Mayotte

I thought I'd finish off today with a card from a country new to my collection: Mayotte. Ok, this wasn't mailed directly from Mayotte but then it doesn't seem like it's too easy to get postcards from there, so I'm really happy to have this one in my collection at least. ...and what's pictured on this card seems pretty fascinating, I love postcards like this!



The plant pictured here is Cananga odorata, commonly called Ylang-ylang. It's is a tree valued for its perfume. The essential oil derived from the flowers is used in aromatherapy.

Mayotte, then, is an overseas department and region of France consisting of a main island, Grande-Terre (or Mahoré), 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, between northwestern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique. Mayotte's area is 374 square kilometres, and with its estimated 194,000 people is very densely populated (520 /km2). Its biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou. The territory is geographically part of the Comoro Islands, but has been politically separate since a 1974 referendum in which it elected to remain under French rule. The territory is also known as Mahoré, the native name of its main island, especially by advocates of its inclusion in the Union of Comoros. In a 2009 referendum, the population overwhelmingly approved accession to status of department (95.2% voted in favour of departmental status). On March 31, 2011, Mayotte became an overseas department.