Grande-Terre (Mayotte)

This article is about the main island of Mayotte. For other uses of the toponym "Grande-Terre", see Grande Terre.
Grande-Terre
Native name: <span class="nickname" ">Maore, Mahori

Grande-Terre administrative
Geography
Location Africa
Coordinates 12°49′55″S 45°08′58″E / 12.831887°S 45.149474°E / -12.831887; 45.149474
Archipelago Comoros Island
Area 368 km2 (142 sq mi)
Area rank ~11th
Highest elevation 660 m (2,170 ft)
Highest point Mount Benara
Administration
Mayotte, claimed by Comoros
Largest settlement

Mamoudzou (pop. 53,022 (2009)

186,452[1])
Demographics
Population (2010)
Pop. density 499 /km2 (1,292 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups Arab, Maori, Swahili, Madagascar

Grande-Terre (or Maore) is the main island of the French overseas region of Mayotte.[2] The island is located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, namely between northwestern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique.

Its biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou. The territory is geographically part of the Comoro Islands, but the people of Mayotte chose to remain politically a part of France in the 1975 referendum. The territory is also known as Maore, the native name of its main island, especially by advocates of its inclusion in the Union of Comoros. In a 2009 referendum, 95.2% of the electorate approved accession to status of department. Mayotte became an overseas department on 31 March 2011 and an Outermost region of the European Union on 1 January 2014.

Mayotte, Grande Terre
The outskirts of Mayotte.

References

  1. INSEE, Government of France. "INSEE Infos No 32" (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  2. "Mayotte devient le 101e département français", Portail du Gouvernement, 4 April 2011, C'est pourquoi Mayotte devient le 101e département français et le 5e département d'Outre-Mer et région d'Outre-Mer.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.