Ngazidja Referred to by the French as Grande Comore, Ngazidja is the site of Moroni, the capital city of the Union of the Comoros, and is the largest of the islands in the Comoro archipelago. It has an area of 442 square miles (1,146 square kilometers). The northern two-thirds of the island are dominated by a rocky plain known as La Grille. The southern third of the island is dominated by an active volcano, Karthala, which stands over 7700 feet (2361 meters) high. Karthala's crater is 3.0 x 4.0 kilometers wide, the largest active crater in the world. Since 1857 there have been over a dozen eruptions with lava flows; the most extensive was that of 1918. The most recent serious eruption was in 2005.

The island's over 280,000 inhabitants are predominantly descended from Arab and African ancestors. Agriculture on the island is generally limited to areas lower than 2,000 feet in altitude. Above this altitude is the remnants of a dense tropical forest (in the south) and an area of grassy plain (in the center and north).

European sailing ships stopped for provisions at Ngazidja as early as 1570 when the island was ruled by 12 sultans. Although each was independent of the others, they generally recognized a principal sultan, whose rights and responsibilities were primarily conciliatory in inter-regional disputes, and accorded him or her the title of Sultan Thibe. There was frequent conflict over the right to use this title, especially after the Europeans appeared on the scene, as these latter generally assumed that the title indicated sovereignty over the entire island.

The best documented of the conflicts between sultans is the long and complicated struggle between the rulers of the towns of Bambao and Itsandra during the nineteenth century. This eventually led to the establishment of a French protectorate over the island and the ceding of Ngazidja to France.

Itsandra beach

The beach at Itsandra, Ngazidja

Moroni and Comoro are names with special significance to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They believe that an angel named Moroni revealed to Joseph Smith the location of golden tablets upon which the sacred text, The Book of Mormon, is based. This place, a hill near Palmyra, New York, is called, "Cumorah". Is it coincidental that the names revealed to Joseph Smith and those of places in the western Indian Ocean are so similar? Or, is there a historical connection between them?

One should be aware that 'moroni' has a meaning in the local languages spoken in the Comoros. It means, "at the place of fire." It is constructed of the root 'moro,' which means "fire" or "heat" and the locative '-ni,' which means "at the place of" or "in." This is a logical name constructed from the morphemes of the local languages reflecting the fact that the community is located at the base of an immense, active volcano. 'Moroni', furthermore, can be found on European maps as early as the middle of the 18th century. The name, 'Comoro', also has a meaning in the local languages. It is composed of an old Swahili locative 'ko-' and the word 'moro.' It's meaning is also "the place of fire" and the name exists on ancient Arabic maps.

The present evidence suggests that the most likely explanation for the similarity in the names found in the Book of Mormon and in the Islands is that a historical relationship exists between the two. The names in The Book of Mormon probably resulted from Joseph Smith's awareness of places in the Comoro Islands. The Comoros were known to American sailors as early as the seventeeth century. Numerous pirates and whalers had visited the islands and returned home with tales about them by the time Joseph Smith "translated" the golden tablets in the 1820s. Thus, the appearance of "Moroni" and "Cumorah" in the sacred text could easily have resulted from Smith's awareness of these distant places in the Indian Ocean.

mosque

The Old Friday Mosque, Moroni