Comoros

Known in ancient times as the Perfume Islands, the Comoros is a group of four islands near Madagascar with the cumulative area of approximately two and a half times the size of New York City. It originally attracted settlers from Arabia and East Africa, and they were discovered to the western world by Vasco de Gama in the sixteenth century. The French colonized the islands from 1841 to 1975 and still administer one of the islands, which voted to remain a part of France. The Comoros have been unstable almost since independence, having experienced over twenty coups. The newest government was instituted in 2019. Two islands attempted to cede at one point, and one was recently freed from a seizure by rebel forces. The country also still disputes control of the one island governed by France. Disturbances have also been caused, in the past couple of decades, by two explosions of a volcano on the largest island.

As is typical, the rest of the country reflects the instability of its government. According to statistics, the Comoros has the world’s worst income inequality, leaving over half of the country to survive on a little more than a dollar a day. Education is also minimal with no universities on the islands and less than sixty-percent of the population being literate. Arabic, French, and Shikomoro are the official languages.

While one can find descendants from Arabia, the Middle East, India, Asia, and Europe on these little islands, they share one religion: Islam. The Comoros has an unusual story: instead of being invaded and over-taken by Muslims, as some African countries were, it is said that when they heard of Islam, they sent a representative to Mecca to seek it out. Regardless of how it arrived, however, the fact remains that Islam is the state religion. It is interwoven into their judicial and legislative system, and deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of its adherents, but it cannot bring peace. It is very difficult to access the citizens in this nation with the Gospel, but some of its people are more accessible. While there are nearly nine-hundred thousand Comorian citizens, there are many Comorians (up to 200,000) living abroad, predominately in France.

Missionaries in Comoros:

Missionaries in Africa (listed with BIMI account numbers)