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Mayotte (France)

Collectivité départementale de Mayotte; Mahoré; M'Ayota

French national flag - Image by Željko Heimer, 22 September 2001

Presentation of Mayotte
Official flag of Mayotte
Local flag of Mayotte
- Alleged banner of arms of Mayotte
Comoro Islands Democratic Front (Front Démocratique des Iles Comores

See also:

Presentation of Mayotte

Mayotte, made of two islands (Grande Terre, 362.3 sq. km, 80,758 inhabitants, and Petite Terre, 11 sq. km, 13,627 inhabitants) was sold by Sultan Adriansouli on 25 April 1841 to Commandant Passot, who was looking for a port for the French Navy. In spite of the opposition of United Kingdom and the other Sultans from the Comoros, the purchase was ratified by King Louis-Philippe on 10 February 1843 and the island formally annexed on 13 June 1843. Anjouan recognized the annexation in September 1843. On 29 August 1843, Mayotte was incorporated into the Settlements of Nossi-Bé and Dependencies, administrated by Bourbon Island (today Reunion Island). On 1 January 1846, Mayotte became a distinct Settlement. From 1896 to 1968, Mayotte was incorporated into the Comoros.

Source: Hervé Calvarin [clv02], in Franciae Vexilla 25/71 [frv].

Ivan Sache, 20 April 2002

According to law #2001-616 from 11 July 2001, Mayotte is a collectivité départementale and no longer a collectivité territoriale.

Pascal Vagnat, 9 April 2003

The flag of Comores has four stars representing four islands. However, Mayotte decided to remain French (referendums in December 1974 and February 1976) when the Comoros gained their independence, and the fourth star represents the claim of the Comoros over Mayotte.

Željko Heimer & Ivan Sache, 23 April 2005

Official flag of Mayotte

The only official flag in Mayotte is the French Tricolore.

Ivan Sache, 3 July 2000

Local flag of Mayotte

by Pascal Vagnat

The local flag of Mayotte is hoisted in front of the General Council, along with the French national flags and other non-identified flags, as can be seen on a photography published in the weekly L'Express (12-18 April 2004, p. 50).
The flag is white with the coat of arms of Mayotte surmonted by the name of the island in red Capital letters.

Pascal Vagnat, 16 April 2004

The coat of arms of Mayotte bears the national motto Ra Hachiri.
Ra Hachiri, in French Nous sommes vigilants, means 'We are vigilant' in the language spoken in Comoros: sensu lato it is Comorian (Swahili group; with two groups of two variants each: Anjouani-Mahori and Grand-Comorian-Moheli). I believe this vigilance refers to the claim on the island by the Republic of Comoros and the will of Mayotte to remain French. The motto is used as title of a monthly newsletter by the Rassemblement départementaliste mahorais.

Ivan Sache, 27 August 2002

Alleged banner of arms of Mayotte

by Hans Eisenreich

The official website of the island of Grande Comore (Ngazidja) shows a map of the Comoros with the flags of the islands. I doubt very much that the flag shown for Mayotte really exists.

by Pascal Vagnat

I drew a flag proposal for Mayotte long time ago, that is a banner of the arms of Mayotte, and it seems that this design of an non-existent flag was released in the vexillological world, copied and further spread.

Pascal Vagnat, 2 April 2003

Comoro Islands Democratic Front (Front Démocratique des Iles Comores)

by Ivan Sache

From the chart Flags of Aspirant Peoples [eba94]:

3. "Mayotte" (Comoro Islands Democratic Front) - East Africa; based on written description.

The flag is green with a white crescent and four white stars placed vertically, and nearly identical to the 1996-2001 national flag of the Comoros (just remove inscriptions).

Ivan Sache, 12 September 1999

Front Démocratique des Iles Comores (a left-wing political party based in Moroni, Comoros) have a branch in Mayotte and it is perfectly natural that they would be in favor of national unity. I have never heard of them having a flag, though, and I know the leader of the FD fairly well (he was my neighbour for two years). And yes, there are people on Mayotte who are pro-Comoros (admittedly not many...)

Iain Walker, 14 February 2000