Islam in Mayotte: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Mayotte

This is an Overseas Department of France that it occupied since 1843. It has a total area of 375 sq km consisting of the main island of Mayotte or Mahoré (360 sq km), Pamanzi (13 sq km), and about a dozen much smaller islands surrounding the main island. Its map is presented in Figure 3.3.8. Mayotte used to be the fourth and southernmost of the Comoros Islands group until it was separated by the French in 1975, when the Comoros gained their independence from France.

Like the other Comoros Islands, Islam entered these islands early ninth century through Muslim traders from the Arabian Peninsula. By the eleventh century it became part of the Kilwa Muslim Sultanate. By 1497, and with the fall of the Kilwa Sultanate, Mayotte became an independent sultanate until it was taken by the French. Before its separation from the Comoros Islands, all the population was estimated to be Muslim. However, the percentage of Muslims decreased to 98.4% by 2012.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will remain constant; then the Muslim population is expected to near 0.7 million by 2050 and 1.4 million by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Mayotte

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.