Qualla: Anjouan

Anjouan: Introduction

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada, CC BY 2.0. English sailors once called it Johanna. In 1644, a mutinous East India Company captain named John Mucknell marooned his enemies here before turning pirate and sailing home to Britain. Nearly four centuries later, the island formerly known as Johanna -- now Anjouan, or Ndzuani in the local Shikomori language -- remains a place where ambition and defiance run deep. This 424-square-kilometer volcanic island in the Comoros archipelago has declared independence from its own nation twice, weathered more than twenty coups, briefly operated as an offshore banking haven, and still produces most of the world's ylang-ylang oil, the floral essence found in nearly every perfume on the planet.

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Image: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada | CC BY 2.0

Anjouan: The Perfumed Isle

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sarahmcq, CC BY-SA 4.0. Anjouan's economy runs on scent. Clove trees crowd the island's northeastern slopes, and ylang-ylang plantations spread across the lowlands near Sima, giving the entire Comoros archipelago its old nickname: the Perfume Islands. Over eighty percent of the workforce farms these aro...

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Image: Sarahmcq | CC BY-SA 4.0

Anjouan: Sultans, Slavers, and Sovereignty

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 18bit, CC BY-SA 4.0. The first people to settle Anjouan were Bantu-speaking peoples from the African coast and navigators from Indonesia and Southwest Asia. By the late fifteenth century, Hadrami Arab immigrants had married into the ruling classes and established a sultanate that controlled the islan...

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Image: 18bit | CC BY-SA 4.0

Anjouan: A Habit of Secession

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vienne, Emile, Public domain. In 1997, Anjouan and neighboring Moheli declared independence from the Comoros. A referendum returned over 99 percent in favor. The breakaway government asked France to take the island back; France refused. For the next decade, Anjouan operated as a quasi-independent state under ...

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Image: Vienne, Emile | Public domain

Anjouan: Volcano, Forest, and Black Sand

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peioma, Public domain. Anjouan is the eroded remnant of a Pleistocene shield volcano whose eruptions pushed outward in three directions before a long quiet interval allowed deep valleys to carve into the slopes. Mount Ntringui rises 1,595 meters above sea level at the island's center, the highest point...

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Image: Peioma | Public domain

Anjouan: Red Cloth and Ground Pepper

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit GeGki, CC BY-SA 4.0. Anjouan is the most densely populated island in the Comoros, and its culture reflects layers of African, Arab, and French influence. Women wear the shiromani, a sheet-like wrap often dyed red -- the color of Anjouan. In kitchens across the island, cooks grind fresh peppers on sto...

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Image: GeGki | CC BY-SA 4.0