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The history of Madagascar, named after
one of its constituent islands, the fourth largest island in the
world, can be traced back to around 400CE when seafarer
settlers from Indonesia inhabited the islands and continued to
do so until at least the 15th Century. Long before that, what was to become Madagascar actually split
from the Indian sub-continent around 90 million years ago and
the first written records in Madagascar history stem from the 7th Century when Arabs
and East Africans established trade outposts on the main island.
The first known European contact occurred in
1500 with the Portuguese establishing trading ports there,
followed soon after by the French. By the mid 16th Century the Merina (a
people within Malagasy culture) King Andriamanelo extended his
control over greater Imerina and by the time of King
Andrianampoinimerina (reigned 1787 - 1810) almost the entire
island was under his control.
This was finally accomplished
during the rule of his son King Radama I the Great (reigned
1810-1828) who became king at the age of 17 and who took twelve
wives, one of whom, his adopted sister Ranavalona, succeeded
him after he was found drunk with his throat slashed; many
believe a crime committed by her to speed up the succession. Queen Ranavalona I (below) reversed her
husband's policy of greater links with Britain and France by
expelling all foreigners from the kingdom and banning
Christianity. This policy was reversed again under Radama II
(reigned 1861 - 1863).
The French invaded Madagascar in 1883 in
the Franco-Hova Wars in an attempt to restore property that had
been confiscated from them and establish French rule over
what was seen as an important link in the trade route to India.
The war came to an end in 1896 when Queen Ranavalona III was
exiled to Reunion and later to Algeria with the monarchy
abolished, and Madagascar becoming a French colony. This period in Madagascar history was harsh and secret societies
emerged plotting against French colonialism with a major
uprising between 1947-1948 resulting in the deaths of between
11,000 - 80,000 Malagasy. Although the rebellion was crushed,
independence political activity increased largely led by
Philibert Tsiranana, head of the Social Democratic Party. On
14th October 1958 Madagascar, renamed the Malagasy Republic,
became an autonomous republic within the French Community
finally achieving full independence on 26th June 1960 with
Tsiranana becoming the newly emerging nation's first president.
Tsiranana's rule saw the centralisation of government, the
Merina sidelined in favour of the coastal peoples, the Social
Democratic Party in total control of parliament and the
repression of dissidents. In 1967 Tsiranana strengthened ties
with the apartheid regime in South Africa however, despite being
're-elected' in 1972 ,a wave of protests swept the country that
year and Tsiranana (below) was forced to hand power over to Gen. Gabriel
Ramanantsoa, who became prime minister with Tsiranana remaining
as nominal president. A referendum later that year approved Ramanantsoa's plan to rule without parliament for five years and
Tsiranana resigned the presidency dying on the island of natural
causes in 1978. (His son Philippe stood in the Madagascar
presidential election of 2006, coming in twelfth with only 0.02%
of the vote.)
The
next period in the history of Madagascar saw a succession of
unstable governments, coups and assassination attempts at odds
with a military aim of creating a 'socialist paradise' with firm
ties to the Soviet Union and the spurning of ties with the west. The economy of the country, renamed the Republic of Madagascar
in 1975, collapsed due to these socialist policies and the
economy was further damaged by massive falls in tourism due to
the ongoing political instability. In 2009 President Marc Ravalomanana was deposed by the
military and Andry Rajoelina, former Mayor of
Antananarivo and media mogul, was installed as president with a
promise to restore democracy through planned elections.
In 2010 the EU
decided to suspend humanitarian and development aid to
Madagascar in frustration at the lack of any tangible progress
towards that democracy after a fifteenth month transitional agreement
was agreed in the summer of 2009 but failed to be implemented.
In 2012 the African Union demanded that both Rajoelina and
Ravalomanana withdraw their candidature and, following elections
in 2013, Hery Martial
Rakotoarimanana Rajaonarimampianina was proclaimed the victor on 7th January 2014 with
nearly 54% of the vote. Rajoelina however went on to win the 2018 election with 55.66 % of the vote and was inaugurated President of Madagascar on 19 January 2019. Despite this win, Madagascar has continued to be plagued with political uncertainty and turmoil with the island itself being under a lockdown since the Covid-19 pandemic hit and its southern region is in the grips of a famine. There have been recent attempts to assassinate the president and head of the national police force.
Madagascar History: Volunteer in Madagascar
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Madagascar History: Life in Madagascar
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Madagascar History: Child Sponsor Madagascar
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Madagascar History: Madagascar Country Profile
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