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Mayotte's land area is 374 square kilometres (144 sq mi) and, with its 320,901 people according to January 2024 official estimates, [1] is very densely populated at 858 inhabitants per km 2 (2,228 per sq mi). The biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou on Grande-Terre.
- Dzaoudzi Pamandzi International Airport
Dzaoudzi–Pamandzi International Airport (IATA: DZA, ICAO:...
- Grande-Terre
Grande-Terre (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃d tɛʁ]; Maore or...
- Foreign Legion Detachment in Mayotte
The Foreign Legion Detachment in Mayotte (French:...
- Maore Dialect
Maore Comorian, or Shimaore (French Mahorais), is one of the...
- Dzaoudzi Pamandzi International Airport
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Mayotte, overseas département (department) of France comprising the two southeasternmost islands of the Comoros archipelago. It is situated in the Mozambique Channel of the western Indian Ocean, about 190 miles (310 km) northwest of Madagascar. The capital, Mamoudzou, is located on the eastern coast of the main island, Mayotte (also called Grande T...
A volcanic mountain range forms a north-south chain on Mayotte island, with summits from about 1,600 to 2,000 feet (500 to 600 metres) in elevation. Protected waters for shipping and fishing are created by surrounding coral reefs some distance from the shore. The climate is warm, humid, and maritime, and average monthly temperatures range from 75 °F (24 °C) in August to 81 °F (27 °C) in December. The island’s average annual rainfall is 200 inches (5,000 mm). The vegetation comprises lush evergreen tropical forest.
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Most of the people are Mahorais of Malagasy origin and are Sunni Muslim and strongly influenced by French culture; there is a Roman Catholic minority. French is the official language, but most of the people speak Comorian (closely allied to Swahili); there are some villages along the Mayotte coast in which a Malagasy dialect is the main language. A...
The service sector—including health services, telecommunications, computer services, and other activities—is Mayotte’s principal source of employment. Agriculture is confined to the central and northeastern plains; cash crops include vanilla, ylang-ylang, coffee, and coconuts. Cassava (manioc), bananas, corn (maize), and rice are grown for subsiste...
Mayotte is an overseas département (department) of France. From 1976 into the 21st century, Mayotte had a special status with France as a collectivité territoriale (territorial collectivity), conceived as being midway between an overseas territory and an overseas département. Its status was changed to collectivité départementale (departmental collectivity) in 2001 and then to overseas département in 2011. Mayotte’s status as an administrative unit of France has been disputed by Comoros, which has claimed Mayotte since Comoros’s declaration of independence from France in 1975.
Mayotte is represented in the French National Assembly by a deputy and in the French Senate by two senators. It is administered by a French-appointed prefect and an elected Departmental Council. The judiciary is modeled on the French system.
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In the 15th century Arabs invaded the island and converted its inhabitants, who were probably descendants of earlier peoples speaking Bantu and Malay and Indonesian languages, to Islam; in the 16th century the Portuguese and French visited Mayotte. At the end of the 18th century the Sakalava, a Malagasy tribe from Madagascar, invaded and populated the island, bringing a Malagasy dialect. The French gained colonial control over Mayotte in 1843, and, together with the other islands of the Comoros archipelago and Madagascar, Mayotte became part of a single French overseas territory in the early 20th century.
The French administered Mayotte separately from the remainder of the Comoros beginning in 1975, when the three northernmost and predominantly Muslim islands of the Comoros declared independence, and the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of Mayotte chose to remain with France. In 1976 the French government introduced a special status of collectivité territoriale for the island. In 1979 the United Nations passed a resolution affirming the sovereignty of Comoros over Mayotte. The African Union also supported Comoros’s claim to the island.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Mayotte has an area of 374 square kilometres, and a coastline of length 185.2 km. Its maritime claims are an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles, and a territorial sea of 12 nm.
- 374 km² (144 sq mi)
- 256,518 (2017)
- 39 km (24.2 mi)
- Mozambique Channel
Mayotte is an archipelago among the East African Islands, lying in the Indian Ocean channel between Madagascar and Mozambique. It's a French overseas department with a population of 299,348 in 2022. Most live on the large island of Grande-Terre, which somewhat resembles a sea horse, used on Mayotte's coat of arms.
The territory of Mayotte encompasses the largest coral lagoon in the world, more than 1,000 square kilometers in size. Like other coral reefs worldwide, the health of Mayotte's reefs has declined in the past twenty years.
Area: 145 sq mi (375 sq km). Population: (2024 est.) 326,700. Capital: Mamoudzou. Most of its people are of Malagasy origin. Originally inhabited by descendants of Bantu and Malayo-Indonesian peoples, it was converted to Islam by Arab invaders in the 15th century.
Mayotte's land area is 374 square kilometres (144 sq mi) and, with its 320,901 people according to January 2024 official estimates, is very densely populated at 858 inhabitants per km 2 (2,228 per sq mi). The biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou on Grande-Terre.
