Mozambique Channel in the context of "Comoro Islands"

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country in the Indian Ocean that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's fourth-largest island, the second-largest island country, and the 46th-largest country overall. Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo.

Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from Africa during the Early Jurassic period, around 180 million years ago, and separated from the Indian subcontinent approximately 90 million years ago. This isolation allowed native plants and animals to evolve in relative seclusion; as a result, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot and one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries, with over 90% of its wildlife being endemic. The island has a subtropical to tropical maritime climate. Madagascar was first permanently settled during or before the mid-first millennium CE (roughly 500 to 700) by Austronesian peoples, presumably arriving on outrigger canoes from present-day Indonesia. These were joined around the ninth century by Bantu groups crossing the Mozambique Channel from East Africa. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. Consequently, there are 18 or more classified peoples of Madagascar, the most numerous being the Merina of the central highlands.

Mayotte (/maɪˈɒt/ my-OT; French: Mayotte, [majɔt] ; Shimaore: Maore, IPA: [maˈore]; Kibushi: Maori, IPA: [maˈori]), officially the Department of Mayotte (French: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the overseas departments of France as well as one of the 18 regions of France, with the same status as the departments of Metropolitan France. It is an outermost region of the European Union and, as an overseas department of France, part of the eurozone.

Mayotte is located in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel in the western Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeastern Africa, between the northwestern part of the island of Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique on the continent. Mayotte consists of a main island, Grande-Terre (or Maore), a smaller island, Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi), as well as several islets around these two. 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 (2,228 per sq mi). The biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou on the larger Grande-Terre. The Dzaoudzi–Pamandzi International Airport is located on the neighbouring smaller island of Petite-Terre. The territory is also known as Maore, the native name of its main island.

The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni. The religion of the majority of the population, and the official state religion, is Islam. Comoros proclaimed its independence from France on 6 July 1975. The Comoros is the only country of the Arab League which is entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a member state of the African Union, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, and the Indian Ocean Commission. The country has three official languages: Comorian, French and Arabic.

At 1,659 km (641 sq mi), the Comoros is the third-smallest African country by area after São Tomé and Príncipe and Seychelles. In 2019, its population was estimated to be 850,886. The sovereign state consists of three major islands and numerous smaller islands, all of the volcanic Comoro Islands with the exception of Mayotte. Mayotte voted against independence from France in a referendum in 1974, and continues to be administered by France as an overseas department. France has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have affirmed Comorian sovereignty over the island. Mayotte became an overseas department and a region of France in 2011 following a referendum which was passed overwhelmingly.

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Africa to the south and southwest. The sovereign state is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte, and Madagascar through the Mozambique Channel to the east. The capital and largest city is Maputo.

Between the 7th and 11th centuries, a series of Swahili port towns developed in the area, which contributed to the development of a distinct Swahili culture and dialect. In the late medieval period, these towns were frequented by traders from Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and India. The voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1498 marked the arrival of the Portuguese, who began a gradual process of colonisation and settlement in 1505. After over four centuries of Portuguese rule, Mozambique gained independence in 1975, becoming the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. After only two years of independence, the country descended into an intense and protracted civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992. In 1994, Mozambique held its first multiparty elections and has since remained a relatively stable presidential republic, although it still faces a low-intensity insurgency mainly in the furthest regions from the southern capital and where Islam is dominant.

João da Nova (Galician: Xoán de Novoa, Joam de Nôvoa; Spanish: Juan de Nova; Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈɐ̃w dɐ ˈnɔvɐ]; c. 1460 in Maceda, Ourense, Galicia, Spain – July 16, 1509, in Kochi, India) was a Galician-born explorer in the service of Portugal. He is credited as the discoverer of Ascension and Saint Helena islands.

The Juan de Nova Island, in the Mozambique Channel, is named after him. The Farquhar atoll (in the Seychelles) was, for a long time, known as the João da Nova islands. It is sometimes thought that the Agaléga islands (in the Indian Ocean) were also named after him (although it is almost certain he never visited them).

Grande-Terre (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃d tɛʁ]; Maore or Nyambo Bole in Shimaore) is the main island of the French overseas region of Mayotte. The island is located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean between northwestern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique. Spread across an area of 363 km (140 sq mi), it is part of the Comoros archipelago.

The Mozambique Current is an ocean current in the Indian Ocean, usually defined as warm surface waters flowing south along the African east coast in the Mozambique Channel, between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar.

The classical definition of the Mozambique Current is that it is a strong, steady, western boundary current. Modern research has challenged that assumption, and indicates that rather than a strong western boundary current, there are often a series of large anti-cyclonic eddies in the channel. Direct evidence for these eddies has been found in satellite altimetry data, ship borne surveys, and moored current meter records.These same current meter records, that were over two years in length, failed to show a strong, consistent current along the Mozambican coast, largely dispelling the notion of a steady Mozambique Current. Nonetheless, it is impossible to rule out the possibility that the Mozambique Current may appear intermittently, for short durations. Indeed, numerical model simulations in the Mozambique Channel show the appearance of a current on the Mozambican Coast, during periods between eddies.