Oh, how my kids loved the Madagascar movies. We have seen it a million
times. Not as much as the Cars
movies, but certainly enough times to last me for a while. And how true of a
representation of Madagascar it is, I don’t know right now. Probably only a
small amount, I’m venturing to guess. So, I’m hoping that part of this
enlightens me (and perhaps others who read this) on the true Madagascar.
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| Baobab trees |
Both the people and the language of Madagascar are
called Malagasy. And in the Malagasy language, the word for their island is
called Madagasikara. However, the word as we know it was brought to us courtesy
of Marco Polo, who confused the area and totally mispronounced the name of Mogadishu
[Somalia] (which seems strange, because I can’t imagine they look that
similar?).
The island of Madagascar is the fourth largest
island, located off of the southeast coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It’s
separated from mainland Africa by the Mozambique Channel, almost directly
across from Mozambique itself. In fact, if you look at the shape of the island,
it looks like it could almost fit right into Mozambique, which is where it
originally was millions of years ago. The Comoros Islands are also in the
Mozambique Channel between the northern end of Madagascar and Mozambique. The
islands of Reunion and Mauritius are found to the east of Madagascar. To the
northeast lies the Seychelles Islands, almost directly east from Kenya and
Tanzania.
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| Toliara Coral Reef |
The eastern side of the island is hit with a lot of
rain coming across the Indian Ocean, which supports its rain forests. Trade
winds and monsoons help create a hot rainy season (Nov-Apr), contrasting with a
cooler dry season (May-Oct, which is when I would definitely go). The central highlands
remains slightly cooler. The island also gets hammered with tornados, causing
millions of dollars in damage each year. The tropical locale allows the flora
and fauna to thrive. The vast majority of the plant and animal life on
Madagascar are unique to the island, including its famed lemurs. It’s also home
to the Toliara Coral Reef, the third largest coral reef system in the world.
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| King Radama I |
It’s widely believed that the original inhabitants migrated
here from Borneo. Arab traders later arrived, followed by Bantu migrants. By
several centuries later, Madagascar had become quite the trade hub. The Arabs were
the ones who introduced written language. It was essentially the Malagasy
language written using Arabic script. The Portuguese were the first Europeans
to arrive on the island. The French were next to arrive and quickly established
their own trading posts. From the late 1700s, the island became part of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade and piracy. The British recognized King Radama I as
the King of Madagascar, who abolished their role in the slave trade. The London
Missionary Society later established schools and worked on transcribing the
Malagasy language into Roman letters instead of the Arabic script. Both France
and Britain pressured the local government into the establishment of
Christianity. France invaded the country in 1883, and Madagascar ceded the
northern section of the island to them. They put in place plantations and
additional schools. During WWI, Madagascar fought for the French, but during
WWII it was the site of the Battle of Madagascar between the British and the
Vichy [French] government. After an uprising in 1958, the island became an
autonomous region of France, reaching its full independence in 1960. Madagascar
aligned itself with the Eastern Bloq and along with the after effects of the
oil crisis and other failed policies, its economic state and living standards
fell in the toilet. A change in government in the early 1990s made significant
changes to how their government is set up. However, since then, it’s been a
cycle of growth and corruption, especially with the political riots in 2010.
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| Antananarivo |
The capital city, Antananarivo, is located roughly
in the middle of the island. Under French control, the city was known as
Tananarive, or Tana for short. The name Antananarivo literally means “City of a
Thousand,” in reference to a garrison of 1000 soldiers. Although it was
originally the capital of the Merina people, today it is a highly multicultural
city comprised of all native ethnic groups, European, Indian, and Chinese
populations. This city of 1.6 million people is the center of government,
media, commerce, finance, and higher education.
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| Drying vanilla beans. Yes, vanilla starts out black, not white. |
Once Madagascar declared independence and decided
to follow a Marxist take on their economy, it practically fell out. There were
several failed policies that didn’t work at all. The IMF helped them get on a plan
to manage their debt (apparently Peter Francis Geraci was busy). And things
have turned around for Madagascar. Eco-tourism is a hot market to be in,
although the numbers have declined slightly due to the political unrest.
Fishing and forestry are important products Madagascar depends on, along with
vanilla, cloves, ylang-ylang, coffee, lychees, and shrimp productions. Nearly
half the world’s sapphires come from the island.
Nearly half of the population still practices
indigenous religions, which is highly dependent on ancestral homage. They’re
known for their reburial ceremony called famadihana. About half the population
also practices Christianity, namely Roman Catholicism. There are a lot of
people who also cross over to practice both. Other Christian denominations are
also found on the island along with Islam and Hinduism.
The Malagasy language is in the Malayo-Polynesian
family. There are several dialects, but it’s all generally understood. (Like
the difference between Texan English and Minnesotan English, I suppose.)
Officially, Malagasy and French are listed as the official languages of
Madagascar, and English was just removed from the list in 2010. English only
made the list because of its historical significance, but seeing how the
British really haven’t been involved for quite some time, it’s just time to let
that mess go.
As I combed through several websites about
Madagascar, it kind of struck me that Malagasy names can be very long. Like,
incredibly long. And that goes for both the names of both people and places.
For example, the current president Hery Rajaonarimampianina has a longer
surname than any other president/leader of a country. I can only imagine how
long it takes for kids to learn how to spell their names. According to a 1999
BBC article I came across, it’s because of two things: 1) the meaning of their
names, and 2) originally, people just had one name and only utilized two names
when the Europeans introduced it to them. The article cited one of the longest
names that belonged to a 19th century king whose full name was King Andrianampoinimerinatompokoindrindra
and meant “the prince who was
given birth by Imerina and who is my real lord.” What a mouthful! The only
thing that should be a mouthful is their food.
Up next: art and literature
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