Islands of stark contrasts and complex syncretisms, the Comoros hold a major key to the history of the western Indian Ocean area. Recent archaeological studies have confirmed that the islands were a crossroads of the region. Extensive long-distance maritime trade was recorded in oral histories and is reflected today in the cultures of the Islands: a mix of Arabian, Asian, African, Malagasy, and European traits. The coelecanth (a fish once thought to have been extinct for seventy-five million years) can be caught. The Islands have attracted recent world-wide attention for the political activities of the notorious mercenary, Bob Denard. This book is an authoritative introduction to the Comoro Islands; past and present. It is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history, economics, cultures, languages, geography, geology, or politics of the Western Indian Ocean.

Historical Dictionary of the Comoro Islands

Anguille is a 17-year-old girl who leaves her rock on the archipelago of Comoros to lose herself at sea. She drifts between two states of mind and between two islands 'in a hollow maze', evoking her memories so as to forget nothing and so as to delay the inevitable outcome.

Confronted with the pressing immediacy of imminent death, Anguille recounts the story of her whole life in one long, sustained breath, in a series of brief couplets. But what Anguille recounts, in an assured voice which heralds a shipwreck, is also something other than her life something much deeper below the ground, or rather the sea, which has to do with the species and what is immemorial. It is the story of a fight for survival in which everyone becomes a predator.

A story told in a single sentence, A Girl Called Eel is a memorial, a reckoning, and a powerful narrative imbued with a prevailing sense of urgency. 

"It is rare to say about a book that you have never read anything like it, and this is one such case." - Elle

"A pure diamond, a magnificent event. A mind-blowing debut novel." --Le Point

Ali Zamir was born on Anjouan in the Comoros. He studied French Literature at the University of Cairo and attained his Master s degree from there in 2010. He has since returned to Anjouan where he has been the Director of Culture and Cooperative Activities for the island since 2014. First published in French as Anguille sous roche by Le Tripode in 2016, A Girl Called Eel is his first novel.

A Girl Called Eel

In Stars and Keys: Folktales and Creolization in the Southwest Indian Ocean, Lee Haring introduces readers to the rich folklore traditions of the islands of the southwest Indian Ocean. The culture of Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion, and the Comoros is a unique blend of traditions that have been brought from Africa, South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The folktales from these islands reflect the diversity of this culture and provide a rare opportunity to observe the fluidity of traditions and the process of creolization. Haring presents the tales in a uniquely innovative style: he interrupts the text as if he were reading aloud and directly addresses the reader. His words and those of the storytellers are clearly distinguished, making this folktale collection useful to a wide range of readers and scholars.

Stars and Keys: Folktales and Creolization in the Indian Ocean

Following in the format of Sasol Birds of Southern Africa, this guide presents all the birds of Madagascar and the other Indian Ocean islands (Seychelles, Reunion, Mauritius and Mascarenes), a great many species of which are endemic to these islands.In field guide form, this text presents concise descriptions of each species, highlighting diagnostic features for ease of identification. Differences between sexes and plumages are discussed as well as the status of the bird, its habitat and call.Distribution maps accompany each entry. The birds are illustrated in full color and where necessary are depicted in all plumages relevant to identification (male, female and immature). In-flight illustrations present the bird from above and below, providing comprehensive coverage of the birds in the field.

Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands : Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles and the Comoros (Chamberlain)

Many people today have never heard of the Comoros, but these islands were once part of a prosperous regional trading economy that stretched halfway around the world. A key node in the trading networks of the Indian Ocean, the Comoros prospered by exchanging slaves and commodities with Arab and Indian merchants. By the sixteenth century, the archipelago served as an important supply point on the route from Europe to Asia. The twentieth century brought the establishment of French colonial rule and a plantation economy. Since declaring its independence in 1975, the Comoros has been blighted by more than twenty coups, a radical revolutionary government and a mercenary regime. Today, the island nation suffers chronic mismanagement and relies on remittances from a diaspora community in France. Nonetheless, the Comoros is largely peaceful and culturally vibrant-- connected to the outside world in the internet age, but, at the same time, still slightly apart.

Iain Walker traces the history and unique culture of these enigmatic islands, from their first settlement by Africans, Arabs and Austronesians, through their heyday within the greater Swahili world, to their decline as a forgotten outpost of the French colonial empire.


Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros

The Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros is an archipelago situated in the western Indian Ocean, about midway between the island of Madagascar and the coast of East Africa at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel. Little is known of the first inhabitants of the archipelago, although a sixth-century settlement has been uncovered on Nzwani by archaeologists. Historians speculated that Indonesian immigrants used the islands as stepping stones on the way to Madagascar prior to A.D. 1000. Because Comoros lay at the juncture of African...........

Comoros

Historical Dictionary of the Comoro Islands

Martin Ottenheimer

A Girl Called Eel

Ali Zamir

Stars and Keys: Folktales and Creolization in the Indian Ocean

Lee Haring

Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands : Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles and the Comoros (Chamberlain)

Ian Sinclair

Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros

Iain Walker

History of Comoros: Colonization, Government, Politics, Culture, Economy

Sampson Jerry