Mutsamudu is the historic gem of Anjouan and one of the most fascinating towns in the Comoros. The country's second city and capital of the archipelago's most mountainous and greenest island, it is an old Swahili port where time seems to have stood still: a maze-like medina of narrow alleys, stairways, coral-stone houses, old palaces and centuries-old mosques, overlooked by an 18th-century citadel rising on a hill.
That citadel and the town walls were built to defend against the Malagasy pirates who, in the 18th and 19th centuries, raided these coasts in search of loot and captives to sell as slaves. Today, climbing up to the citadel to take in the port and the sea, getting lost in the medina among carved doors and the scent of spices, and visiting the Ujumbe palace is a journey to the heart of the Swahili civilisation of the Indian Ocean. In 2026, the medina of Mutsamudu was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
This practical guide explores Mutsamudu through a traveller's eyes: what to see in its medina and citadel, how to get there from Grande Comore, where to stay and eat, and how to use it as a base to discover Anjouan's green interior, with its mountain, waterfalls and ylang-ylang plantations. An authentic, little-visited destination steeped in history, on one of the most beautiful and least-known islands in the Indian Ocean.
According to tradition, Mutsamudu was founded in 1482, and in the 18th century it became the capital of Anjouan, after Sima and Domoni. Its citadel, built between 1782 and 1789 on Sinéjou hill, and its walls protected the town from Malagasy pirates. Its medina preserves stone palaces such as the Ujumbe, mosques and mausoleums. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2026, its Swahili and sultanate history is covered in detail on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The island of the archipelago's most powerful sultanate: Shirazi ports, the citadel of Mutsamudu, walled Domoni and green slopes that distil ylang-ylang.
Read the history of Anjouan (Ndzuani) →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The island of Anjouan (Ndzuani) has an old and very rich urban history, shaped by a series of capitals. According to tradition, the first was Sima, which held that role from the 8th to the 13th century. Domoni, on the east coast, followed between the 13th and 18th centuries. Finally came Mutsamudu, on the north coast, which became the capital in the 18th century and still is today. This sequence reflects how Swahili civilisation developed on the island.
According to oral tradition, Mutsamudu was founded in 1482 by Sultan Mohamed bin Sultan Hassan. Like the other towns of the archipelago, it was born and grew thanks to Indian Ocean trade. It was a Swahili port where dhows stopped on their way between the Comoros and Zanzibar, the East African coast, Madagascar, Arabia and India, trading spices, slaves, ivory, cloth and other goods.
Anjouan, the most mountainous and green island in the archipelago, proved especially fertile and productive, and its sultans gained considerable prestige and influence. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Mutsamudu became an important port on the Indian Ocean routes. Even European ships (British, French and Portuguese) called at the island on their way to India, and they left their mark on its history and architecture.
Mutsamudu's most impressive monument is its citadel, an 18th-century fortress on Sinéjou hill that overlooks the town and the port. It was built between 1782 and 1789 for a very specific purpose: to defend Mutsamudu from Malagasy pirates, mainly Sakalava and Betsimisaraka. At the time these raiders were ravaging the Comorian coasts in search of loot and, above all, captives to sell as slaves in the markets of the Indian Ocean.
The town was also surrounded by walls and defensive gates, and alleys and stairways linked the citadel to the town centre. Both French and English cannons survive in its fortifications, a sign of the alliances and contacts between the sultans of Anjouan and the European powers competing for the Indian Ocean. These defences made Mutsamudu one of the strongholds of the archipelago.
Inside the medina, the elite of Anjouan also built remarkable stone palace-houses as symbols of their power and refinement. The most famous is the Ujumbe, a well-preserved 18th-century Swahili mansion. A dozen large stone houses have been identified in the medina, with names such as Singani, Mpangahari, Barakani and Stambul. Together with its mosques and mausoleums, they make Mutsamudu an exceptional example of Swahili urban architecture.
Like the rest of the archipelago, Anjouan came under French rule at the end of the 19th century. France first set up a protectorate and later made the island part of the colony of the Comoros. Mutsamudu remained the island's main town and port throughout the colonial period and after the Comoros became independent in 1975.
However, Anjouan was at the centre of one of the most serious episodes in the country's recent history. In 1997, amid chronic political instability and discontent over how resources were shared within the Union, the island, together with Mohéli, unilaterally declared its separation from the Comoros. It even asked, without success, to return to French administration. Anjouan's separatist crisis dragged on for years. It was only resolved in the early 2000s, when a new Constitution gave each island broad autonomy and created a rotating presidency of the Union.
In 2008, a military intervention by the African Union and the Comorian government ended a regime that had entrenched itself in Anjouan. These episodes show the tensions between the islands and how hard it is to keep a small, scattered country in balance. Through it all, Mutsamudu remained the island's capital and the country's second city, and it kept its medina and rich historical heritage.
Today Mutsamudu is a town of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of Anjouan and the island's main port, and its historic medina has kept all its charm. It is also the gateway to the greenest and most mountainous interior in the archipelago. From here you can reach Mont Ntringui and its national park, the Tatinga waterfall, the ylang-ylang plantations of the Bambao region (the base of legendary perfumes) and the historic walled town of Domoni.
Anjouan's economy relies on export crops, with ylang-ylang, cloves and vanilla as star products that literally make the island smell of perfume. Fishing and money sent home by the diaspora also matter. Tourism is still in its early days, so Mutsamudu is an authentic destination without crowds. Travellers find hospitality there and a genuine immersion in the Swahili and Muslim culture of the Indian Ocean.
The big recognition came on 25 July 2026, when the medina of Mutsamudu was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, together with those of Domoni, Moroni, Iconi and others, as part of the 'Historic Sultanates of the Comoros' (four medinas on Grande Comore and two on Anjouan). The listing was approved at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan (South Korea). It recognises these towns as evidence of Swahili architecture and of the trade networks of the Indian Ocean, and it opens the way to better protection of their fragile heritage.
