Mayotte (France)

Collectivité territoriale de Mayotte; Mahoré; M’Ayota

Last modified: 2003-04-05 by antonio martins
Keywords: mayotte | comores | france | mahoré | star: 5 points (white) | stars: 4 | stars: line | crescent: points to fly (white) | crescent: points up (white) | flowers: 2 | front démocratique | ra hachiri |
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• Presentation of Mayotte
• Official state flag
• National motto
• Unofficial local flag (several variants)
• Comoro Islands Democratic Front

• France
• France: Overseas entities
• Comoros

The flag of Comores have four stars, for four islands, but Mayotte, the fourth, remained French after independence of the rest.
Zeljko Heimer, 02 Nov 1995

The inhabitants of Mayotte are presently voting for or against a new status for the island. If accepted, the new status would transform the “territorial collectivity” in a “departemental collectivity”. The voters have to chose between a blue (for yes) and a marroon bulletin (for no). The colour system has been adopoted because most inhabitants of Mayotte do not speak French. The three main political parties have called for yes, but the two representative politicians (one deputee and one senator) have called for no, because they would prefer a full departmental status: I don't know all the subtle details, I suppose that a full departmental status has not been proposed to avoid diplomatic problems with the Comoros (which still revendicate mildly Mayotte, but could no longer revendicate a French department).
Ivan Sache, 02 Jul 2000

According to BBC, about 70% of Mayotte people voted for the new status.
Jan Zrzavy, 03 Jul 2000

The island 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 Comorian Sultans, 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-Be and Dependencies, administrated by Bourbon Island. On 1 January 1846, Mayotte became a distinct Settlement. [In 1896-1968, Mayotte was administered within the Comoros.]
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002, from [clv02]

Mayotte does not have a specific flag: The only official flag for Mayotte is the French Tricolore.
Ivan Sache, 02 Jul 2000 and 03 Jul 2000

The national motto of Mayotte, from the coat of arms, is Ra Hachiri.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 20 Aug 2002

"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 Aug 2002

What are these flags?! Three different variations (here with harmonized color shades), coming from three different people — there must be some kind of reality behind them!
António Martins, 04 Jul 2000

From the chart Flags of Aspirant Peoples [eba94]:

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

The Front Démocratique (a left-wing political party based in Moroni, Comoros) have a branch in Mayotte and it’s perfectly natural that they would be in favor of national unity. I’ve 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 Feb 2000