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{{History of Comoros}}
The '''history of the Comoros''' extends back to about 800–1000 AD when the archipelago was first inhabited. The [[Comoros]] have been inhabited by various groups and [[List of sultans on the Comoros|sultanates]] throughout this time. France colonised the islands in the 19th century, and they became independent in 1975.{{sfn|Ottenheimer|Ottenheimer|1994|p={{page needed|date=September 2022}} }}

== Prehistory ==
The Comoros archipelago, of volcanic origin, was formed during the [[Cenozoic era]]. Seismic reflection data acquired during the SISMAORE survey indicate that [[Mayotte]] is the oldest edifice, with volcanism starting around 26.5 Ma; at the other end, Grande Comore remains active, dominated by [[Mount Karthala]] and a recent tectono-volcanic field identified offshore around the archipelago.<ref>{{Cite journal |language=en |last1=Masquelet |first1=Charles |last2=Leroy |first2=Sylvie |last3=Delescluse |first3=Matthias |last4=Chamot-Rooke |first4=Nicolas |last5=Thinon |first5=Isabelle |title=The East-Mayotte new volcano in the Comoros Archipelago: structure and timing of magmatic phases inferred from seismic reflection data |journal=Comptes Rendus Geoscience |volume=354 |issue=S2 |pages=65–79 |date=2022 |doi=10.5802/crgeos.154 |url=https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/geoscience/articles/10.5802/crgeos.154/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |language=en |last1=Thinon |first1=Isabelle |last2=Leroy |first2=Sylvie |last3=Delescluse |first3=Matthias |last4=Masquelet |first4=Charles |last5=Rusquet |first5=Aude |title=Volcanism and tectonics unveiled in the Comoros Archipelago between Africa and Madagascar |journal=Comptes Rendus Geoscience |volume=354 |issue=S2 |pages=81–115 |date=2022 |doi=10.5802/crgeos.159 |url=https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/geoscience/articles/10.5802/crgeos.159/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |language=en |last1=Thivet |first1=Simon |last2=Carlier |first2=Jean |last3=Gurioli |first3=Lucia |last4=Di Muro |first4=Alessandro |last5=Besson |first5=Pierre |title=Magmatic and phreatomagmatic contributions on the ash-dominated basaltic eruptions: Insights from the April and November–December 2005 paroxysmal events at Karthala volcano (Comoros) |journal=Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research |volume=424 |article-number=107500 |date=2022 |doi=10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2022.107500 |bibcode=2022JVGR..42407500T |url=https://uca.hal.science/hal-03578724 }}</ref>

Before the first human settlements, the archipelago likely had no native terrestrial mammals, apart from fruit bats of the genus ''Pteropus'' and other chiropterans, natural colonizers of oceanic islands.<ref>{{Cite journal |language=en |last1=Weyeneth |first1=Nicole |last2=Goodman |first2=Steven M. |last3=Stanley |first3=William T. |last4=Ruedi |first4=Manuel |title=The biogeography of Miniopterus bats (Chiroptera: Miniopteridae) from the Comoro Archipelago inferred from mitochondrial DNA |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=17 |issue=24 |pages=5205–5219 |date=2008 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-294X.2008.03994.x |pmid=19067798 |bibcode=2008MolEc..17.5205W }}</ref>

==Early settlement and migrations==
Genetic studies based on uniparental markers indicate that the Comorian population has a tri-continental ancestry—African, Island Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern—resulting from early admixture events that began during the first millennium CE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Msaidie |first1=Said |last2=Ducourneau |first2=Axel |last3=Boetsch |first3=Gilles |last4=Longepied |first4=Guy |last5=Papa |first5=Kassim |last6=Allibert |first6=Claude |last7=Yahaya |first7=Ali Ahmed |last8=Chiaroni |first8=Jacques |last9=Mitchell |first9=Michael J. |title=Genetic diversity on the Comoros Islands shows early seafaring as major determinant of human biocultural evolution in the Western Indian Ocean |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |date=2011 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=89–94 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2010.128 |pmid=20700146 |pmc=3039498}}</ref>

=== Austronesian settlement (8th–13th centuries CE) ===
Multiple lines of evidence suggest that the Comoros were initially settled by Austronesian-speaking sailors, probably from Island Southeast Asia, between the 8th and 13th centuries CE, in parallel with the colonisation of Madagascar.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crowther |first1=Alison |last2=Lucas |first2=Leilani |last3=Helm |first3=Richard |last4=Horton |first4=Mark |last5=Shipton |first5=Ceri |last6=Wright |first6=Henry T. |last7=Walshaw |first7=Sarah |last8=Pawlowicz |first8=Matthew |last9=Radimilahy |first9=Chantal |last10=Douka |first10=Katerina |last11=Picornell-Gelabert |first11=Llorenç |last12=Fuller |first12=Dorian Q. |last13=Boivin |first13=Nicole L. |title=Ancient crops provide first archaeological signature of the westward Austronesian expansion |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=2016-06-14 |volume=113 |issue=24 |pages=6635–6640 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1522714113 |pmid=27247383 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113.6635C |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Archaeobotanical findings from early sites such as Sima (Anjouan) show Asian crops including rice (''indica'' and ''japonica''), mung bean and cotton predominating over African staples, supporting an Island Southeast Asian origin.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.shh.mpg.de/308075/Boivin-Archaeology-of-the-Comoros |title=Archaeology of the Comoros: Tracking Human Arrivals and the Emergence of Trade Links |publisher=Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History |access-date=7 September 2025}}</ref>  

Genome-wide analyses identify an Austronesian genetic contribution of around 20 percent in Comorian populations, with variation between islands.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brucato |first1=Nicolas |last2=Fernandes |first2=Veronica |last3=Mazières |first3=Stéphane |last4=Kusuma |first4=Pradiptajati |last5=Cox |first5=Murray P. |last6=Ng’ang’a |first6=Joseph Wainaina |last7=Omar |first7=Mohammed |last8=Simeone-Senelle |first8=Marie-Claude |last9=Frassati |first9=Coralie |last10=Alshamali |first10=Farida |last11=Fin |first11=Bertrand |last12=Boland |first12=Anne |last13=Deleuze |first13=Jean-François |last14=Stoneking |first14=Mark |last15=Adelaar |first15=Alexander |last16=Crowther |first16=Alison |last17=Boivin |first17=Nicole |last18=Pereira |first18=Luisa |last19=Bailly |first19=Pascal |last20=Chiaroni |first20=Jacques |last21=Ricaut |first21=François-Xavier |title=The Comoros Show the Earliest Austronesian Gene Flow into the Swahili Corridor |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |date=2018-01-04 |volume=102 |issue=1 |pages=58–68 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.11.011 |pmid=29304377 |pmc=5777450}}</ref>  

[[File:Chronological dispersal of Austronesian people across the Pacific.svg|thumb|400px|Chronological dispersal of [[Austronesian peoples]] across the [[Indo-Pacific]]<ref name="Chambers2013">{{cite book |last1=Chambers |first1=Geoff |title=eLS |chapter=Genetics and the Origins of the Polynesians |publisher= John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|date=2013 |doi=10.1002/9780470015902.a0020808.pub2|isbn=978-0470016176 }}</ref>]]

=== Dembeni phase and early Islam (9th–12th centuries) ===
Archaeology identifies a Dembeni cultural horizon (Mayotte and neighboring islands) with multiple sites (9th–10th and 11th–12th centuries) engaged in long-distance Indian Ocean trade.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=Henry T. |last2=Sinopoli |first2=Carla |last3=Wojnaroski |first3=Laura |last4=Hoffman |first4=Ellen S. |last5=Scott |first5=Susan L. |last6=Redding |first6=Richard W. |last7=Goodman |first7=Steven M. |title=Early Seafarers of the Comoro Islands: the Dembeni Phase of the IXth–Xth Centuries AD |journal=Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa |date=1984 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=13–59 |doi=10.1080/00672708409511327}}</ref> Finds include early Chinese and Persian ceramics and abundant Malagasy rock crystal, indicating wealth and integration into Abbasid then Fatimid trade circuits; funerary evidence (Mecca-oriented burials) points to early Islamisation by the 11th–12th centuries.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pradines |first=Stéphane |title=Islamic Archaeology in the Comoros: The Swahili and the Rock Crystal Trade with the Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates |journal=Journal of Islamic Archaeology |date=2019 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=109–135 |doi=10.1558/jia.39521}}</ref>

=== Bantu–Swahili integrations and regional networks (late 1st millennium onward) ===
From the late first millennium, Bantu-speaking groups from the East African coast settled and intermingled with earlier Austronesian settlers, embedding the islands within Swahili cultural and commercial networks across the western Indian Ocean.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Allibert |first=Claude |editor-last=Shillington |editor-first=Kevin |title=History of the Comoro Islands |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2022-02-24 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.1043 |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Beaujard |first=Philippe |title=East Africa and oceanic exchange networks between the first and fifteenth centuries |journal=Afriques |date=2015 |volume=6 |doi=10.4000/afriques.3097 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/3097 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Shirazi and Hadhrami influences (15th–16th centuries) ===
By the 15th century, Persian-Gulf–linked Shirazi elites and merchants established ports and ruling houses, consolidating Comorian links to the Swahili corridor; in the 16th century, Hadhrami lineages reinforced these dynasties through kinship and religious authority.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Allibert |first=Claude |editor-last=Shillington |editor-first=Kevin |title=History of the Comoro Islands |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2022-02-24 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.1043 |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Walker |first=Iain |title=From Moroni to Mukalla: Hadhramis on the island of Ngazidja (Comoros) and in the Hadhramhout |journal=Journal des Africanistes |date=2002 |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=111–121 |doi=10.3406/jafr.2002.1309}}</ref>
Over the centuries, the Comoros have been settled by a succession of diverse groups from the coast of Africa, the [[Persian Gulf]], [[Southeast Asia]] and Madagascar.

==European contact and expansion==
[[File:Map of Anjouan,Comoros (1748) Jacques Nicolas Bellin.png|thumb|Map of Anjouan (1748) by French hydrographer  [[Jacques Nicolas Bellin]]]]

Portuguese explorers first visited the archipelago in 1505.

Apart from a visit by the French [[Jean Parmentier (explorer)|Parmentier]] brothers in 1529, for much of the 16th century the only Europeans to visit the islands were Portuguese.  British and Dutch ships began arriving around the start of the 17th century and the island of [[Ndzwani]] soon became a major supply point on the route to the East Indies.  Ndzwani was generally ruled by a single sultan, who occasionally attempted to extend his authority to [[Mayotte]] and [[Mwali]]; [[Ngazidja]] was more fragmented, on occasion being divided into as many as 12 small kingdoms.

Sir [[James Lancaster]]'s voyage to the Indian Ocean in 1591 was the first attempt by the English to break into the spice trade, which was dominated by the Portuguese.  Only one of his four ships made it back from the Indies on that voyage, and that one with a decimated crew of 5 men and a boy.  Lancaster himself was marooned by a cyclone on the Comoros.  Many of his crew were speared to death by angry islanders although Lancaster found his way home in 1594.  (Dalrymple W. 2019; Bloomsbury Publishing {{ISBN|1635573955}}).

Both the British and the French turned their attention to the Comoros islands in the middle of the 19th century. The French finally acquired the islands through a cunning mixture of strategies, including the policy of "divide and conquer", [[Checkbook diplomacy|chequebook politics]] and a [[serendipity|serendipitous]] affair between a sultana and a French trader that was put to good use by the French, who kept control of the islands, quelling unrest and the occasional uprising.

William Sunley, a planter and British Consul from 1848 to 1866, was an influence on [[Anjouan]].

==French Comoros==
{{For|the history of the native sultanates on several of the major islands|List of sultans on the Comoros}}

France's presence in the western Indian Ocean dates to the early 17th century.<ref name=m148>{{harvnb|Metz|1995|p=148}}.</ref> The French established a settlement in southern [[Madagascar]] in 1634 and occupied the islands of [[Réunion]] and [[Rodrigues]]; in 1715 France claimed [[Mauritius]] ({{lang|fr|Île de France}}), and in 1756 [[Seychelles]].<ref name=m148/> When France ceded Mauritius, Rodrigues, and Seychelles to Britain in 1814, it lost its Indian Ocean ports; Reunion, which remained French, did not offer a suitable natural harbor.<ref name=m148/> In 1840 France acquired the island of [[Nosy-Be]] off the northwestern coast of Madagascar, but its potential as a port was limited.<ref name=m148/> In 1841 the governor of Reunion, [[Anne Chrétien Louis de Hell|Admiral de Hell]], negotiated with Andrian Souli, the Malagasy ruler of [[Mayotte]], to cede Mayotte to France.<ref>{{harvnb|Metz|1995|pp=148–149}}.</ref> Mahore offered a suitable site for port facilities, and its acquisition was justified by de Hell on the grounds that if France did not act, Britain would occupy the island.<ref name=m149>{{harvnb|Metz|1995|p=149}}.</ref>

Although France had established a foothold in Comoros, the acquisition of the other islands proceeded fitfully.<ref name=m149/> At times the French were spurred on by the threat of British intervention, especially on Nzwani, and at other times, by the constant anarchy resulting from the sultans' wars upon each other.<ref name=m149/> In the 1880s, [[German East Africa|Germany's growing influence]] on the East African coast added to the concerns of the French.<ref name=m149/> Not until 1908, however, did the four Comoro Islands become part of France's [[French Madagascar|colony of Madagascar]] and not until 1912 did the last sultan abdicate.<ref name=m149/> Then, a colonial administration took over the islands and established a capital at Dzaoudzi on Mahore.<ref name=m149/> Treaties of protectorate status marked a transition point between independence and annexation; such treaties were signed with the rulers of Njazidja, Nzwani, and Mwali in 1886.<ref name=m149/>

The effects of French colonialism were mixed, at best.<ref name=m149/> Colonial rule brought an end to the institution of [[Slavery in the Comoros]], but economic and social differences between former slaves and free persons and their descendants persisted.<ref name=m149/> Health standards improved with the introduction of modern medicine, and the population increased about 50 percent between 1900 and 1960.<ref name=m149/> France continued to dominate the economy.<ref name=m149/> Food crop cultivation was neglected as French {{lang|fr|sociétés}} (companies) established cash crop plantations in the coastal regions.<ref name=m149/> The result was an economy dependent on the exporting of [[vanilla]], [[ylang-ylang]], [[clove]]s, [[Theobroma cacao|cocoa]], [[copra]], and other tropical crops.<ref name=m149/> Most profits obtained from exports were diverted to France 
rather than invested in the infrastructure of the islands.<ref name=m149/> Development was further limited by the colonial government's practice of concentrating public services on Madagascar.<ref name=m149/> One consequence of this policy was the migration of large numbers of Comorans to Madagascar, where their presence would be a long-term source of tension between Comoros and its giant island neighbor.<ref name=m149/> The Shirazi elite continued to play a prominent role as large landowners and civil servants.<ref name=m149/> On the eve of independence, Comoros remained poor and undeveloped, 
having only one secondary school and practically nothing in the way of national media.<ref name=m149/> Isolated from important trade routes by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, having few natural resources, and largely neglected by France, the islands were poorly equipped for independence.<ref>{{harvnb|Metz|1995|pp=149–150}}.</ref>

On September 25, 1942, British forces landed in the [[Comoros]], occupying them until October 13, 1946.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Brief History of Comoros |url=https://www.studycountry.com/guide/KM-history.htm |website=StudyCountry.com |access-date=18 February 2023}}</ref>

In 1946 the Comoro Islands became an overseas department of France with representation in the French National Assembly.<ref name=m150>{{harvnb|Metz|1995|p=150}}.</ref>  The following year, the islands' administrative ties to Madagascar were severed; Comoros established its own customs regime in 1952.<ref name=m150/> A Governing Council was elected in August 1957 on the four islands in conformity with the loi-cadre (enabling law) of June 23, 1956.<ref name=m150/> A constitution providing for internal self-government was promulgated in 1961, following a [[1958 Comorian constitutional referendum|1958 referendum]] in which Comorans voted overwhelmingly to remain a part of France.<ref name=m150/> This government consisted of a territorial assembly having, in 1975, thirty-nine members, and a Governing Council of six to nine ministers responsible to it.<ref name=m150/>

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 as a republic. The deputies of [[Mayotte]] abstained. The first president of the Comoros, [[Ahmed Abdallah Abderemane]], did not last long before being ousted in a [[coup d'état]] by [[Ali Soilih]], an [[Atheism|atheist]] with an Islamic background.

Soilih began with a set of solid [[Socialism|socialist]] ideals designed to modernize the country. However, the regime faced problems. A French mercenary by the name of [[Bob Denard]], arrived in the Comoros at dawn on 13 May 1978, and removed Soilih from power. Solih was shot and killed during the [[1978 Comorian coup d'état|coup]]. The mercenaries returned Abdallah to power<ref>{{Cite news |title=Comoros - History |language=en |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Comoros/History |access-date=2022-11-27}}</ref> and the mercenaries were given key positions in government.

In two referendums, in [[1974 Comorian independence referendum|December 1974]] and [[1976 Mahoran Comoros referendum|February 1976]], the population of Mayotte voted against independence from France (by 63.8% and 99.4% respectively). Mayotte thus remains under French administration, and the Comorian Government has effective control over only Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli.

Later, French settlers, French-owned companies, and Arab merchants established a plantation-based economy that now uses about one-third of the land for export crops.

==Abdallah regime==
{{main|Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros}}
In 1978, president [[Ali Soilih]], who had a firm anti-French line, was killed and [[Ahmed Abdallah]] came to power. Under the reign of Abdallah, Denard was commander of the Presidential Guard (PG) and ''de facto'' ruler of the country. He was trained, supported and funded by the white regimes in South Africa (SA) and [[Rhodesia]] (now Zimbabwe) in return for permission to set up a secret listening post on the islands. South-African agents kept an ear on the important [[African National Congress|ANC]] bases in [[Lusaka]] and [[Dar es Salaam]] and watched the war in [[Mozambique]], in which SA played an active role. The Comoros were also used for the evasion of arms sanctions.

When in 1981 [[François Mitterrand]] was elected president Denard lost the support of the French intelligence service, but he managed to strengthen the link between SA and the Comoros. Besides the military, Denard established his own company SOGECOM, for both the security and construction, and seemed to profit by the arrangement. Between 1985 and 1987 the relationship of the PG with the local Comorians became worse.

At the end of the 1980s the South Africans did not wish to continue to support the mercenary regime and France was in agreement. Also President Abdallah wanted the mercenaries to leave. Their response was a (third) coup resulting in the death of President Abdallah, in which Denard and his men were probably involved. South Africa and the French government subsequently forced Denard and his mercenaries to leave the islands in 1989.

==1989–1996==
[[Said Mohamed Djohar]] became president. His time in office was turbulent, including an impeachment attempt in 1991 and a coup attempt in 1992.

On September 28, 1995 [[Bob Denard]] and a group of mercenaries took over the Comoros islands in a coup (named operation Kaskari by the mercenaries) against President Djohar. France immediately and severely denounced the coup, and backed by the 1978 defense agreement with the Comoros, President [[Jacques Chirac]] ordered his special forces to retake the island. Bob Denard began to take measures to stop the coming invasion. A new presidential guard was created. Strong points armed with heavy machine guns were set up around the island, particularly around the island's two airports.

On October 3, 1995, 11 p.m., the French deployed 600 men against a force of 33 mercenaries and a 300-man dissident force. Denard however ordered his mercenaries not to fight. Within 7 hours the airports at Iconi and Hahaya and the French Embassy in Moroni were secured. By 3:00&nbsp;p.m. the next day Bob Denard and his mercenaries had surrendered. [[Operation Azalee|This (response) operation, codenamed ''Azalée'']], was remarkable, because there were no casualties, and just in seven days, plans were drawn up and soldiers were deployed. Denard was taken to France and jailed. Prime minister [[Caambi El-Yachourtu]] became acting president until Djohar returned from exile in January, 1996. In March 1996, following presidential elections, [[Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim]], a member of the civilian government that Denard had tried to set up in October 1995, became president. On 23 November 1996, [[Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961]] crashed near a beach on the island after it was hijacked and ran out of fuel killing 125 people and leaving 50 survivors.

==Secession of Anjouan and Mohéli==
In 1997, the islands of [[Anjouan]] and [[Mohéli]] declared their independence from the Comoros. A subsequent attempt by the government to re-establish control over the rebellious islands by force failed, and presently the [[African Union]] is brokering negotiations to effect a reconciliation. This process is largely complete, at least in theory. According to some sources, Mohéli did return to government control in 1998. In 1999, Anjouan had internal conflicts and on August 1 of that year, the 80-year-old first president [[Foundi Abdallah Ibrahim]] resigned, transferring power to a national coordinator, [[Said Abeid]]. The government was overthrown in a coup by army and navy officers on August 9, 2001. [[Mohamed Bacar]] soon rose to leadership of the [[Military dictatorship|junta]] that took over and by the end of the month he was the leader of the country. Despite two coup attempts in the following three months, including one by Abeid, Bacar's government remained in power, and was apparently more willing to negotiate with the Comoros. Presidential elections were held for all of the Comoros in 2002, and presidents have been chosen for all three islands as well, which have become a confederation. Most notably, Mohammed Bacar was elected for a 5-year term as president of Anjouan. Grande Comore had experienced troubles of its own in the late 1990s, when President Taki died on November 6, 1998. Colonel [[Azali Assoumani]] became president following a [[1999 Comorian coup d'état|military coup]] in 1999. There have been several coup attempts since, but he gained firm control of the country after stepping down temporarily and winning a presidential election in 2002.

In May 2006, [[Ahmed Abdallah Sambi]] was elected from the island of [[Anjouan]] to be the president of the [[Union of the Comoros]]. He is a [[Sunni]] cleric who studied in the [[Sudan]], [[Iran]] and [[Saudi Arabia]]. He is nicknamed "[[Ayatollah]]" due to his time in Iran and his penchant for turbans.<ref name="BBCProfile">{{cite news |date=2006-05-16 |title=Profile: The 'Ayatollah' of Comoros |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4986508.stm |accessdate=2006-07-21}}</ref><ref name="meir">{{cite news |last=Javedanfar |first=Meir |date=2009-05-06 |title=Ahmadinejad's messianic connections |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/may/06/iran-ahmadinejad-mahdi |accessdate=2009-05-21}}</ref> Sambi was sentenced to life in imprisonment in the [[Comoros passport sales scandal]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Comoros ex-president Sambi jailed for life for 'high treason' |url=https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/comoros-ex-president-sambi-jailed-for-life-for-high-treason/ar-AA14DLPK |work=web.archive.org |publisher=AFP |date=28 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128130522/https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/comoros-ex-president-sambi-jailed-for-life-for-high-treason/ar-AA14DLPK |archive-date=28 November 2022 }}</ref>

==2007–2008 Anjouan crisis==
{{main|2008 invasion of Anjouan}}

== Azali Assoumani in power since 2016 ==

[[Azali Assoumani]] is a former army officer, first came to power in a coup in 1999. Then he won presidency in [[2002 Comorian presidential election|2002 election]], having power until 2006. After ten years, he was elected again in [[2016 Comorian presidential election|2016 election.]] In March 2019, he was re-elected in the [[2019 Comorian presidential election|elections]] opposition claimed to be full of irregularities.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-comoros-elections-idUKKCN1R72F9|title=Comoros president named winner in election rejected by opposition|newspaper=Reuters|date=26 March 2019}}</ref>

Before the 2019 election president Azali Assoumani had arranged a constitutional referendum  in 2018 that approved extending the presidential mandate from one five-year term to two. The opposition had boycotted the [[2018 Comorian constitutional referendum|referendum]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/1/21/comoros-presidents-party-wins-poll-boycotted-by-opposition|title=Comoros president's party wins poll boycotted by opposition}}</ref>

In January 2020, his party  [[Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros|The Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros]] (CRC) won 20 out of 24 parliamentary seats in the [[2020 Comorian legislative election|parliamentary election]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/trend-lines/28540/with-comoros-elections-azali-assoumani-cements-his-authoritarian-rule|title=The Dangers of Assoumani's 'Creeping Authoritarianism' in Comoros|date=14 February 2020 }}</ref>

On 18 February 2023 the Comoros assumed the presidency of the [[African Union]].<ref>{{cite web |title=President Azali Assoumani of the Union of Comoros, Takes Over as the New Chairperson of the African Union (AU) for 2023 {{!}} African Union |url=https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20230218/president-azali-assoumani-union-comoros-takes-over-new-chairperson |website=au.int}}</ref> In January 2024, President Azali Assoumani was re-elected with 63% of the vote in the disputed presidential [[2024 Comorian presidential election|election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Comoros President Azali Assoumani wins fourth term in disputed poll |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68002934 |date=17 January 2024}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of heads of state of the Comoros]]
*[[List of heads of government of the Comoros]]
*[[History of Africa]]
*[[History of Southern Africa]]
*[[Politics of the Comoros]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book |first1=Martin |last1=Ottenheimer |first2=Harriet |last2=Ottenheimer |date=1994 |title=Historical dictionary of the Comoro Islands |publisher=Scarecrow Press}}

'''Attribution:'''
*{{source attribution|{{Cite book|editor-last=Metz |editor-first=Helen Chapin |editor-link=Helen Chapin Metz |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/95016570/ |title=Indian Ocean : five island countries |date=1995 |publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress |isbn=0-8444-0857-3 |edition=3rd |oclc=32508646}}}}

===Further reading===
* Walker, Iain. ''Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros'' (Oxford University Press, 2019) [https://networks.h-net.org/node/28765/reviews/6531443/wynne-jones-walker-islands-cosmopolitan-sea-history-comoros online review].
* Wright, Henry T., et al. "Early seafarers of the Comoro Islands: The Dembeni phase of the IXth-Xth centuries AD." ''AZANIA: Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa'' 19.1 (1984): 13–59.

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|History of the Comoros}}

{{Comoros topics}}
{{French overseas empire}}
{{History of Africa}}

{{Years in the Comoros}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Comoros}}
[[Category:History of the Comoros| ]]
[[Category:History of Southern Africa by country]]