THE WORLD’S FOURTH LARGEST ISLAND lies in the Indian Ocean, separated from the coast of southeast Africa by the Mozambique Channel.
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CLIMATE |
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Madagascar has a tropical climate. It is particularly hot and humid along the eastern coastal strip.
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Africa Meets Southeast Asia
The first people to live in Madagascar (ma-duh-GAS-kuhr) arrived from about twenty-two hundred years ago until about one thousand years ago.
The peoples who settled Madagascar were not Africans but seafarers from Southeast Asia. They were related to those who had settled the islands of what are now Indonesia and Malaysia and to the Polynesians who peopled countless islands in the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to New Zealand. Great seafarers and fearless colonizers, they took root crops, such as taro, and agricultural tools with them, ready to start farming wherever the waves and winds took them.
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FACTS AND FIGURES |
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Official name: Repoblikan’i Madagasikara Status: Independent state Capital: Antananarivo Major towns: Antsirabe, Mahajanga, Fianarantsoa, Toamasina Area: 226,657 square miles (587,042 square kilometers) Population: 18,600,000 Population density: 82 per square mile (32 per square kilometer) Peoples: Malagasy (of Malay-Polynesian and African ancestry): 26 percent Merina, 15 percent Betsimisaraka, 12 percent Betsileo, fifteen other groups; minorities of Comorians, Arabs, French, Chinese, Indians, and Pakistanis Official languages: Malagasy, French Currency: Malagasy ariary National days: Insurrection Day (March 29); National Day (June 26) Country’s name: The origin is uncertain, possibly a mispronunciation of Malagasy, the name of its people.
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By the time of the last arrivals, a trading network existed across the Indian Ocean, linking up the Chinese, Persians, Arabs, and the Swahili-speaking peoples of the eastern African coast. Mainland Africans came to live on the island, bringing their cattle and way of life. Swahili speakers began to settle in northeast Madagascar over one thousand years ago. Other black Africans were later brought as slaves from the markets of Zanzibar.
Pirates, Kings, and Queens
During the 1500s C.E. the Europeans tried, in vain, to settle the island. The French founded Fort Dauphin, now called Tôlanaro (toe-lah-NAH-roe), on the southern coast in 1642 but abandoned it after local people attacked in 1674.
The most notorious settlers were pirates from Europe and North America, who made offshore ÃŽle Sainte Marie, or Nosy Boraha (naw-SEE boe-rah-AH), a base for raiding ships sailing the Indian Ocean between the 1690s and 1720s. The pirate era came to an end as heavily armed ships from France and Great Britain began to patrol these waters.
The local Malagasy (ma-luh-GA-see) population, of Malay-Polynesian and African descent, was divided into a number of rival groups, some of which founded powerful kingdoms around 1700. The Menabe (muh-NAH-bee) kingdom extended along the west coast and into the highlands. The Sakalava (sah-kah-LAH-vah) kingdom developed near Mahajanga (mah-hah-JAHNG-gah) in the northwest. In the east of the island was the kingdom of Betsimisaraka (beh-see-mee-sah-RAH-kuh).
Fierce wars raged between the rival kingdoms. During the 1800s the Merina (muh-REE-nah) of the central highlands became the most powerful people. They founded a new capital at Antananarivo (ahn-tah-nah-nah-REE-voe). Their king obtained firearms from Europe. He came to rule most of Masdagascar through conquest and alliance.
The Merina King Radama I abolished the trade in slaves from mainland Africa in 1810 and established friendly relations with France and Great Britain. He died in 1828, and his wife, Ranavalona I, became queen. She was an autocratic ruler who killed her opponents and ruled as an absolute monarch. She was determined to uphold traditional Malagasy culture and religion. Europeans were expelled and Malagasy Christians were persecuted and sometimes killed. Both groups were seen as a threat to Malagasy security. Trade with Europeans was allowed only at ports controlled by Malagasy governors. Her strong policies ensured that French plans for colonization were delayed until her death in 1861.
