Mayotte was occupied in the nineteenth century by the Sakalava from the island of Madagascar. The island came under the dominion of a Malagasy chief, Andriansouli, & in 1843 he conceded Dzaoudzi to the French, who were seeking for a naval base in the western Indian Ocean.

The island was then dominated by Creole planters from Reunion, whose descendents continue to exert some political determine. Mayotte and the other three islands of the Comoros were made a colony of France in 1912, & Dzaoudzi stayed the working capital of the archipelago until it was replaced by Moroni in 1962.

The status of the island has remained open, as France refuses to designate Mayotte as one of the departements, or administrative districts, of France and has postponed lots times any referendum on the territory's future. The United Nations and the Organization of African Unity, however, have acknowledged Mayotte as part of the nation of Comoros.