Mayotte
France has a long and rich colonial past. One aspect of that legacy made headlines–French headlines–when the people of Mayotte voted this past weekend overwhelmingly in favor of being the 101st département of France.
Mayotte is an Indian Ocean island between Mozambique and Madagascar. It's part of the Comores archipelago, and the only part of that island chain that did not choose independence from France in 1974.
Mayotte today has a population of about 186,000. It draws many undocumented immigrants from the Comores, as per-capita income in Mayotte is roughly 10 times that in the Comores, although it falls far below average income in mainland France.
The Mahorais (the inhabitants of Mayotte) are overwhelmingly Muslim. They have long been able to opt for a personal status that exempted them from Civil Code provisions and allowed them to bring disputes before a religious court, the madis. This exceptional treatment is already being phased out.
More than 95% of voters voted in favor of becoming a French overseas department. About 40% of those eligible to vote did not cast a ballot, either as a form of protest or because they were away from the island and ill-informed about voting possibilities. Mayotte will officially become a department in 2011.
I've never been to Mayotte–until recently, I had only a vague awareness of the place–and know no one who has. There seem to be possibilities to develop tourism.
Comments are closed.