Moroni

About Moroni

Moroni is the largest city, national capital, and seat of the government of the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean. Moroni means "at the river" (mroni in Shingazidja). Moroni is the capital of the semi-autonomous island of Ngazidja, the largest of the three main islands of the republic. The city's estimated population in 2003 was 41,557 residents. Moroni, which lies along the Route Nationale 1, has a port and several mosques such as the Badjanani Mosque.

The early history of Moroni is uncertain. The earliest written evidence for settlement in the Comoros Islands comes no earlier than the 7th century, possibly by Arab navigations and Bantu-speaking agriculturalists, while ceramic finds from the 7th to 10th century demonstrate that the Islands were part of the developing Swahili civilization, but when Moroni itself was first settled is not known.

By the middle of the second millennium, however, Moroni was a well-established town, engaged in trade networks throughout the Indian Ocean, and the Badjanani mosque, built in 1427, is a testament to the city's wealth, contemporary...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.