Mayotte (, ; Shimaore: Maore, ; ) is an overseas department and region of France consisting 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, namely between northwestern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique. Mayotte's area is and, with its 212,645 people, is very densely populated at 569 per km² (1,473 per sq mi).

Its biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou. The territory is geographically part of the Comoro Islands, but the people of Mayotte chose to remain politically a part of France in the 1975 referendum. 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. In a 2009 referendum, the population overwhelmingly approved accession to status of department (95.2% voted in favour of departmental status). Mayotte became an overseas department on 31 March 2011 and became an Outermost region of the European Union on 1 January 2014.

Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 US  (Author : Globe-trotter)