Islands of Africa

Several island nations are found off the eastern and western coasts of Africa. They include Cape Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles. São Tomé and Príncipe together constitute Africa’s sixth island nation. Some islands are parts of nations and are not generally considered independently, including Bioko and Pagalu (part of Equatorial Guinea), Pemba and Zanzibar (part of Tanzania), and those that are possessions of European powers (Mayotte and Réunion are both administered by France).

The largest of Africa’s island nations is Madagascar, which ihas an area of more than 226,000 square miles (585,300 square kilometers). It is larger than all other islands in the world except Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. Madagascar also has the largest population of the African island nations, with over thirty-one million people. The rest of these nations are small in size, ranging from less than 400 square miles (640 kilometers) in area for São Tomé and Príncipe to Cape Verde’s 1,560 square miles (4,040 square kilometers). These nations also have small populations. In the mid-2020s, the Seychelles had the smallest population, with only about 127,951 people. The other populations included about 230,870 people in São Tomé and Príncipe, 522,330 people in Cape Verde, 850,380 people in Comoros, and 1.3 million people in Mauritius.

Two of these African island nations are in the Atlantic OceanCape Verde, located about 385 miles (620 kilometers) west of Senegal and Mauritania, and São Tomé and Príncipe, located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Gabon in the Gulf of Guinea. The other four are in the Indian Ocean. Comoros is about 250 miles (400 kilometers) east of northern Mozambique; Madagascar, to its south and east, is about 250 miles (400 kilometers) east of Mozambique’s coast. Mauritius is about 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of Madagascar. Seychelles is about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) east of Kenya.

Though generally small, Africa’s island nations have played significant roles in history and contemporary debates over pressing world issues. Biologists and environmentalists celebrate Madagascar as a treasure trove of biodiversity; its population of forty distinct lemur species, for example, allows evolutionary biologists to study the earliest extant forms of primates. Cape Verde was a major trading station during the period of the transatlantic triangular trade, but in the twenty-first century, many of the country’s citizens began emigrating, primarily to the United States, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and Angola. By the late 2010s, more Cabo Verdeans, or Cape Verdeans, lived outside their nation than in Cape Verde. The smaller island nations of the Indian Ocean have become part of the debate on the potentially devastating effects of climate change because such weather-related shifts may lead to the loss of drinking water, a change in soil fertility, and a reduction in the region’s biodiversity. In addition, the very survival of low-lying islands such as Seychelles is at stake if the global warming effect should result in the rise in sea levels scientists are predicting.

Historical Perspective

Madagascar was settled by Malaysian peoples sailing west from Southeast Asia around 700 CE rather than by Africans. Arab merchants began trading here and in Comoros a few centuries later, and Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century. France took control of these islands in the 1890s. Madagascar gained its independence from France in 1960 and Comoros in 1975. Both countries have since been subject to political instability, and ethnic conflict is an issue in Madagascar.

Cape Verde and the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe had no human inhabitants until Portuguese explorers reached the islands. By 1452, Portugal had begun a small colony on Cape Verde, which became an important port in the transatlantic slave trade. The economy collapsed when enslavement ended in the mid-1800s. The Portuguese did succeed in growing sugar in São Tomé and Príncipe, but production was soon eclipsed by the exports coming from Brazil and the West Indies. Eventually, these two Portuguese islands became centers of coffee and cacao production. Both sets of islands gained independence in 1975. Cape Verde has had a history of democratic rule but severe poverty. São Tomé and Príncipe’s independence has been marked by political instability and poverty.

Mauritius was held successively by the Dutch, French, and British. However, it was the British who brought several hundred thousand workers from South Asia to work on sugar plantations. This island nation finally gained independence in 1968, but poverty and social unrest have marked its history since then. Seychelles was a French and later a British colony, where cotton was grown until enslavement ended in the 1830s. The islands became independent in 1976, and a devastating tsunami in 2004 did great damage to the economy.

Geography and Climate

Madagascar has narrow eastern and western coastal lowlands rising to central highlands. Its climate is tropical, with most rain falling during the wet season, which falls between the months of November and April. Rainfall is much heavier in the east than in the west, insofar as the central highlands create a rain shadow effect. Madagascar has set aside some land as wildlife reserves to protect some of the island nation’s unique species, but much of the native forest has been cut down so that the land could be used for cultivation.

Cape Verde is an archipelago of nine islands, the western ones more mountainous than those to the east. Soils are somewhat fertile, and temperature is generally warm; but the climate is dry, and freshwater is scarce. The islands of São Tomé and Príncipe are both volcanic, and the climate there is warmer and wetter than on the island of Cape Verde.

Comoros consists of three volcanic islands with outlying coral reefs; the volcano on the largest island is still active. Soils are poor on two of the three islands. The climate is similar to Madagascar’s, although Comoros’s rainfall is more evenly distributed. Like Comoros, Mauritius is a volcanic island with a coral reef offshore. Much of Mauritius’s area is covered by good soil, which is used to grow sugarcane. The subtropical climate provides warm temperatures and ample rain. Seychelles consists of more than one hundred islands, the majority of which are small, low-lying, generally uninhabited coral atolls. Even the rockier islands have a fairly low elevation, however, and Seychelles is seriously threatened by warming temperatures and rising seas. Scuba diving is a popular sport in Comoros and Seychelles.

Economy

Madagascar has the most productive economy of these island nations in terms of total output, and it had one of the fastest-growing economies in the mid-2020s. Madagascar had a socialist government for many years, and its policies hindered economic growth. While the nation has since abandoned that approach to economic development, the economy has grown slowly, and more than half the people live in poverty. The chief products are agricultural—sugarcane, tea, corn, potatoes, and bananas—and the major industries are food processing and textile manufacturing.

Cape Verde has also made a transition from a state-owned, state-controlled economic structure to a market economy. Poverty persists, however, which accounts for the relatively high rates of emigration. Remittances from emigrants to family members back on the islands are an important source of income. Nationally, the islands benefit from tourism.

São Tomé and Príncipe and Mauritius's island econonomies depend on plantation agriculture. Cacao and coconuts come from São Tomé and Príncipe, and Mauritius produces sugar, tea, and tobacco. About two-thirds of the people of São Tomé and Príncipe, however, live in poverty. The people of Mauritius are far better off, with only about 8 percent of its population living in poverty. However, period poverty—the stigma surrounding menstruation combined with the high cost of sanitary products that result in lower education and income levels among women of childbearing age—remained a serious issue in Mauritius throughout the 2020s.

Comoros is among the world's poorest and least developed countries, with most people engaged in subsistence agriculture and fishing, subsidized by some cash crop production, such as vanilla and coffee. Fishing resources are abundant, but the industry has not developed. The country's location and elevation make it highly susceptible to natural disasters and the effects of climate change.

Seychelles has succeeded in developing both its fishing and tourism industries, but tourism provides the greatest share of national income. The World Bank classifies the Seychelles as a high-income country, but poverty remains pervasive among certain groups.

Demographics

Mauritius and Seychelles have lower birth rates than the world average, and the populations are relatively stable. Comoros, Madagascar, and São Tomé and Príncipe have birth rates much higher than the world average. In Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, and Madagascar, most residents are Christians, primarily Roman Catholics. Comoros is southern Africa's only Muslim-majority country, and in Mauritius, most individuals follow Hinduism or Christianity.

Cape Verde's education system is one of the best in the region, with high rates of secondary school graduation and university attendance. Though São Tomé and Príncipe's education systems lack resources and proper school management, around 95 percent of the island is literate. The Seychelles and Mauritius also have high literacy rates, at 96 percent and 92 percent, respectively. The literacy rate in Madagascar is around 77 percent, and in Comoros, its literacy rate is 62 percent.

Madagascar’s people are predominantly of Malaysian–Indonesian descent, but many people are a blend of Malaysian–Indonesian and Africans. The great majority of the people of Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Seychelles have a mixed ancestry of Europeans and Indigenous people. In Mauritius, the blend is between Europeans and South Asians. French and Malagasy are the official spoken languages in Madagascar; Comorian, French, and Arabic are the official languages in Comoros; Portuguese is the official language in Cape Verde and in São Tomé and Príncipe; and Seychellois Creole, English, and French is the official language in Seychelles. Though Mauritius does not claim any official language, over 90 percent of the population speaks Mauritian Creole, but English and French are also widely spoken. In Cape Verde and Seychelles, a Creole blend of European and Indigenous languages is also widely spoken.

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