Great figures

Mtswa Mwindza (tradition)

A notable from Mbude, on Grande Comore, he is said by tradition to have brought Islam from Arabia to Ntsaweni. A founding figure more legendary than historical, he embodies the antiquity of Islam in the archipelago. Read his story.

Andriantsoly (died 1847)

A former Sakalava king of Boina, driven out of Madagascar by the Merina, he became sultan of Mayotte in 1832. Threatened by his neighbours, he ceded the island to France by the treaty of 25 April 1841.

Djoumbé Fatima (c. 1836–1878)

Queen of Mohéli from 1842 to 1865 and from 1874 to 1878, and daughter of the Merina prince Ramanetaka, she tried to preserve her island's independence amid the rivalries between the European powers and Zanzibar. She remains one of the most famous women in Comorian history.

Read the tales: The child queen of Mwali and The queen's journey to Paris.

Salima Machamba (1874–1964)

The daughter of Djoumbé Fatima and a French officer, and the last queen of Mohéli (1888–1909), she reigned under the protectorate, then gave up her throne and settled in France, where she died in 1964.

Read the tale: The last queen of Mwali.

Abdallah III (died 1891)

Sultan of Anjouan, he signed a treaty in 1882 banning the slave trade and providing for the freeing of slaves, then accepted the French protectorate in 1886. His death, in February 1891, sparked the great revolt of the slaves and peasants of Anjouan.

Saïd Ali ben Saïd Omar (died 1916)

Sultan of Bambao, he managed to dominate the whole of Grande Comore with the support of France. In return, he granted Léon Humblot the right to exploit the land (1885) and signed the protectorate treaty of 1886. He is often presented as the island's last great sultan.

Saïd Mohamed Cheikh (1904–1970)

A doctor, he made his name by negotiating the end of the Nyumakele revolt in 1940. A deputy in Paris after 1946, he chaired the government council of internal autonomy from 1962 until his death. An advocate of gradual change, he is regarded as one of the builders of the modern Comoros.

The activists of Mayotte

Georges Nahouda organised the Tsoundzou congress in 1958. Marcel Henry and Younoussa Bamana then led the Mahoran People's Movement. Zéna M'Déré and the “chatouilleuses” carried out spectacular actions to keep Mayotte within France. All are figures of Mahoran history; they are viewed very critically on the other islands.

Ahmed Abdallah and Ali Soilih

Ahmed Abdallah (1919–1989), a native of Domoni, proclaimed independence on 6 July 1975, returned to power in 1978 and was assassinated in 1989. Ali Soilih (1937–1978) led a revolution from 1975 to 1978 that shook up traditions; he was killed after his fall. The two men, and their dependence on the mercenary Bob Denard, sum up the contradictions of the first years of independence.

Writers, researchers and artists

• Damir Ben Ali, anthropologist and historian, founder of the CNDRS and specialist in oral tradition.
• Mohamed Ahmed-Chamanga, linguist, who collected and translated many tales.
• Mohamed Toihiri, author of La République des imberbes (1985), often presented as the first Comorian novel in French.
• Salim Hatubou (1972–2015), storyteller and writer, a great transmitter of the tales of the archipelago.
• Ali Zamir, novelist, author of Anguille sous roche (2016).
• Nassur Attoumani, Mahoran writer and playwright.
• Maalesh, Nawal and Salim Ali Amir, musicians who have made Comorian sounds known beyond the archipelago.

See also Literature & arts and Hale halele, tales and stories.