About ZUJI Travel Resource Links Travel Resources Home Research a Destination Convert Currency Check Weather Check Visa Requirements Buy Travel Insurance Flight Arrival/Departure Info Book a Flight Find a Hotel Hire a Car Log-in Log-out Become a Member Site Map Travel Resources Home Destination Guides Travel Tools
Regional Guide Introduction Fast Facts Best Time to Visit Money ... Activities
Useful Travel Tools Check Weather
Convert Currency
Check Visa Requirements
Flight Arrival/Departure Information ... Africa
History It is thought that the earliest inhabitants of the islands were journeymen from Indonesia-Polynesia, but traces of this original Asian culture have blended seamlessly into successive waves of African, Arab and Shirazi immigrants. The most notable of these early immigrants were the Shirazi Arab royal clans, who appeared in Comoros in the 15th and 16th centuries and stayed to build mosques, set up royal house and introduce architecture and carpentry. In 1529 the French Parmentier brothers popped in for a visit, but the first reliable European accounts of this part of the world came from the Portuguese explorers, Diego Dias and Ferdinand Soares. The Portuguese failed to capitalise on being the first to reach the islands, and for the next century or two the islands were used only as a pit stop during voyages up and down the coast of East Africa. In fact, up until the middle of the 19th century, it was not European explorers but pirates from Madagascar who caused the biggest headaches. During this time the number of sultans mushroomed at an alarming rate, and at one stage there were no fewer than 12 sultans on the island of Grande Comore alone. This is one sultan per 100 sq km (39 sq mi), or, put another way, three squabbling sultans per New York City, which, in anybody's language, is two sultans too many. | |
|
