad. The AU also has a body, the Pan African Parliament. Its president is Bethel Nnaemeka Amadi, the AU Commission, the secretariat to the political structures, is chaired by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa. On 15 July 2012, Ms. Dlamini-Zuma won a contested vote to become the first female head of the African Union Commission. The main administrative capital of the African Union is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a new headquarters complex, the AU Conference Center and Office Complex, was inaugurated on 28 January 2012, during the 18th AU summit. The tower is 99.9 meters high to signify the date 9 September 1999, the AU covers the entire continent except for several territories held by Spain, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom. AU troops were deployed in Sudan for peacekeeping during Darfur conflict
9.
Moroni, Comoros
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Moroni is the largest city, federal capital and seat of the government of the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean. In Comorian, Moroni translates as in the heart of the fire, perhaps alluding to the location at the foot of Mount Karthala. Moroni is the capital of the semi-autonomous island Grande Comore, the largest of the three islands of the republic. The citys estimated population in 2003 was 41,557 residents, Moroni, which lies along the Route Nationale 1, has a port and several mosques such as the Badjanani Mosque. Moroni was founded by Arab settlers, possibly during the 10th century, in December 2003, the Moroni Agreement on Transition Agreements was signed by the island presidents of the Union of Comoros. In the run up to the 2006 elections, the government-owned Radio Ngazidja and private station Moroni FM were raided by armed assailants, the city is on the western coast of Grande Comore island. Moroni has a rocky coastline, mostly without beaches. A small beach north of town at Itsandra contains the ruins of the Sultans Fort and Palace, settlements to the north of Moroni include Ntsoudjini, Ouellah, Bahani, Batsa, Vanambouani and Vanadjou, and to the south are Mvouni, Daoueni and Selea. Moroni is situated at the foot of Mount Karthala,10 kilometres northwest from the volcanos crater, the eruption of 2005 caused displacement of a large number of people due to volcanic ash. Moroni features a tropical rainforest climate, with heavy precipitation throughout the year—only October sees on average less than 100 mm of rain. The average annual rainfall is 2,700 millimetres and it rains during all months of the year, the monsoon season lasts from November to April. Humidity is in the range of 69 to 79 percent, moronis average temperatures throughout the year are relatively constant with a high in the range of 32–34 °C and a low in the range of 14–20 °C. As of 2011, Moroni had a population of about 54,000, sunni Muslims account for 98%, and there is a minority of Roman Catholics. Arabic and French are the official languages while Comorian, which is a Bantu language closely related to Swahili and heavily influenced by Arabic, is also spoken. Goods produced on the island are vanilla, cacao, coffee, soft drinks, processed and distilled essential oils, metal and wood products, and processed pozzolana, the tourist infrastructure is poorly developed. Financial institutions include Banque Centrale des Comores, Banque de Development des Comores, towards the south of Moroni are several markets, including the old market and the Dubai Market. The historic town centre, the Medina, contains a maze of narrow alleys, the old city centre is based on Zanzibars Stone Town, but is smaller. There are many mosques, notably the Badjanani Mosque pr Ancienne Mosquée de Vendredi and it was originally built in 1427, and a minaret was added in 1921
10.
Sunni Islam
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Sunni Islam is the largest group of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Sunni tradition, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and this contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts, as of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted between 87–90% of the worlds Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the worlds largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites, Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as orthodox Islam. The Quran, together with hadith and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, sunnī, also commonly referred to as Sunnīism, is a term derived from sunnah meaning habit, usual practice, custom, tradition. The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic, this branch of Islam is referred to as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, the people of the sunnah and the community, which is commonly shortened to ahl as-sunnah. One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammads death, and that Sufism and Shiism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines, the first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or Rightly-Guided Ones. Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar who established the Islamic calendar as the second, Uthman as the third, Sunnis believe that the companions of Muhammad were the best of Muslims. Support for this view is found in the Quran, according to Sunnis. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Quran, furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, Islam does not have a formal hierarchy or clergy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law, according to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a person to lead the service
11.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
12.
Demographics of the Comoros
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The Comorians inhabiting Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli share African-Arab origins. Islam is the dominant religion, and Quranic schools for children reinforce its influence, although Islamic culture is firmly established throughout, a small minority are Christian. The most common language is Comorian, related to Swahili, French and Arabic also are spoken. About 89% of the population is literate, overall population density increased to about 285 persons per square kilometer by 1994. By comparison, estimates of the density per square kilometer of the Indian Oceans other island microstates ranged from 241 to 690 in 1993. Given the rugged terrain of Ngazidja and Nzwani, and the dedication of extensive tracts to agriculture on all three islands, population pressures on the Comoros are becoming increasingly critical. The age structure of the population of the Comoros is similar to that of developing countries. In 1989,46.4 percent of the population was under fifteen years of age, an above-average proportion even for sub-Saharan Africa. The populations rate of growth was a relatively high 3.5 percent per annum in the mid 1980s, in 1983 the Abdallah regime borrowed US$2.85 million from the International Development Association to devise a national family planning program. The Comorian population has become urbanized in recent years. In 1991 the percentage of Comorians residing in cities and towns of more than 5,000 persons was about 30 percent, up from 25 percent in 1985 and 23 percent in 1980. The Comoros largest cities were the capital, Moroni, with about 30,000 people, migration among the various islands is important. Natives of Nzwani have settled in significant numbers on less crowded Mwali, causing some social tensions, in 1977 Maore expelled peasants from Ngazidja and Nzwani who had recently settled in large numbers on the island. Some were allowed to reenter starting in 1981 but solely as migrant labor. The number of Comorians living abroad has been estimated at between 80,000 and 100,000, during the period, most of them lived in Tanzania, Madagascar. The number of Comorians residing in Madagascar was drastically reduced after anti-Comorian rioting in December 1976 in Mahajanga, as many as 17,000 Comorians left Madagascar to seek refuge in their native land in 1977 alone. About 100,000 Comorians live in France, many of them had gone there for a university education, small numbers of Indians, Malagasy, South Africans, and Europeans live on the islands and play an important role in the economy. Most French left after independence in 1975 and this article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http, //lcweb2. loc. gov/frd/cs/
13.
Politics of Comoros
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Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, as of 2008, Comoros and Mauritania were considered by US-based organization Freedom House as the only real “electoral democracies” of the Arab World. The Union of the Comoros, known as the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros until 2003, is ruled by Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, the political situation in Comoros has been extremely fluid since the countrys independence in 1975, subject to the volatility of coups and political insurrection. In May 1999, Azali decreed a constitution that gave him both executive and legislative powers, bowing somewhat to international criticism, Azali appointed a civilian Prime Minister, Bainrifi Tarmidi, in December 1999, however, Azali retained the mantle of Head of State and army Commander. In December 2000, Azali named a new civilian Prime Minister, Hamada Madi, when Azali took power he also pledged to step down in April 2000 and relinquish control to a democratically elected president—a pledge with mixed results. Presidential elections were held in 2002, at which Azali Assoumani was elected President, in April 2004 legislative elections were held, completing the implementation of the new constitution. The new Union of the Comoros consists of three islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli, each island has a president, who shares the presidency of the Union on a rotating basis. The president and his vice-presidents are elected for a term of four years, the constitution states that, the islands enjoy financial autonomy, freely draw up and manage their budgets. President Assoumani Azali of Grande Comore is the first Union president, President Mohamed Bacar of Anjouan formed his 13-member government at the end of April,2003. On 15 May 2006, Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, a cleric and successful businessman educated in Iran, Saudi Arabia and he is considered a moderate Islamist and is called Ayatollah by his supporters. He beat out retired French air force officer Mohamed Djaanfari and long-time politician Ibrahim Halidi, whose candidacy was backed by Azali Assoumani, a referendum took place on May 16,2009 to decide whether to cut down the governments unwieldy political bureaucracy. 52. 7% of those eligible voted, and 93. 8% of votes were cast in approval of the referendum, the referendum would cause each islands president to become a governor and the ministers to become councilors. Comoros considers Mayotte, an overseas collectivity of France, to be part of its territory, the Union of Comoros abolished the position of Prime Minister. The Assembly of the Union has 33 seats,18 elected in single seat constituencies and 15 representatives of the regional assemblies. The Supreme Court or Cour Supreme, has two members appointed by the president, two elected by the Federal Assembly, one by the Council of each island
14.
Federation
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A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is known as federalism and it can be considered the opposite of another system, the unitary state. Federations are often multiethnic and cover an area of territory. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, at some time, that is recognized and a movement is organized to merge more closely. At other times, especially when common cultural factors are at such as ethnicity and language. The Old Swiss Confederacy was an example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, the oldest continuous federation, and a role model for many subsequent federations, is the United States. Some of the New World federations failed, the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states ten years after its founding, others, such as Argentina and Mexico, have shifted between federal, confederal, and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy, australia and Canada are also federations. Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815, the North German Confederation, the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Malaysia became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire. In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq since 2005. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government, however, a federation is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy, however, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others, an example of such a federation is Malaysia, in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia. A federation often emerges from an agreement between a number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with the United States and Switzerland, however, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models
15.
Presidential system
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A presidential system is a system of government where a head of government is also head of state and leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch. The United States, for instance, has a presidential system, the executive is elected and often titled president and is not responsible to the legislature, which cannot in normal circumstances dismiss it. Presidential systems are numerous, but the following are true, The executive can veto legislative acts and, in turn. The veto is generally derived from the British tradition of royal assent in which an act of parliament can only be enacted with the assent of the monarch, the president has a fixed term of office. Members of the cabinet serve at the pleasure of the president, cabinet ministers or executive departmental chiefs are not members of the legislature. However, presidential systems often need legislative approval of executive nominations to the cabinet, judiciary, a president generally can direct members of the cabinet, military, or any officer or employee of the executive branch, but cannot direct or dismiss judges. The president can often pardon or commute sentences of convicted criminals, countries that feature a presidential system of government are not the exclusive users of the title of president. For example, a dictator, who may or may not have been popularly or legitimately elected may be, likewise, leaders of one-party states are often called presidents. Most parliamentary republics have presidents, but this position is ceremonial, notable examples include Germany, India, Ireland, Israel. The title is used in parliamentary republics with an executive presidency. In a full-fledged presidential system, a president is chosen directly by the people or indirectly by the party to be the head of the executive branch. Presidential governments make no distinction between the positions of head of state and head of government, both of which are held by the president, a few countries have powerful presidents who are elected by the legislature. These executives are titled president, whereas in practice they are similar to prime ministers, other countries with the same system include Botswana, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Suriname. By contrast, national presidents are figurehead heads of state, like constitutional monarchs, such symbolic presidents can be directly elected by the people or indirectly by a legislative vote. Only a few nations, such as Ireland, have a popularly elected ceremonial president, subnational governments, usually states, may be structured as presidential systems. All of the governments in the United States use the presidential system. On a local level, many cities use Council-manager government, which is equivalent to a parliamentary system, some countries without a presidential system at the national level use a form of this system at a subnational or local level. Supporters generally claim four basic advantages for presidential systems, Direct elections — in a presidential system and this makes the presidents power more legitimate than that of a leader appointed indirectly
16.
Republic
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It is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their ideology, composition, in the classical and medieval period of Europe, many states were fashioned on the Roman Republic, which referred to the governance of the city of Rome, between it having kings and emperors. The Italian medieval and Renaissance political tradition, today referred to as humanism, is sometimes considered to derive directly from Roman republicans such as Sallust. Republics were not equated with classical democracies such as Athens, but had a democratic aspect, Republics became more common in the Western world starting in the late 18th century, eventually displacing absolute monarchy as the most common form of government in Europe. In modern republics, the executive is legitimized both by a constitution and by popular suffrage, for instance, Article IV of the United States Constitution guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government. The term originates as the Latin translation of Greek word politeia, cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia as res publica and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic. The term politeia can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime, and is therefore not always a word for a specific type of regime as the modern word republic is. And also amongst classical Latin, the term republic can be used in a way to refer to any regime. In medieval Northern Italy, a number of city states had commune or signoria based governments, in the late Middle Ages, writers, such as Giovanni Villani, began writing about the nature of these states and the differences from other types of regime. They used terms such as libertas populi, a free people, the terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchical states writers, most importantly Leonardo Bruni, adopted the Latin phrase res publica. While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the states of Northern Italy, which were not monarchies, the term can quite literally be translated as public matter. It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, in subsequent centuries, the English word commonwealth came to be used as a translation of res publica, and its use in English was comparable to how the Romans used the term res publica. Notably, during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell the word commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, likewise, in Polish, the term was translated as rzeczpospolita, although the translation is now only used with respect to Poland. Presently, the term republic commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the rather than from another basis. After the classical period, during the Middle Ages, many cities developed again. The modern type of itself is different from any type of state found in the classical world. Nevertheless, there are a number of states of the era that are today still called republics
17.
Azali Assoumani
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Azali Assoumani is a Comorian politician and the President of the Comoros. He has been in office since 2016, previously he was President from 1999 to 2001 and again from 2001 to 2006. He became leader of the Comoros on 30 April 1999 after leading a coup to depose acting president Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde and he won multi-party elections in 2002, prior to which he was constitutionally required to temporarily step down in order to run as a candidate. On 15 May 2016 he was declared by the Constitutional Court to have won the 2016 presidential election to succeed President Ikililou Dhoinine, Azali was born in 1959 at Mitsoudjé in south-western Grande Comore. Until he overthrew the government in 1999, he pursued a military career for two decades. Between 1977 and 1980 he trained at the Royal Military Academy in Morocco, on his return to Comoros, he joined the FAC. After the death of Abdullah and the departure of the mercenaries in 1989-1990, in 1996 he undertook further training at a French military academy and was promoted to colonel and chief of staff of the new National Army of Development. Constitutionally, the presidency is supposed to rotate every four years between the three islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli
18.
Vice President of the Comoros
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Vice-President of the Comoros is a political position in the Comoros. Vice-Presidents are appointed by the President, prior to 2011, the Presidency and the positions of the two Vice-Presidents were rotated between the three islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli. Since 2011, there have been three Vice-Presidents, one each of the islands in the Union of the Comoros. History of the office holders follows
19.
History of the Comoros
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The history of the Comoros goes back some 1,500 years. It has been inhabited by various groups throughout this time, France colonised the islands in the 19th century. The Comoros finally became independent in 1975, according to myth, the Comoros islands were first visited by Phoenician sailors. The earliest inhabitants of the islands were probably Bantu-speaking Africans, the earliest evidence of settlement of the dates from the sixth century. Traces of this culture have blended with successive waves of African, Arab. Shirazi immigrants appear to have arrived some time after the tenth century A. D, over the centuries, the Comoro Islands have been settled by a succession of diverse groups from the coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia and Madagascar. Portuguese explorers first visited the archipelago in 1505, both the British and the French turned their attention to the Comoros islands in the middle of the 19th century. William Sunley, a planter and British Consul from 1848–1866, was an influence on Anjouan, on 25 March 1841, France purchased the island of Maore, which became a colony. In 1850 Sultan Selim of Johanna island seized the American whaler Maria and imprisoned her commander, in response the United States Navy launched the Johanna Expedition in February 1852 to gain the release of Moores and extract compensation. Initially the sultan did not meet the demands, and the sloop-of-war USS Dale bombarded the fortifications, ultimately Selim paid US$1,000. Résidents were posted on the three islands, on 9 April 1908, France declared the protectorates and Mayotte a single colony, Mayotte and dependencies. On 25 July 1912, it was annexed to Madagascar as a province of that colony, from 16 June 1940 -1942 the colonial administration remained loyal to Vichy France, but 25 September 1942 -13 October 1946 they were, like Madagascar, under British occupation. Until the opening of the Suez Canal, the used to be an important refuelling and provisioning station for ships from Europe to the Indian Ocean. Independence came gradually for the Comoros, after World War II, the islands became a French overseas territory and were represented in Frances National Assembly. Internal political autonomy was granted in 1961, agreement was reached with France in 1973 for the Comoros to become independent in 1978. On July 6,1975, however, the Comorian parliament passed a resolution declaring unilateral independence, in two referendums, in December 1974 and February 1976, the population of Mayotte voted against independence from France. Mayotte thus remains under French administration, and the Comorian Government has effective control over only Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli. In 1961 it was granted autonomous rule and, seven years after the general unrest and left-wing riots of 1968, from the very beginning Mayotte refused to join the new republic and aligned itself even more firmly to the French Republic, but the other islands remained committed to independence
20.
Grande Comore
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Grande Comore is an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is the largest island in the Comoros nation, most of its population is of the Comorian ethnic group. Its population as of 2006 is about 316,600, the islands capital is Moroni, which is also the national capital. The island is made up of two volcanoes, with Mount Karthala being the countrys highest point at 2,361 m above sea level. According to the 2009 revision of the constitution of 2002, it is governed by an elected Governor, as are the other islands, the name Ngazidja is sometimes seen in the incorrect form Njazidja. For several centuries, Grande Comore was divided into a number of sultanates, including Bambao, Itsandra, Mitsamihuli, Mbajini, Hambuu, Washili, Hamahame, Mbwankuu, Mbude, the sultans were also known as mfaume. In 1886, the ruler of Bambao, Sultan Said Ali bin Said Omar declared a state of Ngazidja, usurping the other sultanates, in 1893, Sultan Said Ali was sent into exile on Réunion. In 1908, France annexed the island and the sultanates were abolished, in 1975, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli declared independence as the nation of Comoros. Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 crashed off the coast of Grande Comore on November 23,1996, in 1997, the Comoros nation began to fall apart as Anjouan and Moheli seceded. Grande Comore became the island under federal control. By 2002, however, Grande Comore was reunited with the islands under the new constitution. Abdou Soule Elbak was elected President of Grande Comore in May 2002 and he received only 17% of the vote in the first round, coming in first place, and received 60% of the vote in the runoff. He remained in his post until the July 2007 elections, at which point Mohamed Abdoulwahab won the islands presidency, prince Said Ibrahim International Airport serves the island. Media related to Grande Comore at Wikimedia Commons Comoros Island election information
21.
Anjouan
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Anjouan is an autonomous island in the Indian Ocean that forms part of the Union of the Comoros. Its chief town is Mutsamudu and, as of 2006, its population is around 277,500, the total area of the island is 424 square kilometers. The first inhabitants of the island were explorers and immigrants from Indonesia and Polynesia, after that people all around the Indian Ocean began to come to Anjouan and the Comoro Islands. In about 1500, the Sultanate of Ndzuwani was founded, which took over the entire island, the sultanate was the most powerful of all the Comorian sultanates. In 1816, Sultan Alawi bin Husein requested French assistance against the Sultanate of Zanzibar which was threatening his domain, the island came under French protection in 1886. France abolished slavery in then-Ndzuwani in 1899, and formally annexed it in 1912, the strictly republican annexation was opposed by the last reigning sultan but his meager forces were crushed when they offered resistance. John Mucknell marooned his enemies on Anjouan in 1644 and his ship, the John, was owned by the East India Company, but after ridding himself of opposition in this manner, he turned pirate and returned to Britain. Anjouan joined the State of Comoros when it became independent in 1975, in 1997, the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli seceded from the Comoros. On 3 August 1997, Anjouan declared itself the independent State of Anjouan with Foundi Abdallah Ibrahim as president, an independence referendum was subsequently held in October, with over 99% voting in favour. The island then asked to be integrated again into the French Republic, a constitution was adopted for Anjouan in a referendum on 25 February 1998. In 1999, Anjouan had internal conflicts and on 1 August of that year, the government was overthrown in a coup by army and navy officers on 9 August 2001. Mohamed Bacar soon rose to leadership of the junta took over. Despite two coup attempts in the three months, including one by Abeid, Bacar’s government remained in power, and was apparently more willing to negotiate with Comoros. Bacar was elected for a 5-year term as President of the island of Anjouan and his term expired on 14 April 2007 and the president of the assembly, Houmadi Caambi, became acting president from 15 April until he was overthrown by forces loyal to Bacar on 10 May. Peace talks were held between the government and the regime in Anjouan and agreed to hold free elections in which Mohamed Bacar would stand. Although the Union government delayed the election - citing alleged irregularities and intimidation — Bacar unilaterally printed ballots, the result, due to electoral fraud, was an overwhelming victory of 90 percent. In July 2007, he again declared the island of Anjouan to be independent of the Comoros. In February 2008, the Comoros rejected the African Unions extended sanctions against Anjouan, in early March, the Comoros armed forces and around 400 international reinforcements from the African Union assembled on the island of Mohéli
22.
French Madagascar
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The Colony of Madagascar and Dependencies was a French colony off the coast of Southeast Africa between 1897 and 1958. The Franco-Hova Wars resulted in the fall of the Merina Kingdom, nationalist sentiment against French colonial rule emerged among a group of Merina intellectuals. The group, based in Antananarivo, was led by a Malagasy Protestant clergyman, Pastor Ravelojoana, a secret society dedicated to affirming Malagasy cultural identity was formed in 1913, calling itself Iron and Stone Ramification. Although the VVS was brutally suppressed, its actions eventually led French authorities to provide the Malagasy with their first representative voice in government, Malagasy veterans of military service in France during World War I bolstered the embryonic nationalist movement. Throughout the 1920s, the nationalists stressed labor reform and equality of civil and political status for the Malagasy, a number of veterans who remained in France were exposed to French political thought, most notably the anti-colonial and pro-independence platforms of socialist parties. Jean Ralaimongo, for example, returned to Madagascar in 1924, among the first concessions to Malagasy equality was the formation in 1924 of two economic and financial delegations. One was composed of French settlers, the other of twenty-four Malagasy representatives elected by the Council of Notables in each of twenty-four districts, the two sections never met together, and neither had real decision-making authority. Only in the aftermath of World War II was France willing to accept a form of Malagasy self-rule under French tutelage, in the fall of 1945, separate French and Malagasy electoral colleges voted to elect representatives from Madagascar to the Constituent Assembly of the Fourth Republic in Paris. Several smaller MDRM rivals included the Party of the Malagasy Disinherited, the 1946 constitution of the French Fourth Republic made Madagascar a territoire doutre-mer within the French Union. It accorded full citizenship to all Malagasy parallel with that enjoyed by citizens in France, but the assimilationist policy inherent in its framework was incongruent with the MDRM goal of full independence for Madagascar, so Ravoahangy and Raseta abstained from voting. The two delegates also objected to the separate French and Malagasy electoral colleges, even though Madagascar was represented in the French National Assembly, the constitution divided Madagascar administratively into a number of provinces, each of which was to have a locally elected provincial assembly. Not long after, a National Representative Assembly was constituted at Antananarivo, in the first elections for the provincial assemblies, the MDRM won all seats or a majority of seats, except in Mahajanga Province. Despite these reforms, the scene in Madagascar remained unstable. Many of the veterans felt they had been well treated by France than had veterans from metropolitan France. The blend of fear, respect, and emulation on which Franco-Malagasy relations had been based seemed at an end, on March 29,1947, Malagasy nationalists revolted against the French. Although the uprising spread over one-third of the island, the French were able to restore order after reinforcements arrived from France. Casualties among the Malagasy were estimated in the 11,000 to 80,000 range, the group of leaders responsible for the uprising, which came to be referred to as the Revolt of 1947, never has been identified conclusively. Although the MDRM leadership consistently maintained its innocence, the French outlawed the party, French military courts tried the military leaders of the revolt and executed twenty of them
23.
Overseas France
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Overseas France consists of all the French-administered territories outside of the European continent. Their citizens have French nationality and vote for the president of France and they have the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament. From a legal and administrative standpoint, overseas regions are different from overseas collectivities. Overseas regions have exactly the same status as mainland Frances regions, in the French overseas regions, laws cannot be adapted whereas the overseas collectivities are empowered to make their own laws, except in certain areas. The overseas collectivities are governed by elected assemblies and by the French Parliament. Overseas France has an economic zone of 9,821,231 km². Guadeloupe French Guiana Martinique Réunion Mayotte 1976–2003, sui generis overseas territory, 2001–2003, with the designation departmental community, 2003–2011, in the 2009 Mahoran status referendum, Mahorans voted to become an overseas department in 2011, which occurred on March 31,2011. The category of overseas collectivity was created by Frances constitutional reform of March 28,2003, each overseas collectivity has its own statutory laws. French Polynesia In 2004 it was given the designation of overseas country, despite being given the political status of overseas collectivity, Saint Pierre et Miquelon is called collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, literally territorial collectivity. It is still referred to as a territoire. Saint Martin, In 2003, the populations of St. Martin, on February 7,2007, the French Parliament passed a bill granting COM status to both jurisdictions. The new status took effect on February 22,2007 when the law was published in the Journal Officiel and they remain part of the European Union, as stated in the Treaty of Lisbon. It is currently the only overseas territory, according to law 2007-224 of February 21,2007, the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean constitute the 5th district of TAAF. New Caledonia was classified as an overseas territory beginning in 1946, a New Caledonian citizenship was established, and a gradual transfer of power from the French state to New Caledonia itself was begun, to last from 15 to 20 years. Clipperton Island is a 9 km2 coral atoll located 1,280 km south-west of Acapulco, Mexico and it is held as state private property under the direct authority of the French government, and is administered by Frances Overseas Minister. With 2,691,000 inhabitants in 2013, Overseas France account for 4. 1% of the population of the French Republic and they enjoy a corresponding representation in the two chambers of the French Parliament. In the 13th Legislature, Overseas France is represented by 27 députés in the French National Assembly,2004, Official website Overseas France at DMOZ
24.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
25.
Geography of the Comoros
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The Comoros archipelago consists of four main islands aligned along a northwest-southeast axis at the north end of the Mozambique Channel, between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar. Still widely known by their French names, the islands officially have been called by their Swahili names by the Comorian government and they are Grande Comore, Mohéli, Anjouan, and Mayotte. The islands have a land area of 2,236 square kilometers. Mount Karthala on Grande Comore is an active volcano, from April 17 to 19,2005, the volcano began spewing ash and gas, forcing as many as 10,000 people to flee. Geographic coordinates, 12°10′S 44°15′E Grande Comore is the largest island, sixty-seven kilometers long and twenty-seven kilometers wide, the most recently formed of the four islands in the archipelago, it is also of volcanic origin. A plateau averaging 600 to 700 meters high connects the two mountains, because Grande Comore is geologically a relatively new island, its soil is thin and rocky and cannot hold water. As a result, water from the heavy rainfall must be stored in catchment tanks. There are no coral reefs along the coast, and the island lacks a good harbor for ships, one of the largest remnants of the Comoros once-extensive rain forests is on the slopes of Kartala. The national capital has been at Moroni since 1962, Anjouan, triangular shaped and forty kilometers from apex to base, has an area of 424 square kilometers. Three mountain chains — Sima, Nioumakele, and Jimilime—emanate from a peak, Mtingui. Older than Grande Comore, Anjouan has deeper soil cover, a coral reef lies close to shore, the islands capital of Mutsamudu is also its main port. Mohéli is thirty kilometers long and twelve wide, with an area of 290 square kilometers. It is the smallest of the four islands and has a mountain chain reaching 860 meters at its highest. Like Grande Comore, it retains stands of rain forest, because of greater weathering of the volcanic rock, the soil is relatively rich in some areas. A well-developed coral reef that encircles much of the island ensures protection for ships, dzaoudzi, capital of the Comoros until 1962 and now Mayottes administrative center, is situated on a rocky outcropping off the east shore of the main island. Dzaoudzi is linked by a causeway to le Pamanzi, which at ten kilometers in area is the largest of several islets adjacent to Mayotte, islets are also scattered in the coastal waters of Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli. A live specimen was caught in 1938 off southern Africa, other coelacanths have since found in the vicinity of the Comoro Islands. Several mammals are unique to the islands themselves, livingstones fruit bat, although plentiful when discovered by explorer David Livingstone in 1863, has been reduced to a population of about 120, entirely on Anjouan
26.
Gross domestic product
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Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
27.
Purchasing power parity
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Observed deviations of the exchange rate from purchasing power parity are measured by deviations of the real exchange rate from its PPP value of 1. PPP exchange rates help to minimize misleading international comparisons that can arise with the use of exchange rates. For example, suppose that two countries produce the same amounts of goods as each other in each of two different years. But if one countrys GDP is converted into the countrys currency using PPP exchange rates instead of observed market exchange rates. The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century, the best-known purchasing power adjustment is the Geary–Khamis dollar. The real exchange rate is equal to the nominal exchange rate. If purchasing power parity held exactly, then the exchange rate would always equal one. However, in practice the exchange rates exhibit both short run and long run deviations from this value, for example due to reasons illuminated in the Balassa–Samuelson theorem. There can be marked differences between purchasing power adjusted incomes and those converted via market exchange rates. This discrepancy has large implications, for instance, when converted via the exchange rates GDP per capita in India is about US$1,965 while on a PPP basis it is about US$7,197. At the other extreme, Denmarks nominal GDP per capita is around US$62,100, the purchasing power parity exchange rate serves two main functions. PPP exchange rates can be useful for making comparisons between countries because they stay fairly constant from day to day or week to week and only change modestly, if at all, from year to year. The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries, people in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and this is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries. Thus, it is necessary to make adjustments for differences in the quality of goods, furthermore, the basket of goods representative of one economy will vary from that of another, Americans eat more bread, Chinese more rice. Hence a PPP calculated using the US consumption as a base will differ from that calculated using China as a base, additional statistical difficulties arise with multilateral comparisons when more than two countries are to be compared. Various ways of averaging bilateral PPPs can provide a stable multilateral comparison. These are all issues of indexing, as with other price indices there is no way to reduce complexity to a single number that is equally satisfying for all purposes
28.
Gini coefficient
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The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nations residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality. It was developed by the Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini, the Gini coefficient measures the inequality among values of a frequency distribution. A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, where all values are the same, a Gini coefficient of 1 expresses maximal inequality among values. However, a greater than one may occur if some persons represent negative contribution to the total. For larger groups, values close to or above 1 are very unlikely in practice, the exception to this is in the redistribution of wealth resulting in a minimum income for all people. When the population is sorted, if their distribution were to approximate a well known function. The Gini coefficient was proposed by Gini as a measure of inequality of income or wealth, the global income Gini coefficient in 2005 has been estimated to be between 0.61 and 0.68 by various sources. There are some issues in interpreting a Gini coefficient, the same value may result from many different distribution curves. The demographic structure should be taken into account, Countries with an aging population, or with a baby boom, experience an increasing pre-tax Gini coefficient even if real income distribution for working adults remains constant. Scholars have devised over a dozen variants of the Gini coefficient, the line at 45 degrees thus represents perfect equality of incomes. The Gini coefficient can then be thought of as the ratio of the area lies between the line of equality and the Lorenz curve over the total area under the line of equality. It is also equal to 2A and to 1 - 2B due to the fact that A + B =0.5. If all people have non-negative income, the Gini coefficient can theoretically range from 0 to 1, in practice, both extreme values are not quite reached. If negative values are possible, then the Gini coefficient could theoretically be more than 1, normally the mean is assumed positive, which rules out a Gini coefficient less than zero. An alternative approach would be to consider the Gini coefficient as half of the mean absolute difference. The effects of income policy due to redistribution can be seen in the linear relationships. An informative simplified case just distinguishes two levels of income, low and high, if the high income group is u % of the population and earns a fraction f % of all income, then the Gini coefficient is f − u. An actual more graded distribution with these same values u and f will always have a higher Gini coefficient than f − u, the proverbial case where the richest 20% have 80% of all income would lead to an income Gini coefficient of at least 60%
29.
Human Development Index
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The Human Development Index is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. A country scores higher HDI when the lifespan is higher, the level is higher. The 2010 Human Development Report introduced an Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, while the simple HDI remains useful, it stated that the IHDI is the actual level of human development, and the HDI can be viewed as an index of potential human development. The origins of the HDI are found in the annual Human Development Reports produced by the Human Development Reports Office of the United Nations Development Programme, nobel laureate Amartya Sen, utilized Haqs work in his own work on human capabilities. The following three indices are used,1, Life Expectancy Index = LE −2085 −20 LEI is 1 when Life expectancy at birth is 85 and 0 when Life expectancy at birth is 20. Education Index = MYSI + EYSI22.1 Mean Years of Schooling Index = MYS15 Fifteen is the maximum of this indicator for 2025. 2.2 Expected Years of Schooling Index = EYS18 Eighteen is equivalent to achieving a degree in most countries. Income Index = ln − ln ln − ln II is 1 when GNI per capita is $75,000 and 0 when GNI per capita is $100. Finally, the HDI is the mean of the previous three normalized indices, HDI = LEI ⋅ EI ⋅ II3. Standard of living, as indicated by the logarithm of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. This methodology was used by the UNDP until their 2011 report, the formula defining the HDI is promulgated by the United Nations Development Programme. The 2016 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme was released on March 21,2017, below is the list of the very high human development countries, = increase. The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in the 2015 report, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is a measure of the average level of human development of people in a society once inequality is taken into account. The rankings are not relative to the HDI list above due to the exclusion of countries which are missing IHDI data. Countries in the top quartile of HDI with a missing IHDI, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Brunei, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The 2015 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme was released on December 14,2015, below is the list of the very high human development countries, = increase. The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in the 2014 report, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is a measure of the average level of human development of people in a society once inequality is taken into account. Note, The green arrows, red arrows, and blue dashes represent changes in rank, the rankings are not relative to the HDI list above due to the exclusion of countries which are missing IHDI data
30.
Comorian franc
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The franc is the official currency of Comoros. It is nominally subdivided into 100 centimes, although no centime denominations have ever been issued, the French franc became the currency of Comoros after the islands became a French protectorate in 1886. In 1891, Sultan Said Ali bin Said Omar of Grande Comore, Ngazidja issued coins denominated in centimes, in 1912, the Comoros became a province of Madagascar, which was a French possession. French banknotes and coins circulated in the colony, apart from an emergency issue of small change notes in 1920, the French currency circulated alone until 1925. The Malagasy franc was equivalent to the French franc and French coins continued to circulate as Madagascar had no coins of its own until 1943. When the Comoros became a separate French territory in 1945, the name of the bank was changed to the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores. A branch office opened in Comoros in 1953, while the banknotes were changed to reflect the new status of Comoros, the coins were not changed and bore only the name Madagascar. On 26 December 1945, the Madagascar-Comores CFA franc was established, old Madagascar coins and banknotes continued to circulate as this new currency. On 17 October 1948, the CFA franc was revalued to 2 French francs, in 1950, the French government took over majority ownership of the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores. On 1 January 1960, the French franc was revalued, with 100 old francs becoming 1 new franc, the new exchange rate was 1 Madagascar-Comores CFA franc =0.02 French francs. On 26 June 1960, Madagascar gained independence from France, Madagascar left the CFA zone effective 1 July 1973. Sixty-five percent of the foreign reserves of Comoros are held in euros in this account. This account is similar to overnight deposits with the French Treasury, it may bear interest and may, in special circumstances, however, to prevent this account from showing a lasting overdraft, a number of preventative measures have been set up. The ministers of finance of the area meet biannually. The agreement between France and the Comoros is essentially the same as the agreement France has with the CFA Zone and it is a continuation of a relationship of monetary cooperation between the two countries that has existed for more than a century. Until 1994, the Comorian franc was pegged to the French franc at the rate of 50 Comorian francs to 1 French franc and this was changed on January 12,1994, when the currency was devalued in concert with the CFA franc devaluation. However, the Comorian franc was devalued 33⅓% to a new rate of 75 Comorian francs for 1 French franc, with the creation of the euro in January 1999, the Comorian franc was pegged, at its prevailing rate, to the new currency. The exchange rate is now 491.96775 Comorian francs to 1 euro, the post of Deputy Director of the Central Bank of the Comoros is held by a Banque de France official, who is responsible for monetary policy
31.
ISO 4217
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The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
32.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
33.
Left- and right-hand traffic
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This is so fundamental to traffic flow that it is sometimes referred to as the rule of the road. About two-thirds of the population use RHT, with the remaining 76 countries and territories using LHT. Countries that use LHT account for about a sixth of the worlds area, in the early 1900s some countries including Canada, Spain, and Brazil had different rules in different parts of the country. During the 1900s many countries standardised within their jurisdictions, and changed from LHT to RHT, in 1919,104 of the worlds territories were LHT and an equal number were RHT. From 1919 to 1986,34 of the LHT territories switched to RHT, many of the countries with LHT are former British colonies in the Caribbean, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Mozambique, Suriname, East Timor, in Europe, only four countries still drive on the left, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus, all of which are islands. Nearly all countries use one side or the other throughout their entire territory, most exceptions are due to historical considerations and involve islands with no road connection to the main part of a country. China is RHT except the Special Administrative Regions of China of Hong Kong, the United States is RHT except the United States Virgin Islands. The United Kingdom is LHT, but its overseas territories of Gibraltar, according to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, water traffic is RHT. For aircraft the US Federal Aviation Regulations provide for passing on the right, light rail vehicles generally operate on the same side as other road traffic in the country. Many countries use RHT for automobiles but LHT for trains, often because of the influence of the British on early railway systems, in some countries rail traffic remained LHT after automobile traffic switched to RHT, for example in China, Brazil, and Argentina. However, France, Belgium, and Switzerland have used RHT for automobiles since their introduction, there is no technical reason to prefer one side over the other. Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman troops kept to the left when marching, in 1998, archaeologists found a well-preserved double track leading to a Roman quarry near Swindon. The first reference in English law to an order for LHT was in 1756, northcote Parkinson, believed that ancient travellers on horseback or on foot generally kept to the left, since most people were right handed. If two men riding on horseback were to start a fight, each would edge toward the left, in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII directed pilgrims to keep left. In the late 1700s, traffic in the United States was RHT based on use of large freight wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. The wagons had no seat, so a postilion sat on the left rear horse. Seated on the left, the driver preferred that other wagons pass him on the left so that he could be sure to keep clear of the wheels of oncoming wagons, in France, traditionally foot traffic had kept right, while carriage traffic kept left
34.
Mayotte
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Mayotte is an insular department and region of France officially named Département de Mayotte. It consists of an island, Grande-Terre, a smaller island, Petite-Terre. The archipelago is located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeast Africa, the department status of Mayotte is recent and the region remains the poorest in France. Mayotte is nevertheless much more prosperous than the countries of the Mozambique Channel. Mayottes area is 374 square kilometres and, with its 212,645 people, is densely populated at 569 per km². The biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou on Grande-Terre, however, the Dzaoudzi–Pamandzi International Airport is located on the neighbouring island of Petite-Terre. The territory is part of the Comoro Islands. The territory is known as Maore, the native name of its main island. The language of the majority is Shimaore, a Bantu language variety closely related to the varieties in the neighbouring Comoros islands, the second most widely spoken native language is Kibushi, a Malagasy language variety most closely related to the Sakalava dialect of Malagasy with influences from Shimaore. The vast majority of the population is Muslim, the island was populated from neighbouring East Africa with later arrival of Arabs, who brought the Islamic religion. A sultanate was established in 1500, the people of Mayotte voted to remain politically a part of France in the 1974 referendum. The term Mayotte may refer to all of the islands, of which the largest is known as Maore and includes Maores surrounding islands, most notably Pamanzi. The main island, Grande-Terre, geologically the oldest of the Comoro Islands, is 39 kilometres long and 22 kilometres wide, because of the volcanic rock, the soil is relatively rich in some areas. A coral reef encircling much of the island ensures protection for ships, Dzaoudzi was the capital of Mayotte until 1977. It is situated on Petite-Terre, which at 10 square kilometres is the largest of several islets adjacent to Maore, in 1500, the Maore or Mawuti sultanate was established on the island. In 1503, Mayotte was observed by Portuguese explorers, but not colonized, in 1832, Mayotte was conquered by Andriantsoly, former king of Iboina on Madagascar, in 1833, it was conquered by the neighbouring sultanate of Mwali. On 19 November 1835, Mayotte was again conquered by the Ndzuwani Sultanate, however, in 1836 it regained its independence under a last local Sultan. Mayotte was purchased by France in 1841 and it was the only island in the archipelago that voted in referendums in 1974 and 1976 to retain its link with France and forgo independence
0.497[4]
listen); Arabic: جزر القمر, Juzur al-Qumur / Qamar), officially the Union of the Comoros (Comorian: Udzima wa Komori, French: Union des Comores, Arabic: الاتحاد القمري al-Ittiḥād al-Qumurī / Qamarī), is a sovereign archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel off the eastern coast of Africa between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar. Other countries near the Comoros are Tanzania to the northwest and the Seychelles to the northeast, its capital is Moroni, on Grande Comore. The Union of the Comoros has three official languages – Comorian, Arabic and French. The religion of the majority of the population is Sunni Islam.
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