A complex relationship:

Abstract

The Comoro Islands have historically played a vital role in the commercial and religious history of the south-west Indian Ocean and as a human bridge between the African continent, Madagascar, and the Mascarene Islands. In this paper I seek to examine three aspects of this relationship as it pertains to Mozambique and to stimulate collaborative scholarly research. The first topic examines the intimate trading connections between the Comoros and Mozambique. While much attention has been focused on the slave trade of this circuit in the 19th century, we must not overlook the thriving, complex exchange of foodstuffs that was equally part of the same regional network. These connections underpinned the second and third issues that I discuss in this paper. The second aspect of this relationship focuses on the African diaspora in the Indian Ocean world. 1 examine how displaced African populations were absorbed into their host societies, the ways in which they maintained and transformed their own cultural identities, and the influences that they carried with them into these new historical situations in the Comoros. The third element of this relationship concerns the history of Islam in northern Mozambique, in the 19th and 20th centuries, which is intimately tied to the Comoros.