Mayotte

Department of Mayotte Département de Mayotte
Overseas region and department of France
Coat of arms
Country	France
Prefecture	Mamoudzou
Departments	1
Government
• President of Regional Council	Soibahadine Ibrahim Ramadani
Area
• Total	374 km2 (144 sq mi)
Population (Aug. 2012)
• Total	212,645
• Density	570/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Mahoran
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)
ISO 3166 code	YT
GDP (2013)	Ranked
Total	€1.8 billion (US$2.4 bn)
Per capita	€8,188 (US$10,891)
NUTS Region	FRA
Website	Prefecture Departmental Council

Mayotte (French: Mayotte, pronounced: [majɔt]; Shimaore: Maore, IPA: [maˈore]; Malagasy: Mahori) is an insular department and region of France officially named Département de Mayotte. It consists of a main island, Grande-Terre (or Maore), a smaller island, Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi), and several islets around these two. The archipelago is located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeast Africa, between northwestern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique.

Mayotte's area is 374 square kilometres (144 sq mi) and, with its 212,645 people, is very densely populated at 569 per km² (1,473 per sq mi). The biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou on Grande-Terre. However, the Dzaoudzi–Pamandzi International Airport is located on the neighbouring island of Petite-Terre. The territory is geographically part of the Comoro Islands. 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.

The language of the majority is Shimaore, a Bantu language variety closely related to the varieties in the neighbouring Comoros islands. The second most widely spoken native language is Kibushi, a Malagasy language variety most closely related to the Sakalava dialect of Malagasy with influences from Shimaore. The vast majority of the population is Muslim.

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Wikipedia