Department of Mayotte or Département de Mayotte is not an African country but an overseas department of France; thence, the people thereof are Afro-Europeans.
Mayotte or Département de Mayotte is an overseas department of France and one of the 18 regions of France. Hence, it is one of the overseas territories of Europe. It is the outermost region of the European Union and part of the eurozone. It is located in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel in the western Indian Ocean between northwestern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique. Mayotte consists of the main island, Grande-Terre or Maore, Petite-Terre or Pamanzi, and several islets around these two.
Mayotte’s land area is 374 square kilometers and has a population of 299,348 people according to January 2022 official estimates. The principal population centres are Mamoudzou, Koungou, and Dzaoudzi. They have a young population. The biggest city and capital is Mamoudzou on Grande-Terre. The capital and biggest city, Mamoudzou, is located on the eastern coast of the main island, Grande Terre.
French is the official language and is spoken as a second language by an increasing part of the population. The native languages of Mayotte are Shimaore, which is the most spoken, and the lesser spoken Kibushi.
Mayotte became an overseas department on 31 March 2011 and became an outermost region of the European Union on 1 January 2014, after a March 2009 referendum in favor of the department status. Mayotte is represented in the French National Assembly by a deputy and in the French Senate by two senators.
The island was populated from neighboring East Africa with the later arrival of Arabs, who brought Islam. Though the main religion on the island is Islam, there is a small Christian minority comprising Catholics. The Islamization of Mayotte is because, in the 15th century, Arabs invaded the island and converted the African inhabitants to Islam. A sultanate was established on the island in 1500. In the 19th century, Mayotte was invaded and conquered by the Sakalava, a Malagasy tribe from Madagascar, led by King Andriantsoly, and they populated the island.
In the 16th century, the Portuguese and the French arrived in Mayotte. The Portuguese called the island Mayotta and the French, Mayotte. However, the locals call the island Mahore. The French gained colonial control over the island in 1843, and, together with the other islands of the Comoros archipelago and Madagascar.
Mayotte is the oldest of the four large islands of the Comoros archipelago. The Comoros archipelago is a chain of land emerging from a moon-shaped submarine relief at the entrance to the Mozambique Channel. Mayotte is a volcanic island rising steeply from the bed of the ocean to a height of 660 meters on Mont Bénara. The two largest islands are Grande-Terre and Petite-Terre. The island is surrounded by coral reefs.
Mayotte faces some challenges. According to an INSEE report published in 2018, 84% of the Mayotte population live under the poverty line, whereas it is 16% in metropolitan France; 40% of houses are corrugated sheet metal shacks; 29% of households have no running water, and 34% of the inhabitants between the age of 15 and 64 are jobless. In addition, as a result of immigration from neighboring islands, 48% of the island’s population were foreign nationals.
