History of Madagascar
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The history of Madagascar is distinguished clearly by the early isolation of the landmass from the ancient supercontinent of Pangaea, containing amongst others the African continent and the Indian subcontinent, and by the island's late colonization by human settlers from the Sunda islands (Malay Archipelago) and from East Africa.[1] These two factors facilitated the evolution and survival of thousands of endemic plant and animal species, some of which have gone extinct or are currently threatened with extinction. Trade in the Indian Ocean at the time of first colonization of Madagascar was dominated by Indonesian ships, probably of Borobudur ship and K'un-lun po types.[2][3]
Over the past two thousand years the island has received waves of settlers of diverse origins including Austronesian, Bantu, Arab, South Asian, Chinese, and European. The majority of the population of Madagascar today is a mixture of Austronesian and Bantu settlers. Despite popular belief, there has been no genetic input from Arabs or Indians, although one tribe, the Antemoro, claims descent from Somali Arab traders. European and Middle eastern paternal ancestry is also present.[4]
Centuries of intermarriages created the
Other ethnic groups often intermixed with the existent population to a more limited degree or have sought to preserve a separate community from the majority Malagasy.
By the Middle Ages, over a dozen distinct ethnic identities had emerged on the island, typified by rule under a local chieftain. Some communities, such as the Sakalava, Merina and Betsimisaraka, were unified by leaders who established true kingdoms, which gained wealth and power through commerce with Europeans, Arabs, and other seafarers, including pirates.
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, pirate activity in the coastal areas of
By the turn of the 19th century, King
In French Madagascar, Malagasy people were required to fulfill corvée labor on French-run plantations, which generated high revenues for the colonial administration. Opportunities for Malagasy to access education or skilled positions within the colonial structure were limited, although some basic services like schools and clinics were extended to coastal areas for the first time. The capital city was largely transformed and modernized, and the royal palace was transformed into a school and later a museum. Although Malagasy were initially prevented from forming political parties, several militant nationalist secret societies emerged, of which the most prominent was Vy Vato Sakelika, founded by Ny Avana Ramanantoanina.
Many Malagasy were conscripted to fight for France in
Under the leadership of President
First inhabitants and settlements (500 BCE–700 CE)
Archaeological evidence for date of first settlement
The earliest unambiguous evidence of continuous human presence in Madagascar was found at Andavakoera and dates to 490 CE,[10] and there is no archaeological evidence for human occupation in the highlands until around 1200. However, there is scattered evidence for much earlier human visits.
In 2009, archaeological excavations at Christmas River (south-central Madagascar) by Pat Wright and James Hansford located a purported elephant bird kill site, with bones showing human cut marks. These were dated to 8,500 BCE, but as yet there is no indication as to the identity of the hunters.[11][12] Archaeological finds such as cut marks on bones found in the northwest and stone tools in the northeast indicate that Madagascar was visited by foragers around 2000 BCE.[13][14]
There is potential evidence in the form of a cutmarked subfossil lemur bone from a palaeontological site, Taolambiby, in the southwest. One date was obtained, calibrated 530 to 300 BC (Godfrey & Jungers 2003). The cutmarking looks plausible, but there is a potential problem of old carbon from the limestone landscape compromising the date, and there are no associated artifacts or archaeological sites in the vicinity. Nearly contemporaneous potential evidence comes from cannabis or humulus pollen which occurs in a pollen column from the central highlands at an interpolated date of c. 2200 Before Present (BP).[15] There is a hypothesis that cannabis may have reached Africa 3000 years ago.
Necho II's Phoenician expedition c. 595 BCE circumnavigated Africa but did not see Madagascar when passing through the Mozambique Channel, as it stayed within sight of the African mainland. The island was likely uninhabited.[16]
Finally, a cutmarked pygmy hippo bone from Ambolisatra has been dated and calibrated to between 60 BC and 130 AD (2 SDs), but it is from a coastal swamp without indications of settlement in a heavily karstic region. Moreover, a similar bone from the same collection from a nearby site gave two widely divergent dates of 2020 and 3495 BC (MacPhee & Burney 1991). Transient visits to Madagascar that did not result in enduring settlement cannot be ruled out, and may have left some traces.[17]
A common Austronesian origin: The Vahoaka Ntaolo
Factual information about the peopling of Madagascar remains incomplete, but much recent multidisciplinary research and work in
The Borobudur Ship Expedition in 2003–2004 affirmed scholars' ideas that ships from ancient Indonesia could have reached Madagascar and the west African coast for trade from the 8th century and after.
The Southeast Asian origin of the first Malagasy people explains certain features common among the Malagasy, for instance, the epicanthic fold common among all Malagasy whether coastal or highlands, whether pale, dark or copper skinned. This original population (vahoaka ntaolo) can be called the "Proto-Malagasy". They are the source of:
- the Malagasy language, common to the whole island, which shares many common Ma'anyan.[39]
- Malagasy cultural traditions shared with Austronesians of Taiwan, the Pacific Islands, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the Philippines including ancient customs, such as burying the dead within a canoe in the sea or in a lake, the cultivation of traditional Austronesian crops such as taro or saonjo, banana, coconut, and sugar cane, traditional architecture with a square house plan, music and musical instruments such as the antsiva conch, the hazolahy drum, the atranatrana xylophone, sodina flute, or the valiha tube zither,[40] and dance, including the "bird dance" found both in central and southern regions.[41]
As for the cause of the coming of these Austronesians, the history of the Indian Ocean from the early first millennium CE is still poorly understood. Madagascar may have played an important role in the trade of spices (especially cinnamon) and timber between Southeast Asia and the Middle East, directly or through the African coast and Madagascar.[citation needed]
Vazimba and Vezo
The first known concentrated population of human settlers emerged along the southeastern coast of the island, although the first landfall may have been made on the northern coast.[42] Upon arrival, early settlers practiced tavy (slash-and-burn agriculture) to clear the virgin coastal rainforests for the cultivation of their crops.[43] The first settlers encountered Madagascar's wealth of megafauna, including giant lemurs, elephant birds, giant fossa and the Malagasy hippopotamus, which have since become extinct due to hunting and habitat destruction.[44]
By 600, groups of these early settlers had moved inland and began clearing the forests of the central highlands (Imerina), where they particularly planted taro (saonjo) and probably rice (vary). These Vahoaka Ntaolo, hunters-gatherers and farmers, who decided to settle "in the forest", especially in the forests of the central highlands are known by the tradition[45] as the Vazimba (from *ba/va-yimba- 'those of the forest', from *yimba- 'forest' in Proto–Southeast Barito, today barimba or orang rimba in Malay[46]). Rafandrana, an ancestor of the Merina royal dynasty, for example, is known to have been a Vazimba. Rafohy and Rangita, the two founding queens of the Merina royalty, were also called Vazimbas.[45]
On the other side, the fishermen who, from the beginning, remained on the southwestern coast (probably the coasts of the first landing) were, according to the linguists, probably originally called the
After the arrival of the newcomers (see below), as growing population density necessitated higher crop yields, irrigated rice paddies emerged in Betsileo country by 1600 and were complemented with terraced paddies throughout the central highlands a century later.[47] Zebu were introduced around 1000 by Bantu-speaking migrants from the African Great Lakes region (see below), who maintained large herds. The rising intensity of land cultivation and the ever-increasing demand for zebu pasturage in the central highlands had largely transformed the region from a forest ecosystem to barren grassland by the 17th century.[48]
Traders, explorers, and immigration (700–1500)
By the mid-first millennium (ca 700) until about 1500, the inner Vazimbas as much as the coastal Vezos clans welcomed new visitors or immigrants. These goods and/or slave traders came from the Middle East (Shirazi Persians, Omani Arabs, Arab Jews), Africa (Swahilis), and from Asia (Gujaratis, Malays, Javanese, Bugis). They were sometimes integrated within the coastal Vezos and the inner Vazimbas clans.[49]
Omani Arabs (from the 7th century)
The written history of Madagascar begins in the 7th century when Omanis established trading posts along the northwest coast and introduced Islam, the Arabic script (used to transcribe the Malagasy language in a form of writing known as the sorabe alphabet), Arab astrology and other cultural elements.[50] During this early period, Madagascar served as an important transoceanic trading port for the East African coast that gave Africa a trade route to the Silk Road and served simultaneously as a port for incoming ships. There is evidence that Bantu or Swahili sailors or traders may have begun sailing to the western shores of Madagascar as early as around the 6th and 7th century.[51]
According to the traditions of some Malagasy peoples, the first Bantus and Arabs to settle in Madagascar came as refugees from the civil wars that followed the death of Muhammad in 632.[52] Beginning in the 10th or 11th century, Arabic and Zanzibari slavers worked their way down the Swahili coast in their dhows and established settlements on the west coast of Madagascar. Notably they included the Zafiraminia, traditional ancestors of the Antemoro, Antanosy and other east coast ethnicities. The last wave of Arab immigrants, the Antalaotra, immigrated from Swahili colonies. They settled the northwest of the island (the Mahajanga area) and introduced, for the first time, Islam to Madagascar.[52]
Arab immigrants, though few in number compared to the native Austronesians and Bantus, nevertheless left a lasting impression. The Malagasy names for seasons, months, days, and coins in certain regions come from Arabic origins,[53][54] as do cultural features such as the practice of circumcision, the communal grain-pool, and different forms of salutation (such as salama).
Neo-Austronesians: Malays, Javanese, Bugis, and Orang Laut (from the 8th century)
According to oral tradition,[55] new Austronesian clans (Malays, Javanese, Bugis, and Orang Laut),[56] historically referred to in general, regardless of their native island, as the "Hova"[45] (from Old Bugis uwa, "commoner") landed in the north-west and east coast of the island. Adelaar's observations of Old Malay (Sanskritised), Old Javanese (Sanskritised) and Old Bugis borrowings in the initial Proto-Southeast-Barito language indicate that the first Hova waves came probably in the 7th century at the earliest.[57] Marre and Dahl pointed out that the number of Sanskrit words in Malagasy is very limited compared with the large number now found in Indonesian languages, which means that the Indonesian settlers must have come at an early stage of Hindu influence, that is ca. 400 AD.[58]
The Hova were probably derived from Indonesian thalassocracies. Their leaders were known as the diana in the Southeast and andriana or raondriana in the Center and the West[45][59][60] (from (ra)-hadi-an, "lord" or "master" in Old Javanese,[21] modern Javanese raden, also found in the Bugis noble title andi and the Tagalog word for "king" hari). They for the most part allied with Vazimba clans:[61][62]
- In the Northwest area of the current Ankoala (from kuala, "estuary" in Malay and Indonesian) where the Hova Orang Laut (Antalaotra in Malagasy) had probably established their base for their Indian Ocean operations.
- On the east coast (Betsimisaraka) where the Hova leaders were also called Filo (ha) be by the "neo-Vezo" clans.
- In the southeast where the leaders ("Diana") of the Zafiraminia and Zafikazimambo clans allied with the "neo-Vezo" and founded the later Antaisaka, Antaimoro and Antambahoaka kingdoms.
- In the west: the Maroserana dynasty which founded the Sakalava Kingdom is itself a result of Zafiraminia on the east coast.
- In the Center where repeated alliances among the Hova leaders (the andriana) (such as Andrianerinerina, Andriantomara and their descendants[60]) with the chiefs of Vazimba clans (such as Rafandrana and his descendants[63]) led to the Merina and Betsileo Kingdoms.
With the arrival of Islam, Persian and Arab traders soon supplanted the Indonesians on the coast of Africa and eventually extended their control over the Comoro Islands and parts of the coast of Madagascar. Meanwhile, with competition in the new joint naval powers of Song China and Chola South India, the thalassocracies of Indonesia were in rapid decline, though the Portuguese still encountered Javanese sailors in Madagascar in the sixteenth century.
Bantus (from the 9th century)
There is archaeological evidence that
Europeans (from 1500)
Europe knew of Madagascar through Arab sources; thus
European settlements
By the 15th century, Europeans had wrested control of the spice trade from the Muslims. They did this by bypassing the Middle East and sending their cargo-ships around the Cape of Good Hope to India. The Portuguese mariner Diogo Dias became the first European to set foot on Madagascar when his ship, bound for India, blew off course in 1500. In the ensuing 200 years, the English and French tried (and failed) to establish settlements on the island.
Fever, dysentery, hostile Malagasy, and the trying arid climate of southern Madagascar soon terminated the English settlement near
In 1665, François Caron, the Director General of the newly formed French East India Company, sailed to Madagascar. The Company failed to found a colony on Madagascar but established ports on the nearby islands of Bourbon and Île-de-France (today's Réunion and Mauritius respectively). In the late 17th century, the French established trading-posts along the east coast.[53]
Pirates and slave-traders
Between 1680 and 1725, Madagascar became a
Notable pirates including William Kidd, Henry Every, John Bowen, and Thomas Tew made Antongil Bay and Île Sainte-Marie (a small island 12 miles off the northeast coast of Madagascar) their bases of operations. The pirates plundered merchant ships in the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. They deprived Europe-bound ships of their silks, cloth, spices, and jewels. Vessels captured going in the opposite direction (to India) lost their coin, gold, and silver. The pirates robbed the Indian cargo ships that traded between ports in the Indian Ocean as well as ships commissioned by the East India Companies of France, England, and the Netherlands. The pilgrim fleet sailing between Surat in India and Mocha on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula were a favorite target, because the wealthy Muslim pilgrims often carried jewels and other finery with them to Mecca. Merchants in India, various ports of Africa, and Réunion showed willingness to fence the pirates' stolen goods. The low-paid seamen who manned merchant ships in the Indian Ocean hardly put up a fight, seeing as they had little reason or motivation to risk their lives. The pirates often recruited crewmen from the ships they plundered.
With regard to piracy in Malagasy waters, note the (semi-)legendary accounts of the alleged pirate-state of Libertalia.
Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, certain Malagasy tribes occasionally waged wars to capture and enslave prisoners. They either sold the slaves to Arab traders or kept them on-hand as laborers. Following the arrival of European slavers, human slaves became more valuable, and the coastal tribes of Madagascar took to warring with each other to obtain prisoners for the lucrative slave-trade. Instead of spears and cutlasses, the tribesmen fought with muskets, musket-balls, and gunpowder that they obtained from the Europeans, conducting fierce and brutal wars. On account of their relationship to the pirates, the Betsimisaraka in eastern Madagascar had more firearms than anyone else. They overpowered their neighbors, the Antankarana and Tsimihety, and even raided the Comoro Islands. As the tribe on the west coast with the most connections to the slave trade, the Sakalava people also had access to guns and powder.
Today, the people of Madagascar can be considered as the product of mixing between the first occupants, the vahoaka ntaolo Austronesians (Vazimba and Vezo) and those arrived later (Hova neo-Austronesians, Persians, Arabs, Africans and Europeans).
Genotypically, the original Austronesian heritage is more or less evenly distributed throughout the island. Researchers have noticed the "Polynesian motif" everywhere:[73] an old marker of Austronesian populations from before the great immigration to the islands of Polynesia and Melanesia. This fact would require a starting common home among the Proto-Malagasy vahoaka ntaolo (gone west to Madagascar) and the ancestors of the current Polynesians (left for the Pacific Islands in the East) between 500 BCE – 1 CE.
Feudal era (1500–1895)
Rise of the great kingdoms
Those new immigrants of the Middle Ages were a minority in numbers, yet their cultural contributions, political and technological to the neo-Vazimba and neo-Vezo world substantially altered their society and is the cause of the major upheavals of the sixteenth century that led to the Malagasy feudal era.
On the coasts, the integration of the East Asians, Middle Easterns, Bantus and Portuguese led to the establishment of the kingdoms of the
In the interior, the struggle for hegemony between the different Neo-Vazimba clans of central highlands, called the Hova by the coastal Neo-Vezo clans, led to the creation of the
The birth of these kingdoms/tribes essentially altered the political structure of the ancient world of the Vahoaka Ntaolo, but for the most part the common language, customs, traditions, religion and economy was preserved.
Among the Central Kingdoms, the most important were the
Sakalava
The island's West clan chiefs began to extend their power through trade with their Indian Ocean neighbors, first with Arab,
The island's chiefs began to extend their power through trade with their Indian Ocean neighbours, notably East Africa, the Middle East and
According to local tradition, the founders of the Sakalava kingdom were Maroseraña (or Maroseranana, "those who owned many ports") princes, from the Fiherenana (now Toliara). They quickly subdued the neighbouring princes, starting with the southern ones, in the Mahafaly area. The true founder of Sakalava dominance was Andriamisara; his son Andriandahifotsy (c. 1610–1658) then extended his authority northwards, past the Mangoky River. His two sons, Andriamanetiarivo and Andriamandisoarivo, extended gains further up to the Tsongay region (now Mahajanga). At about that time, the empire's unity starts to split, resulting in a southern kingdom (Menabe) and a northern kingdom (Boina). Further splits resulted, despite continued extension of the Boina princes' reach into the extreme north, in Antankarana country.
The Sakalava rulers of this period are known through the memoirs of Europeans such as
Merina monarchy
King
With the establishment of dominion over the greater part of the Highlands, Andrianampoinimerina became the first
King Andrianampoinimerina
Andrianampoinimerina, grandson of King Andriambelomasina and successor to his uncle King Andrianjafy, successfully reunited the fragmented Merina kingdom through a combination of diplomacy, strategic political marriages and successful military campaigns against rival princes. Andrianampoinimerina distinguished himself from other kings by codifying laws and supervising the building of dikes and trenches to increase the amount of arable land around his capital at Antananarivo in a successful bid to end the famines that had wracked Imerina for decades. The king ambitiously proclaimed: Ny ranomasina no valapariako (“the sea is the boundary of my rice-field”), and by the time of his death in 1810 he had conquered the Bara and Betsileo highland tribes, laying the groundwork for expansion of his kingdom to the shores of the island.
King Radama I (1810–1828)
Andrianampoinimerina's son
Radama I signed treaties with the United Kingdom outlawing the slave trade and admitting Protestant missionaries into Madagascar. As a result of these treaties Protestant missionaries from Britain would spread British influence in Madagascar; while outlawing the slave trade would weaken Réunion's economy by depriving the island of slave laborers for France's sugar plantations. In return for outlawing the slave trade, Madagascar received what the treaty called "The Equivalent": an annual sum of a thousand dollars in gold, another thousand in silver, stated amounts of gunpowder, flints, and muskets, plus 400 surplus British Army uniforms. The governor of Mauritius also sent military advisers who accompanied and sometimes led Merina soldiers in their battles against the Sakalava and Betsimisaraka. In 1824, having defeated the Betsimisaraka, Radama I declared, "Today, the whole island is mine! Madagascar has but one master." The king died in 1828 while leading his army on a punitive expedition against the Betsimisaraka.
The 33-year reign of Queen Ranavalona I, the widow of Radama I, was characterized by an increase in the size of the Kingdom of Madagascar as it conquered neighboring states as well as an effort to maintain the cultural and political sovereignty of Madagascar in the face of increasing foreign influence. The queen repudiated the treaties that Radama I had signed with Britain and, in 1835 after issuing a royal edict prohibiting the practice of Christianity in Madagascar, she expelled British missionaries from the island and began persecuting Christian converts who would not renounce their religion. Malagasy Christians would remember this period as ny tany maizina, or "the time when the land was dark". During her reign regular warfare, disease, slavery, difficult forced labor and harsh measures of justice (Tangena ordeal) resulted in a high mortality rate among soldiers and civilians alike during her 33-year reign, with Madagascar's population reducing from 5 million in 1833 to 2.5 million in 1839.
Unbeknownst to the queen, her son and heir, the crown-prince (the future
King Radama II (1861–1863)
In his brief two years on the throne, King
Queen Rasoherina (1863–1868)
The Malagasy people remember Queen Rasoherina for sending ambassadors to London and Paris and for prohibiting
In 1869, Queen
Her public coronation as queen took place on 22 November 1883 and she took the name Ranavalona III. As her first order of business she confirmed the nomination of Rainilaiarivony and his entourage in their positions. She also promised to do away with the French threat.[80]
End of the monarchy
Angry at the cancellation of the
In 1895, a French flying column landed in Mahajanga (Majunga) and marched by way of the Betsiboka River to the capital, Antananarivo, taking the city's defenders by surprise (they had expected an attack from the much closer east coast). Twenty French soldiers died fighting and 6,000 died of malaria and other diseases before the second Franco-Hova War ended. In 1896 the French Parliament voted to annex Madagascar. The 103-year-old Merina monarchy ended with the royal family sent into exile in Algeria.
International recognition and modernization of the Kingdom (1817–1895)
The kingdom of Madagascar continued its transformation throughout the 19th century from a locally grown monarchy into a modern state.
Before Radama I the Malagasy language was written in a script known as
The United States and the Kingdom of Madagascar concluded a commercial convention in 1867 after which Queen Rasoherina and Prime Minister Rainilaiarivoy exchanged gifts with president Andrew Johnson.[82] A treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce was then signed in 1881.[83]
During the reign of Ranavalona I, early attempts at industrialization took place from 1835 under the direction of the French Jean Laborde (a survivor of a shipwreck off the east coast), producing soap, porcelain, metal tools and firearms (rifles, cannons, etc.)..
In 1864
French colonization
In 1750, the ruler of the Kingdom of Betsimisaraka,
In 1840 Tsiomeko, the ruler of Nosy Be island, accepted French protection in 1840. The French took possession of the island in 1841, and in 1849 an unsuccessful attempt was made to expel them.[85]
In the
Disagreements on the implementation of this treaty served as a pretext for the French invasion of 1895, which first met little resistance. The authority of the prime minister Rainilaiarivony, in power since 1864, had become very unpopular with the public.
The British accepted the imposition of a French protectorate over Madagascar in 1890 in return for recognition of British sovereignty over Zanzibar (subsequently part of Tanzania) and as part of an overall definition of spheres of influence in the area.[86] The intention of the French was initially to maintain the protectorate in order to control the economy and foreign relations of the island. But later, the outbreak of the Menalamba rebellion and the arrival of General Gallieni (responsible for "pacifying" the country) in 1896 led to the colonization of the island and the exile of the queen to Algeria.
In 1904–1905 Madagascar was the scene of a large-scale uprising by various tribes and tribal leaders, among whom Kotavy, a former French corporal who defected to the rebels, filled a preponderant role.[8]
Malagasy troops fought in France,
Revolt and decolonization (1947–1960)
In 1948, with French prestige at a low ebb, the French government, headed by Prime Minister
The French subsequently established reformed institutions in 1956 under the
Independence
First Republic (1960–1972)
Tsiranana's rule represented continuation, with French settlers (or colons) still in positions of power. Unlike many of France's former colonies, the Malagasy Republic strongly resisted movements towards communism.[94]
In 1972, protests against these policies came to a head and Tsiranana had to step down. He handed power to General Gabriel Ramanantsoa of the army and his provisional government. This régime reversed previous policy in favour of closer ties with the Soviet Union.[95]
On 5 February 1975, Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava became the President of Madagascar. After six days as head of the country, he died in an assassination while driving from the presidential palace to his home. Political power passed to Gilles Andriamahazo.
Second Republic (1972–1991)
On 15 June 1975, Lieutenant-Commander Didier Ratsiraka (who had previously served as foreign minister) came to power in a coup. Elected president for a seven-year term, Ratsiraka moved further towards socialism, nationalising much of the economy and cutting all ties with France. These policies hastened the decline in the Madagascan economy that had begun after independence as French immigrants left the country, leaving a shortage of skills and technology behind. Ratsiraka's original seven-year term as president continued after his party (Avant-garde de la Révolution Malgache or AREMA) became the only legal party in the 1977 elections.
In the 1980s, Madagascar moved back towards France, abandoning many of its communist-inspired policies in favour of a market economy, though Ratsiraka still kept hold of power.[53]
Eventually, opposition, both within and without, forced Ratsiraka to consider his position and in 1992 the country adopted a new and democratic constitution.
Third Republic (1991–2002)
The first multi-party elections came in 1993, with Albert Zafy defeating Ratsiraka.[94] Despite being a strong proponent of a liberal, free-market economy, Zafy ran on a ticket critical of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. During his presidency the country struggled to implement IMF and World Bank guidelines that were, on the short term, suicidal politically.[96]
As president Zafy was frustrated by the restraints placed upon the powers of his office by the new constitution. His quest for increased executive power put him on a collision course with the parliament led by then prime minister Francisque Ravony.[97] Zafy eventually won the power he sought after but suffered impeachment at the hands of the disenfranchised parliament in 1996 for violating the constitution by refusing to promulgate specific laws.[98]
The ensuing elections saw a turnout of less than 50% and unexpectedly resulted in the re-election of Didier Ratsiraka.[95] He moved further towards capitalism. The influence of the IMF and the World Bank led to widespread
Opposition to Ratsiraka began to grow again. Opposition parties boycotted provincial elections in 2000, and the
Post-Ratsiraka
Ravalomanana's
Ravalomanana is credited with improving the country's infrastructure, such as roads, along with making improvements in education and health, but has faced criticism for his lack of progress against poverty;
Ravalomanana ran for a second term in the
Ravalomanana dissolved the National Assembly in July 2007, prior to the end of its term, following a
He became involved in a political standoff after he closed the TV station belonging to
The situation fundamentally changed on 10 March 2009 when army leaders forced the recently appointed defense secretary to resign (the previous one had decided to resign after the killings by the presidential guard on 7 February 2009). They also announced that they gave the opponents 72 hours to dialogue and find a solution to the crisis before they would take further action. This move came after the leaders of the main military camp had announced a day earlier that they would not execute orders coming from the presidency any more since their duty was to protect the people, and not to oppress them, as groups of the military had done over the last few days.[109][110]
On 16 March 2009, the army seized the presidential palace in the centre of Antananarivo. Ravalomanana was not in the palace at the time.[111] He handed his resignation to the army, which then decided to hand over power to his fierce political rival, Andry Rajoelina. The second round of the postponed presidential elections was held in December 2013 and the results were announced in January 2014. The winner and the next president was Hery Rajaonarimampianina. He was backed by Rajoelina who led the 2009 coup and still was very influential political figure.[112][113]
In 2018 the first round of the presidential election was held on 7 November and the second round was held on 10 December. Three former presidents and the most recent president were the main candidates of the elections. Former president Andry Rajoelina won the second round of the elections. He was previously president from 2009 to 2014. Former president Marc Ravalomanana lost the second round and he did not accept the results because of allegations of fraud. Ravalomanana was president from 2002 to 2009. The most recent president Hery Rajaonarimampianina received very modest support in the first round. In January 2019 the High Constitutional Court declared Rajoelina as the winner of the elections and the new president.[114][115][116]
In 2019, an epidemic of measles killed 1,200 people.[117]
In 2021, Madagascar's
In November 2023, Andry Rajoelina was re-elected to another term with 58.95% of the vote in the first round of the election. Turnout was 46.36%, the lowest in a presidential election in the country's history.[120]
See also
- Ethnic groups of Madagascar
- History of Africa
- History of Southern Africa
- List of Imerina monarchs
- List of presidents of Madagascar
- Politics of Madagascar
- Antananarivo history and timeline
Footnotes
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- ^ Beale, Philip (2006). "From Indonesia to Africa: Borobudur Ship Expedition". ZIFF Journal. 3: 17–24.
- S2CID 162220129.
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- ^ Sanger Institute (May 4, 2005). "The cryptic past of Madagascar: Human inhabitants of Madagascar are genetically unique". Archived from the original on March 3, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2006.
- PMID 22438500.
- ^ JSTOR 24328554.
- ^ Shillington (2005), p. 878
- ^ 'The archaeological evidence for the earliest human presence in Madagascar comes from Andavakoera near Diego Suarez and is dated to AD420 (AD250-590, 2SDs) (Dewar & Wright 1996).
- ^ "Ancient bird bones redate human activity in Madagascar by 6,000 years". Zoological Society of London (ZSL). September 10, 2018.
- ^ "Ancient bird bones redate human activity in Madagascar by 6,000 years". Phys.org. September 12, 2018.
- .
- PMID 23858456.
- ^ Burney 1987
- ^ a b Ley, Willy (August 1966). "Scherazade's Island". For Your Information. Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 45–55.
- ISBN 978-1-902937-45-8., pp71-72
- ^ Burney et alii (2004)
- ^ Hurles et alii (2005)
- ^ Dahl O. (1991)
- ^ a b c Adelaar, K.A. (2006)
- ^ ISBN 978-2-296-01108-3.
- PMID 15793703.
- ^ Verin (2000), p.20
- ISBN 978-0-393-31755-8. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ISBN 82-00-21140-1.
- ^ Burney et al, op. cit.
- ^ Ricaut et al, op. cit.
- ^ Blench, Roger. “The Ethnographic Evidence for Long-distance Contacts Between Oceania and East Africa” In The Indian Ocean in Antiquity, edited by Julian Reade, pp. 417–38. London: Kegan Paul/British Museum 1996 pp. 417–38.
- ^ I. W. Ardika & P. Bellwood, “Sembiran: The Beginnings of Indian Contact with Bali”, Antiquity 65 (1991): 221–32.
- ^ I. W. Ardika, P. Bellwood, I. M. Sutaba & K. C. Yuliati, “Sembiran and the First Indian Contacts with Bali: An Update”, Antiquity 71(1997): 193–95.
- ISBN 978-979-8083-58-7.
- ^ P. Y. Manguin. Pre-modern Southeast Asian Shipping in the Indian Ocean: The Maldive Connection. ‘New Directions in Maritime History Conference’ Fremantle. December 1993.
- ^ Otto Chr. Dahl, Malgache et Maanjan: une comparaison linguistique, Egede-Instituttet Avhandlinger, no. 3 (Oslo: Egede-Instituttet, 1951), p. 13.
- ^ There are also some Sulawesi loanwords, which Adelaar attributes to contact prior to the migration to Madagascar: See K. Alexander Adelaar, “The Indonesian Migrations to Madagascar: Making Sense of the Multidisciplinary Evidence”, in Truman Simanjuntak, Ingrid Harriet Eileen Pojoh and Muhammad Hisyam (eds.), Austronesian Diaspora and the Ethnogeneses of People in Indonesian Archipelago, (Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Sciences, 2006), pp. 8–9.
- S2CID 21753825.
- PMID 15288523.
- ^ Randriamasimanana, "The Malayo-Polynesian Origin of Malagasy"
- ^ O. Dahl, op. cit., Adelaar, op. cit., Simon, op. cit.
- ^ schmidhoffer, A. (2005)
- ^ This is according to historian Edward Ralaimihoatra, who calls these Austronesians globally the Vazimba, without distinguishing between the coastal Vezo, and the Vazimba of the forest. "[T]he main basis of the Malagasy language and techniques of Austronesian origins such as outrigger canoes, flooded rice fields, squared timber boxes or branches built on stilts, villages in the hills surrounded by ditches, etc. This fund has received contributions resulting from human exchanges between Africa and Madagascar, with navigation between the Arab coast of Saudi, East Africa, and the Big Island." Ralaimihoatra E., "The Primitives or Vazimba Malagasy", in History of Madagascar)
- JSTOR 219188.
- ISBN 9780030841712.
- S2CID 84382916.
- ^ a b c d Callet, François (1972) [1908]. Tantara ny andriana eto Madagasikara (histoire des rois). Antananarivo: Imprimerie catholique.
- ^ Simon, Pierre (2006), La langue des ancêtres. Une périodisation du malgache de l’origine au XVIe siècle, Paris, L’Harmattan., p. 245
- ^ Campbell (1993), p.116
- JSTOR 3674005.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-325-00217-0.
- ^ Metz, Helen Chapin (1994). "Library of Congress Country Studies: Madagascar (Education)". Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-387-72071-5.
- ^ a b Sigmund Edland, Tantaran’ny Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy
- ^ a b c "HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR". www.historyworld.net. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Dahle, L. (1876). "THE INFLUENCE OF THE ARABS ON THE MALAGASY LANGUAGE". The Antananarvio Annual and Madagascar Magazine. 1: 75–91 – via Google Books.
- ^ Ramilison E.,Andriantomara-Andriamamilazabe: loharanon'ny andriana nanjaka teto Imerina, Antananarivo, Lutheran Printing
- ^ Adelaar, KA (2006) "The Indonesian migrations to Madagascar: Making sense of the multidisciplinary evidence")
- ^ Adelaar, “The Indonesian Migrations to Madagascar”, p. 15.
- ^ Dahl, Otto Chr. Malgache et Maanjan: une Comparaison Linguistique, Egede-Instituttet Avhandlinger, no. 3. Oslo: Egede-Instituttet, 1951.
- ^ Ramilison, 1951
- ^ a b Ramilison, Emmanuel (1951). Ny loharanon'ny andriana nanjaka teto Imerina : Andriantomara-Andriamamilazabe. Imprimerie Ankehitriny.
- ^ Ravelojaona et alii 1937
- ^ Ravelojaona, Randzavola, Rajaonah G. (1937). Firaketana ny Fiteny sy ny Zavatra Malagasy. Antananarivo: Imprimerie Tanananarivienne.
{{cite book}}
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- ^ History of Madagascar An economic history of Imperial Madagascar, 1750–1895. By Gwyn Campbell. pg. 49 (2005). Retrieved February 15, 2012
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- ^ On the Origins and Admixture of Malagasy: New Evidence from High-Resolution Analyses of Paternal and Maternal Lineages
- ^ Dahl, O. (1991), op. cit.
- ^ a b Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
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- ^ From MADAGASCAR to the MALAGASY REPUBLIC, by Raymond K. Kent pg 65–71
- ^ Madagascar: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Island and Its Former Dependencies by Samuel Pasfield Oliver, p. 6. (excerpted in Google Book Search)
- ISBN 0-8371-8421-5), pages 55–71.
- ^ Hurles et alii (2005), Ricaut et alii (2009), Hagelberg et alii (2008)
- ^ Cities of the Middle East and North Africa By Michael Dumper, Bruce E. Stanley, Janet L. Abu-Lug
- ^ "Kingdoms of Madagascar: Maroserana and Merina". Metmuseum.org. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
- ^ London Missionary Society, ed. (1869). Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society. London: John Snow & Co. p. 525. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ Frédéric Randriamamonjy, Tantaran'i Madagasikara Isam-Paritra (The history of Madagascar by Region), pages 529–534.
- ^ Frédéric Randriamamonjy, Tantaran'i Madagasikara Isam-Paritra (The history of Madagascar by Region), pages 529–534.
- ^ Madagascar now has three dioceses in the autonomous Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean, part of the Anglican Communion. [1]. Retrieved September 14, 2006.
- ^ Frédéric Randriamamonjy, Tantaran'i Madagasikara Isam-Paritra (History of Madagascar by Region), pg 546.
- ^ "Dictionary of African Christian Biography". Retrieved May 13, 2012.
- ^ "Objects as Envoys". Retrieved May 13, 2012.
- ^ "U.S. Department of State, Background Note: Madagascar". Retrieved May 13, 2012.
- ^ "History of the Sainte-Marie island | Princesse Bora Lodge & Spa".
- ^ Nossi-Be
- ^ See Allen and Covell, Historical Dictionary of Madagascar, pgs. xxx–xxxi
- ^ A Country Study: Madagascar Library of Congress
- ^ The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Africa (1981)
- ^ Dictionary of Wars, by George Childs Kohn (Facts on File, 1999)
- ^ "B&J": Jacob Bercovitch and Richard Jackson, International Conflict : A Chronological Encyclopedia of Conflicts and Their Management 1945–1995 (1997)
- ^ Hartman, T., A World Atlas of Military History 1945–1984 (1984)
- ^ "WHPSI": The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators by Charles Lewis Taylor
- ^ "MALAGASY PACT SIGNED; Gives Republic Independence Within French Community". The New York Times. April 3, 1960.
- ^ a b c d e Lonely Planet: Madagascar History Archived 18 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c BBC: Madagascar timeline
- ^ "Structural Adjustment in MADAGASCAR". Wildmadagascar.org. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
- ^ Richard R. Marcus, "Political change in Madagascar: populist democracy or neopatrimonialism by another name?" Archived February 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Institute for Security Studies, Occasional Paper 89, August 2004.
- ^ "Décision n°17-HCC/D3(Empêchement)(French)". High Constitutional Court of Madagascar. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
- ^ BBC News: Ratsiraka gets 10 years hard labor
- ^ "Opinion divided over Ravalomanana", IRIN, 1 December 2006.
- ^ "Voter apathy as election day approaches", IRIN, 1 December 2006.
- ^ Johnny Hogg, "Madagascar general urges overthrow", BBC News, November 18, 2006.
- ^ "Ravalomanana likely to win presidential election" Archived 20 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, IRIN, 11 December 2006.
- ^ 2006 presidential election results Archived April 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine from the High Constitutional Court (in French).
- ^ "Ravalomanana swears in as Malagasy President" Archived 31 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Xinhua News Agency, 19 January 2007.
- AFP(IOL), 24 July 2007.
- ^ Norris Trent, Catherine (January 29, 2008). "Antananarivo almost a ghost town after protests". France 24. Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2009.
- ^ "43 killed in Madagascar political violence". Associated Press. January 28, 2009.
- ^ "Army calls politicians to find solution", ["RFI, in french"], 11 March 2009.
- ^ "Madagascar: Army Threatens to Intervene", ["Allafrica"], 11 March 2009.
- ^ "Madagascar soldiers seize palace". BBC. March 16, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
- ^ "Madagascar: Election Results Released". The New York Times. January 4, 2014.
- ^ "Madagascar holds long-awaited presidential elections". BBC News. October 25, 2013.
- ^ "All you need to know about high-stakes Madagascar poll".
- ^ "Madagascar court declares Rajoelina as election winner".
- ^ "Madagascar: Ravalomanana challenges results in court, Rajoelina calls for calm". December 28, 2018.
- ^ Bezain, Laetitia (April 14, 2019). "Measles outbreak kills more than 1,200 in Madagascar". AP NEWS. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
- ^ "At least 1m people facing starvation as Madagascar's drought worsens". The Guardian. May 10, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- ^ "Madagascar's hungry 'holding on for dear life', WFP chief warns". UN News. June 23, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- ^ "Andry Rajoelina: Madagascar president re-elected in contested poll". BBC News. November 25, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
References
in English
- Allen, Philip M. & Maureen Covell (2005). Historical Dictionary of Madagascar 2nd ed. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4636-5.
- Allen, Philip M. (1995). Madagascar: Conflicts of Authority in the Great Island. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-0258-7.
- Blench, Roger, "Musical instruments and musical practices as markers of Austronesian expansion", 18th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, Manila, March 26, 2006.
- Brown Mervyn (1978) Madagascar Rediscovered: A history from early times to independence
- Brown, M. (1978) Madagascar Rediscovered: A History from Early Times to Independence (London: Damien Tunnacliff)
- Burney, D.A., L.P. Burney, L.R. Godfrey, W.L. Jungers, S.M. Goodman, H.T. Wright, and A.J. Jull. 2004. "A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar", Journal of Human Evolution, 47, 25–63.
- Campbell, G. (1981) Madagascar and slave trade, 1850–1895, JAH
- Colby, Reginald. "Madagascar: The Great Island" History Today (Jan 1962) 12#1 pp 33–41
- Dahl, Otto Christian, Migration from Kalimantan to Madagascar, Oslo, Norwegian University Press, 1991. (ISBN 82-00-21140-1)
- Edkvist, Ingela, The performance of tradition: an ethnography of Hira Gasy popular theatre in Madagascar, Dept. of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Uppsala University, 1997.
- Hagelberg et alii, "A genetic perspective on the origins and dispersal of the Austronesians. Mitochondrial DNA variation from Madagascar to Easter islands"
- Jones, Arthur M., Africa and Indonesia. The Evidence Of The Xylophone And Other Musical And Cultural Factors, Leiden, E.J.Brill, 1971.
- Kent, Raymond K., From Madagascar to the Malagasy Republic, Greenwood Press, 1962. ISBN 0-8371-8421-5
- Rabarioelina, Ndriana (Rev. Dr.) (2010), "Biblical Relations between Israel and Madagascar", Doctoral Thesis of Theology, SAHTS, États-Unis, 2010, 458 pages. Abstract in Saint-Alcuin House Journal, Volume 8, N°1, USA, 2011. And in Library of Congress, number ISSN 1548-4459, USA.
- Randrianja Solofo, Ellis Stephen (2009), Madagascar. A short history, London, Hurst & Company, 2009.
- Razafindrazaka, Harilanto, et alii (2009) "A new deep branch of Eurasian mtDNA macrohaplogroup M reveals additional complexity regarding the settlement of Madagascar", BMC Genomics.
- Rebecca L. Green: Merina. The Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 1997, ISBN 0-8239-1991-9(The heritage library of African peoples). Google Books
- Schmidhoffer, August, «Some Remarks On The Austronesian Background of Malagasy Music », 2005.
- Stephen Ellis and Solofo Randrianja, Madagascar – A short history, London, 2009
- Thompson, V. (1965) The Malagasy Republic: Madagascar today. Stanford University Press.
- Adelaar, K.A (2006), "The Indonesian migrations to Madagascar: Making sense of the multidisciplinary evidence", in Adelaar, Austronesian diaspora and the ethnogenesis of people in Indonesian Archipelago, LIPI PRESS.
- ISBN 1-55876-292-2.
- Bellwood, Peter, James J. Fox et Darrell Tryon (éds.), The Austronesians Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Australian National University, 2006
- Mutibwa, P.M. (1989). "Madagascar 1800-80". In ISBN 978-0435948122.
- Hurles, Matthew E.; Sykes, Bryan C.; Jobling, Mark A.; Forster, Peter (May 2005). "The Dual Origin of the Malagasy in Island Southeast Asia and East Africa: Evidence from Maternal and Paternal Lineages". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 76 (5): 894–901. PMID 15793703.
- Hurles, Matthew E.; Sykes, Bryan C.; Jobling, Mark A.; Forster, Peter (May 2005). "The Dual Origin of the Malagasy in Island Southeast Asia and East Africa: Evidence from Maternal and Paternal Lineages". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 76 (5): 894–901. ISSN 0002-9297)
in French
- Charlotte Liliane Rabesahala-Randriamananoro, Ambohimanga-Rova : approche anthropologique de la civilisation merina (Madagascar), Paris, Le Publieur, 2006, 393 p. (ISBN 2-85194-307-3. Texte remanié d’une thèse soutenue à l’Université de La Réunion en 2002. (French)
- Rajaonarimanana, Narivelo (1990), Savoirs arabico-malgaches : la tradition manuscrite des devins Antemoro Anakara (Madagascar), Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales. (French)
- Ramamonjy, Georges (1952), "De quelques attitudes et coutumes merina", dans Mémoires de l'Institut scientifique de Madagascar (Tananarive), série C, Sciences humaines, 1 (2), 1952, p. 181–196. (French)
- Raombana (l'historien) (1809–1855), "Histoires", Edition Ambozontany, Fianarantsoa, 3 Volumes. (French)
- Rombaka, Jacques Philippe (1963), Tantaran-drazana Antemoro-Anteony, Antananarivo, Imprimerie LMS, pp. 10–11. (French)
- Rombaka, Jacques Philippe (1970), Fomban-drazana Antemoro – usages et coutumes antemoro, Ambozontany, Fianarantsoa, 121 p. (French)
- (in French) de Coppet, Marcel, Madagascar, Paris, Encyclopédie de l'Empire français, 2 vol. 1947
- (in French) Deschamps, Hubert, Madagascar, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1976.
- (in French) Domenichini-Ramiaramana, Michel, Instruments de musique des Hautes-Terres de Madagascar, Master's thesis Paris 1982.
- (in French) Fremigacci, Jean "La vérité sur la grande révolte de Madagascar", dans L’Histoire n°318, mars 2007, p. 36–43
- (in French) Ricaut et alii (2009) A new deep branch of Eurasian mtDNA macrohaplogroup M reveals additional complexity regarding the settlement of Madagascar, BMC Genomics
- (in French) Sachs, Curt, Les instruments de musique de Madagascar, Paris, Institut d’ethnologie, 1938.
- (in French) Simon, Pierre (2006), La langue des ancêtres. Une périodisation du malgache de l’origine au XVIe siècle, Paris, L’Harmattan.
- (in French) Vérin, Pierre, Madagascar, Paris, Karthala, 2000.
in Malagasy
- Ramilison, Emmanuel (Pastor) (1951), Andriantomara-Andriamamilazabe. Loharanon' ny Andriana nanjaka eto Imerina, Imprimerie Ankehitriny. (Malagasy)
- Rasamimanana, Joseph (Dr.) (1909) et Louis de Gonzague Razafindrazaka (Governor), Ny Andriantompokoindrindra, Antananarivo, 50 pages. (Malagasy)
- Ravelojaona (Pastor) (1937–1970), Firaketana ny Fiteny sy ny Zavatra Malagasy, Encyclopedic Dictionary, Antananarivo, 5 Volumes. (Malagasy)
External links
- Country Profile of Madagascar, U.S. Department of State
- Country Profile of Madagascar, CIA – The World Factbook
- Newsletter article on the first settlers of Madagascar
- A Historical Timeline for Madagascar
- Madagascar: a Portuguese settlement: the Portuguese fort near Tolanaro
- Royal House of Madagascar