Mayotte

Department of Mayotte
Flag of Mayotte Coat of arms
Capital and largest city		Mamoudzou (prefecture)
Official languages		French
Vernacular languages		Shimaore Kibushi
Ethnic groups (2011[1])		92% Comoriana 3% Swahili 2% French 1% Makua 2% others
Demonym		Mahoran
Government		Overseas department
-	President of the General Council	Daniel Zaïdani
-	Prefect	Jacques Witkowski
Status
-	Purchased by France	1843
-	Referenda on ties with France	1974, 1976, 2009
-	Departmental collectivity	2001
-	Overseas collectivity	2003
-	Overseas department and region	31 March 2011
Area
-	Total	374 km2 (~185th) 144 sq mi
-	Water (%)	0.4
Population
-	Aug. 2012 census	212,645[2] (179th)
-	Density	569/km2 (~21st) 1,473/sq mi
GDP (nominal)		2009 estimate
-	Total	US$1.91 billion (€1.37 billion)[3]
-	Per capita	US$9,766 (€7,012[3] 2009 est.)
Currency		Euro (EUR)
Time zone		(UTC+3)
Calling code		+262b
ISO 3166 code		YT
Internet TLD		.yt
a.	Bantu, Arab and Malagasy people.
b.	Was +269 before 2007.

Mayotte (French: Mayotte, pronounced: [majɔt]; Shimaore: Maore, IPA: [maˈore]; Malagasy: Mahori) is an overseas department and region^[4] of France consisting of a main island, Grande-Terre (or Maore), a smaller island, Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi), and several islets around these two. The archipelago is located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeast Africa, namely between northwestern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique. Mayotte's area is 374 square kilometres (144 sq mi) and, with its 212,645 people, is very densely populated at 569 per km² (1,473 per sq mi).^[2]

Its biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou. The territory is geographically part of the Comoro Islands, but the people of Mayotte chose to remain politically a part of France in the 1975 referendum. The territory is also known as Maore, the native name of its main island, especially by advocates of its inclusion in the Union of Comoros. In a 2009 referendum, the population overwhelmingly approved accession to status of department (95.2% voted in favour of departmental status). Mayotte became an overseas department on 31 March 2011 and became an Outermost region of the European Union on 1 January 2014.

Geography

The term Mayotte (or Maore) may refer to the group of islands, of which the largest is known as Maore (French: Grande-Terre), and it includes Maore's surrounding islands, most notably Pamanzi (Petite-Terre), or to the largest island mentioned.

The main island, Grande-Terre (or Maore), geologically the oldest of the Comoro Islands, is 39 kilometres (24 mi) long and 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide, and its highest point is Mount Benara, at 660 metres (2,165 ft) above sea level. 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 and a habitat for fish. Dzaoudzi was the capital of Mayotte (and earlier the capital of all the colonial Comoros) until 1977. It is situated on Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi), which at 10 square kilometres (4 sq mi) is the largest of several islets adjacent to Maore.

History

In 1500, the Maore or Mawuti (contraction of the Arabic جزيرة الموت Jazīrat al-Mawt -meaning island of the dead / of death and corrupted to Mayotte in French) sultanate was established on the island. In 1503, Mayotte was observed by Portuguese explorers, but not colonized.

In 1832, it was conquered by Andriantsoly, former king of Iboina on Madagascar; in 1833, conquered by the neighboring sultanate of Mwali (Mohéli island in French); on 19 November 1835, again conquered by the Ndzuwani Sultanate (Anjouan sultanate in French; a governor was installed with the unusual Islamic style of Qadi (from the Arabic قاض which means judge), sort of a 'Resident Magistrate' in British terms), but in 1836, regained its independence under a last local Sultan.

Mayotte was ceded to France in 1841. 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 (with 63.8% and 99.4% of votes respectively). The Comoros continue to claim the island. A draft 1976 United Nations Security Council resolution recognizing Comorian sovereignty over Mayotte, supported by 11 of the 15 members of the Council, was vetoed by France.^[5] It was the last time, as of 2011, that France cast a lone veto in the Council.^[6] The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a series of resolutions on the issues, whose tenor can be gauged from their title: "Question of the Comorian Island of Mayotte" up to 1995. Since 1995, the subject of Mayotte has not been discussed by the General Assembly.

Mayotte became an overseas department of France in March 2011 in consequence of a 29 March 2009 referendum.^[7] The outcome was a 95.5 per cent vote in favour of changing the island's status from a French "overseas community" to become France's 101st département.^[8] Its non-official traditional Islamic law, applied in some aspects of the day-to-day life, will be gradually abolished and replaced by the uniform French civil code.^[9] Additionally, French social welfare and taxes apply in Mayotte, though some of each will be brought in gradually.^[10] Comoros continues to claim the island, while criticising the French military base there.^[11]

Politics

The politics of Mayotte takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic French overseas community, whereby the President of the General Council is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government.

Mayotte also sends one deputy to the French National Assembly and two senators to the French Senate.

The situation of Mayotte proved to be awkward for France: while the local population very largely did not want to be independent from France and join the Comoros, some international criticism from post-colonial leftist regimes was heard about Mayotte's ongoing ties to France. Furthermore, the peculiar local administration of Mayotte, largely ruled by customary Muslim law, would be difficult to integrate into the legal structures of France, not to mention the costs of bringing the standards of living to levels close to those of Metropolitan France. For these reasons, the laws passed by the national parliament had to state specifically that they applied to Mayotte for them to be applicable on Mayotte.

The status of Mayotte was changed in 2001 towards one very close to the status of the Departments of France, with the particular designation of departmental collectivity. This change was approved by 73% of voters in a referendum. After the constitutional reform of 2003 it became an overseas collectivity while retaining the title "departmental collectivity" of Mayotte.

Mayotte became an overseas department of France (département d'outre-mer, DOM) on 31 March 2011 following the result of the March 2009 Mahoran status referendum, which was overwhelmingly approved by around 95% of voters.^[12][13] Becoming an overseas department will mean it will adopt the same legal and social system as used in the rest of France. This will require abandoning some customary laws, adopting the standard French civil code, and reforming the judiciary, educational, social and fiscal systems, and will take place over a period of about 20 years.^[14]

Despite its domestic constitutional evolution from the status of an overseas collectivity to that of an overseas department, effectively becoming a full constituent territory within the French Republic, with regards to the European Union, Mayotte remains an 'Overseas country and territory' (OCT) in association with the Union (as per Article 355(2) TFEU) and not a constituent territory of the European Union in the same way as the other four overseas departments. However following a directive of the European Council in December 2013, Mayotte became an outermost region of the European Union on 1 January 2014.^[15] This successful agreement between the 27 member states follows a petition made by the French government for Mayotte to become an integral territory of the European Union nonetheless benefiting from the derogation clause applicable in existing Outermost regions, namely Article 349 TFEU, as favoured in a June 2012 European Commission opinion on Mayotte's European constitutional status.^[16]

Administrative divisions

Mayotte is divided into 17 communes. There are also 19 cantons (not shown here) each of which corresponds to one of the communes, except for the commune of Mamoudzou which is divided into three cantons. There are no arrondissements.

Dzaoudzi Pamandzi Mamoudzou Dembeni Bandrélé Kani-Kéli Bouéni Chirongui Sada Ouangani Chiconi Tsingoni M'Tsangamouji Acoua Mtsamboro Bandraboua Koungou

Transport

• No railways or waterways.
• Highways:
  • total: 93 kilometers (58 mi)
    • paved : 72 kilometers (45 mi)
    • unpaved : 21 kilometers (13 mi)
• Ports and harbors:
  • Dzaoudzi
  • "Longoni" (Koungou)
• Airports: Dzaoudzi Pamandzi International Airport - the only airport in Mayotte
  • with paved runways: 1 (2002)

Economy

The official currency of Mayotte is the euro.^[17]

In 2009, the GDP of Mayotte at market exchange rates was US$1.91 billion (€1.37 billion).^[3] In that same year the GDP per capita of Mayotte at market exchange rates, not at PPP, was US$9,766 (€7,012),^[3] which was 12 times higher than the GDP per capita of the Comoros that year, but only 38.0% of the GDP per capita of Réunion and 24% of the GDP per capita of Metropolitan France.

Demographics

1958	1966	1978	1985	1991	1997	2002	2007	2012
23,364	32,607	47,246	67,205	94,410	131,320	160,265	186,452	212,645
Official population figures from past censuses.

As of the August 2012 census, there were 212,645 people living in Mayotte.^[2] According to the 2007 census, 63.5% of the people living in Mayotte were born in Mayotte, 4.8% were born in the rest of the French Republic (either metropolitan France or overseas France except Mayotte), 28.3% were immigrants from the Comoros, 2.6% were immigrants from Madagascar, and the remaining 0.8% came from other countries.^[18]

The main religion in Mayotte is Islam,^[19] with 97% of the population Muslim and 3% Christian.^[20] 85,000 of the total 90,000 inhabitants of the island are Comorians. The Comorians are a blend of settlers from many areas: Iranian traders, mainland Africans, Arabs and Malagasy. Comorian communities can also be found in other parts of the Comoros chain as well as in Madagascar.

Languages

The native languages of Mayotte are:

• Shimaore, a dialect of the Comorian language (a close relative of Swahili)
• Kibushi, a western dialect of the Malagasy language (the language of Madagascar) heavily influenced by Shimaore and Arabic
• Kiantalaotsi, another western dialect of the Malagasy language also heavily influenced by Shimaore and Arabic
• Arabic, essentially learned in the Quranic schools

Kibushi is spoken in the south and north-west of Mayotte, while Shimaore is spoken elsewhere.

Other non-native languages are also present in Mayotte:

• French, the language originally imported by the French colonizers
• various dialects of the Comorian language essentially imported by immigrants who have arrived in Mayotte since 1974: Shindzwani (the dialect of Anjouan, or Nzwani), Shingazidja (the dialect of Grande Comore, or Ngazidja), and Shimwali (the dialect of Mohéli, or Mwali).

Shingazidja and Shimwali on the one hand and Shimaore on the other hand are hardly mutually intelligible. Shindzwani and Shimaore are perfectly mutually intelligible.

2007 census

French is the only official language of Mayotte. It is the language used for administration and the school system. It is the language most used on television and radio as well as in commercial announcements and billboards. In spite of this, knowledge of French in Mayotte is lower than in any other part of France.

At the 2007 census, 63.2% of people 14 y/o and older reported that they could speak French (although 87.1% of those whose age was 14 to 19 y/o reported that they could speak it, whereas only 19.6% of those whose age was 65 y/o and older reported that they could speak it). 93.8% of the population whose age was 14 y/o and older reported that they could speak one of the local languages of Mayotte (Shimaore, Kibushi, Kiantalaotsi, or any of the Comorian dialects, which the census included in the 'local languages'). 6.2% of the population whose age was 14 y/o and older reported that they spoke none of the local languages and could speak only French.^[21]

2006 survey by France's Ministry of National Education

A survey was conducted by the French Ministry of National Education in 2006 among pupils registered in CM2 (equivalent to fifth grade in the US and Year 6 in England and Wales). Questions were asked regarding the languages spoken by the pupils as well as the languages spoken by their parents. According to the survey, the ranking of mother tongues was the following (ranked by number of first language speakers in the total population; note that percentages add up to more than 100% because some people are natively bilingual):^[22]

• Shimaore: 55.1%
• Shindzwani: 22.3%
• Kibushi: 13.6%
• Shingazidja: 7.9%
• French: 1.4%
• Shimwali: 0.8%
• Arabic: 0.4%
• Kiantalaotsi: 0.2%
• Other: 0.4%

However, when also counting second language speakers (e.g. someone whose mother tongue is Shimaore but who also speaks French as a second language) then the ranking became:

• Shimaore: 88.3%
• French: 56.9%
• Shindzwani: 35.2%
• Kibushi: 28.8%
• Shingazidja: 13.9%
• Arabic: 10.8%
• Shimwali: 2.6%
• Kiantalaotsi: 0.9%
• Other: 1.2%

With the mandatory schooling of children and the economic development both implemented by the French central state, the French language has progressed significantly on Mayotte in recent years. The survey conducted by the Ministry of National Education showed that while first and second language speakers of French represented 56.9% of the population in general, this figure was only 37.7% for the parents of CM2 pupils, but reached 97.0% for the CM2 pupils themselves (whose age is between 10 and 14 in general).

Nowadays there are instances of families speaking only French to their children in the hope of helping their social advancement. With French schooling and French language television, many young people turn to French or use many French words when speaking Shimaore and Kibushi, leading some to fear that these native languages of Mayotte could either disappear or become some sort of French-based creole.^[23]

Cultural practices

Approximately 25% of the adult population, and five times as many women as men, enter trance states in which they believe they are possessed by certain identifiable spirits who maintain stable and coherent identities from one possession to the next.^[24]

See also

• Outline of Mayotte
• 2008 invasion of Anjouan
• Administrative divisions of France
• Colonial and Departmental Heads of Mayotte
• Communications in Mayotte
• Islands administered by France in the Indian and Pacific oceans
• Music of the Comoro Islands

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mayotte.

• Mayotte : a preserved archipelago - Official French website (in English)
• (French) (English) IleMayotte.com, the Mayotte Portal.
• Mayotte at WorldStatesmen.org.
• Mayotte entry at The World Factbook
• Mayotte on the Open Directory Project

Wikimedia Atlas of Mayotte

• Mayotte travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Comité du tourisme de Mayotte Official tourism website (French)
• "Voyages...Visages" - Another way of travelling and seeing
• (French) Analysis of the linguistic situation on Mayotte

v t e Overseas departments and territories of France   Inhabited areas Overseas departments1 French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Réunion Mayotte2 Overseas collectivities French Polynesia St. Barthélemy St. Martin St. Pierre and Miquelon Wallis and Futuna Special status New Caledonia   Uninhabited areas Pacific Ocean Clipperton Island French Southern and Antarctic Lands Île Amsterdam Île Saint-Paul Crozet Islands Kerguelen Islands Adélie Land Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean Banc du Geyser2, 3 Bassas da India3 Europa Island3 Glorioso Islands2, 3, 4 Juan de Nova Island3 Tromelin Island4, 5 1 Also known as overseas regions 2 Claimed by Comoros 3 Claimed by Madagascar 4 Claimed by Seychelles 5 Claimed by Mauritius

v t e Outermost regions of European Union states Portugal Azores Madeira Spain Canary Islands France French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Mayotte Réunion Saint Barthélemy Saint-Martin

v t e Departments of France 01 Ain 02 Aisne 03 Allier 04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 05 Hautes-Alpes 06 Alpes-Maritimes 07 Ardèche 08 Ardennes 09 Ariège 10 Aube 11 Aude 12 Aveyron 13 Bouches-du-Rhône 14 Calvados 15 Cantal 16 Charente 17 Charente-Maritime 18 Cher 19 Corrèze 2A Corse-du-Sud 2B Haute-Corse 21 Côte-d'Or 22 Côtes-d'Armor 23 Creuse 24 Dordogne 25 Doubs 26 Drôme 27 Eure 28 Eure-et-Loir 29 Finistère 30 Gard 31 Haute-Garonne 32 Gers 33 Gironde 34 Hérault 35 Ille-et-Vilaine 36 Indre 37 Indre-et-Loire 38 Isère 39 Jura 40 Landes 41 Loir-et-Cher 42 Loire 43 Haute-Loire 44 Loire-Atlantique 45 Loiret 46 Lot 47 Lot-et-Garonne 48 Lozère 49 Maine-et-Loire 50 Manche 51 Marne 52 Haute-Marne 53 Mayenne 54 Meurthe-et-Moselle 55 Meuse 56 Morbihan 57 Moselle 58 Nièvre 59 Nord 60 Oise 61 Orne 62 Pas-de-Calais 63 Puy-de-Dôme 64 Pyrénées-Atlantiques 65 Hautes-Pyrénées 66 Pyrénées-Orientales 67 Bas-Rhin 68 Haut-Rhin 69 Rhône 70 Haute-Saône 71 Saône-et-Loire 72 Sarthe 73 Savoie 74 Haute-Savoie 75 Paris 76 Seine-Maritime 77 Seine-et-Marne 78 Yvelines 79 Deux-Sèvres 80 Somme 81 Tarn 82 Tarn-et-Garonne 83 Var 84 Vaucluse 85 Vendée 86 Vienne 87 Haute-Vienne 88 Vosges 89 Yonne 90 Territoire de Belfort 91 Essonne 92 Hauts-de-Seine 93 Seine-Saint-Denis 94 Val-de-Marne 95 Val-d'Oise Overseas departments 971 Guadeloupe 972 Martinique 973 French Guiana 974 Réunion 976 Mayotte

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v t e Outlying territories of European countries Territories under European sovereignty but closer to or on continents other than Europe (see inclusion criteria for further information). Denmark Greenland France Clipperton Island French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern and Antarctic Lands Adélie Land Crozet Islands Île Amsterdam Île Saint-Paul Kerguelen Islands Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean Guadeloupe Martinique Mayotte New Caledonia Réunion Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Wallis and Futuna Italy Pantelleria Pelagie Islands Lampedusa Lampione Linosa Netherlands Aruba Caribbean Netherlands Bonaire Saba Sint Eustatius Curaçao Sint Maarten Norway Bouvet Island Peter I Island Queen Maud Land Portugal Azores Madeira Spain Canary Islands Ceuta Melilla Plazas de soberanía Chafarinas Islands Peñón de Alhucemas Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera United Kingdom Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Montserrat Pitcairn Islands Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands

v t e Countries and territories bordering the Indian Ocean Africa Comoros Djibouti Egypt Eritrea France Mayotte Réunion Kenya Madagascar Mauritius Mozambique Rodrigues (Mauritius) Seychelles Somalia Somaliland (Unrecognized) South Africa Sudan Tanzania Zanzibar, Tanzania Asia Bahrain Bangladesh British Indian Ocean Territory Chagos Archipelago - United Kingdom Burma Christmas Island (Australia) Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia) India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Malaysia Maldives Oman Pakistan Qatar Saudi Arabia Sri Lanka Thailand Timor-Leste United Arab Emirates Yemen Other Antarctica Australian Antarctic Territory French Southern and Antarctic Lands Heard Island and McDonald Islands Australia

Coordinates: 12°50′35″S 45°08′18″E / 12.84306°S 45.13833°E / -12.84306; 45.13833