“Hale!” “Halele!”
Before Fomboni, so the story goes, there were several small settlements on this shore: Bandar es-Salam, Mrodewa, Kombani, Uvanga, Mlembeni… and Mafumbuni. It is from this last name that the name of the town is said to come, Fumboni, written today as Fomboni.
Little by little, these settlements drew closer together and formed a single town, by the sea, where dhows could come ashore. But Fomboni never cut itself off from the interior of the island. Families from seven villages were linked to it by their origins and by marriage: Hoani, Domoni, Hamba, Wanani, Djoiezi, Mlambenda and Hanyamwada.
That is why Fomboni is said to be “the town of seven villages”. When someone from one of these villages comes to Fomboni, they are not a stranger there: they are at home. They have relatives there and a place in the custom.
In the 19th century, Fomboni became the capital of the rulers of Mwali, those of Queen Djoumbé Fatima, and then the capital of the whole island.
What we know about it
This founding story is reported by the Muzdalifa House, drawing in particular on the explanations of the sociologist Salim Djabir. Mohéli was once divided into large regions, and Fomboni has remained a customary town where members of seven settlements are “at home”, linked by their origins and alliances.
Read: The colonial period and Djoumbé Fatima.
Further reading
- Voices of the archipelago Muzdalifa House, Fomboni la ville aux sept villages, 2022.
- Voices of the archipelago Muzdalifa House (entretien avec le sociologue Salim Djabir), Une histoire de Mwali, 2021.