Madagascar is an island country lying off the southeastern coast of Africa. Its capital city, Antananarivo, sits in the center of the island. Hills and mountains cover much of the middle of the island. Madagascar is the world’s fourth-largest island, following Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. It is frequently referred to as a “mini continent” due to its unique geography and climate. The island’s wide size contains a magnificent variety of scenery, ranging from lush rainforests and highland plateaus to semi-arid regions and clean coastline locations.
Human settlers just recently colonized Madagascar, possibly as late as 500 AD, approximately 300,000 years after Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa. Some researchers argue that the earliest settlers arrived directly from Indonesia, and that African components in the population and culture were introduced later, as a result of migration and the slave trade. Others argue that the island was populated as a result of multiple expeditions along the coasts of India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa, and that the people that established the island were already diverse.
Linguistics, archeology, and tradition all point to the influence of Afro-Arab settlers on the shores prior to 1000 CE. Although there is some evidence of Indian influence in terminology, there is no trace of Hinduism in Malagasy culture. Madagascar’s national language, Malagasy, is written in the Latin script and spoken by the majority of the population.
The people of Madagascar, known as Malagasy with 26.2 million in population, are believed to be descendants of Indonesians and East Africans. Although located some 250 miles (400 km) from the African continent, Madagascar’s population is primarily related not to African peoples but rather to those of Indonesia, more than 3,000 miles (4,800 km) to the east.
More than 90% of the population is divided into roughly 20 ethnic groupings. The Merina people, who live throughout the island, are the largest and most dominant population. The Betsimisaraka (the Inseparable Multitude) are the second largest group, living primarily in the east. The Betsileo (The Invincible Multitude) are the third most numerous group, inhabiting the plateau near Fianarantsoa. Other significant peoples are the Tsimihety (Those Who Do Not Cut Their Hair), the Sakalava (People of the Long Valley), the Antandroy (People of the Thorn Bush), the Tanala (People of the Forest), the Antaimoro (People of the Banks), and the Bara (a name of unknown origin).
Smaller groups include the Antanosy (People of the Island), Antaifasy (People of the Sand), Sihanaka (People of the Lake), Antakarana (People of the Rocks), Betanimena (People of the Red Soil), who have been largely absorbed by the Merina, Bezanozano (Those with Many Braided Hair), and Mahafaly (Those Who Make Taboos). These ethnic names do not denote clear cultural boundaries; conventional translations are far from reliable, and the majority of the names are of relatively recent origin, most likely crystallized and rigidified by colonial administration rather than indigenous culture.
Madagascar is a former French colony. The French arrived in force during the 1880s. After World War II, in 1947, locals fought for their independence from France in what became known as the Malagasy Uprising. In 1960, Madagascar finally became an independent nation.
Madagascar is a semi-presidential republic. The public elects a president, who in turn appoints a prime minister to put together a cabinet to advise the president. Madagascar’s constitution, which was written in 1992, established independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The prime minister is in charge of the legislative and judicial branches and creates and executes laws.
Prior to 1972, the government had established producers’ cooperatives, which collected and processed the majority of the rice crop (at prices bitterly resented by peasants); state farms, which aimed to increase commercial production of rice, cattle, coffee, oil palm, cotton, and silk; a rural development program; and a national consumers’ cooperative with retail stores in most towns.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, both French and Malagasy prospectors engaged in significant small-scale gold mining; however, those who thought to discover precious metals in considerable amounts were mostly disappointed. There are several gems and semiprecious stones, such as garnet, amethyst, tourmaline, and beryl, and the discovery of sapphires in Madagascar in the late 1990s was particularly significant: by the turn of the twenty-first century, Madagascar had mined roughly half of the world’s sapphires.
Madagascar is a treasure mine of natural and cultural delights waiting to be discovered, from its unique flora and wildlife, including lemurs found nowhere else on the planet, to its various landscapes, which range from lush rainforests to bizarre limestone formations. The island’s topography ranges from lush rainforests to barren deserts and grassy plains, with coral reefs and mangrove forests lining its beaches. 90% of Madagascar’s vegetation and fauna are unique to the island.
The island has several World Heritage Sites. They are the Royal Hill of Ambohimanga, a 500-year-old burial site, the Atsinanana rainforests, which are home to numerous rare primate and lemur species; and the Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve, a limestone labyrinth that occupies much of the island’s western half. It is completely impenetrable—a network of twisted canyons, caverns, tunnels, and spires that has largely gone unexplored. Because of the region’s unusual geology, indigenous species have developed to thrive among the karst skyscrapers.
