Introduction To Comoros

The Comoros Islands are located in the Indian Ocean, between Madagascar and the African continent. Comoros is a small island nation composed of four islands: Grande Comore, Mohéli, Anjouan, and Mayotte. The islands are known for their rich culture and diverse history, influenced by Arab traders, African settlers, and European colonizers. The primary language spoken in Comoros is Comorian, which is a blend of Swahili, Arabic, and French. Islam is the official religion, and the islands are known for their unique brand of Sufi Islam. The Comoros economy is primarily based on agriculture, with cloves being the most important and lucrative crop. While the nation faces numerous challenges, such as political instability and economic inequality, it remains a fascinating and culturally rich destination for visitors.

Islands of stark contrasts and complex syncretisms, the comoros hold a major key to the history of the western Indian Ocean area. An invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history, economics, cultures, languages, geography, geology, or politics of the western Indian Ocean.

Universally recognised as by far the most authoritative work ever published on the subject, The Birds of Africa is a superb multi-contributor reference work, with encyclopaedic species texts, stunning paintings of all species and numerous subspecies, informative line drawings, detailed range maps, and extensive bibliographies. Each volume contains an Introduction that brings the reader up to date with the latest developments in African ornithology, including the evolution and biogeography of African birds. Diagnoses of the families and genera, often with superspecies maps, are followed by the comprehensive species accounts themselves. These include descriptions of range and status, field characters, voice, general habits, food, and breeding habits. Full bibliographies, acoustic references, and indexes complete this scholarly work of reference. This eighth and final volume covers the Malagasy region which comprises Madagascar and the various islands and archipelagos of the Indian Ocean including the Seychelles, the Comoros, Mauritius and Réunion. Every resident and migrant species is covered in full detail, comparable to other volumes in the series, and with a colour map for each species. Vagrants are treated in less detail. All species are illustrated on a beautiful series of 64 colour plates, with original artwork from John Gale and Brian Small. This is a major work of reference on the birds of the region and will remain the standard text for many years to come.

Selected Issues

This book provides an approachable and concise introduction to seismic theory, designed as a first course for undergraduate students. It clearly explains the fundamental concepts, emphasizing intuitive understanding over lengthy derivations. Incorporating over 30% new material, this second edition includes all the topics needed for a one-semester course in seismology. Additional material has been added throughout including numerical methods, 3-D ray tracing, earthquake location, attenuation, normal modes, and receiver functions. The chapter on earthquakes and source theory has been extensively revised and enlarged, and now includes details on non-double-couple sources, earthquake scaling, radiated energy, and finite slip inversions. Each chapter includes worked problems and detailed exercises that give students the opportunity to apply the techniques they have learned to compute results of interest and to illustrate the Earth's seismic properties. Computer subroutines and datasets for use in the exercises are available at www.cambridge.org/shearer.

A poverty profile for the Comoros has been established based on the latest poverty data (EIM 2004). The data indicate that monetary poverty is still widespread in the Comoros. For the overall country, the incidence of poverty at the household level was estimated at 36.9 percent in 2004. Three socioeconomic groups account for nearly two-thirds of national poverty: farmers' households (30.2 percent), unprotected wage earners' households (15.8 percent), and households headed by an inactive person (19.6 percent).