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Early Madagascar

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For a long time, the first human settlers were thought to have arrived on the African island of Madagascar between AD 200 and 500 from South-East Asia, long before written records began on the island. However, the discovery in 2018 of the fossilised bones of a giant emu-like bird were discovered to contain tell-tale cut marks. This seemed to confirm that they had been hunted and, having been dated to around 8000 BC, they were hunted by modern humans a long time prior to any previously estimated permanent settlement of the island. These human hunters, though, lived alongside the birds on the island. The extinction of these birds may well have been caused by later arrivals.

A South-East Asian origin for the modern population of the island would explain the range of Malagasy phenotypic features, which form a mixture of Asian (Austronesian) and African racial types, whilst also including elements from the Arabs, Indians and Europeans who came later. Linguists have long recognised that the languages that were spoken by the people of Madagascar were not African in origin, although the reverse might be expected to be true given the proximity of Madagascar to Africa. Instead the linguistic links are also from South-East Asia (along with the aforementioned phenotypic features). Genetic studies support the theory that this South-East Asian ancestry co-mingled with African ancestry, although there has been little archaeological evidence, such as pottery, to clearly link these early populations to South-East Asia.

A more recent theory is linked to DNA evidence. This propounds that a colony of about thirty women along with an unknown quantity of men, mostly of Indonesian descent, landed on the island around AD 800, perhaps after sailing off course. The theory paints a picture of accidental settlement, negating the prior view that a large, planned settlement process took place. DNA evidence suggests that most of today's native Madagascars, the Malagasy, can trace their ancestry back to this founding population of thirty mothers. They either mated with other Indonesians, or Africans, or more probably a mixture of either. The small number of Indonesian women is consistent with a single boatload of arrivals. The distance between Indonesia and Madagascar is close to 7,500 kilometres (5,000 miles), so the women and their travelling companions must have had quite a journey, especially if it was unintended. Modern Malagasy are roughly a fifty-fifty mix of Indonesians and East Africans.

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(Information by Peter Kessler & John De Cleene, with additional information by Dave Sheldon, from the John De Cleene Archive, from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), and from External Links: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, and Elephant birds: Who killed the largest birds that ever lived? (BBC), and US Library of Congress Country Studies: Madagascar, Helen Chapin Metz.

c.800?

The Austronesian settlement of the remote island of Madagascar remains one of the great puzzles of Indo-Pacific prehistory. Although linguistic, ethnographic, and genetic evidence points clearly to a colonisation of Madagascar by Austronesian language-speaking people from Islands of South-East Asia, decades of archaeological research has generally failed to locate evidence for a South-East Asian signature in the island's early material record.

In 2016 research involving new archaeobotanical data shows that South-East Asian settlers bring with them Asian crops - notably rice and mung beans. These crops provide the first known reliable archaeological window into the South-East Asian colonisation of Madagascar. They additionally suggest that initial settlement in Africa is not limited to Madagascar, but also extends to the Comoros.

The researchers studied a total of eighteen sites on Madagascar, along the East African coast, and on offshore islands such as Pemba to discover the presence of South-East Asian food crops - but initially on the Comoros Islands rather than Madagascar

The proposed dates for the settlement of the island have varied over the years, from an initial window of AD 200-500 to more recent dates of AD 700-900. The latest research fits with a time window in the later date range - but only on the nearby Comoros Islands. South-East Asian food crops apparently arrive on Madagascar only in the eleventh century, a century later than even the least-generous previous dating. This points to a settlement route of South-East Asia to the Comoros and then to Madagascar, with the Comoros population later being subsumed by an African-speaking population or ruling elite.

900s - 1100s

A trading port is established at Mahilaka in north-western Madagascar in the tenth century. Given the recent research that has discovered that South-East Asian crops only arrive on the island in the 1000s but that they exist on the nearby Comoros Islands by around AD 800, it seems a safe assumption to say that trading has begun between the South-East Asian settlers of the Comoros and the occupants of north-western Madagascar. Such trading often leads to the creation of permanent trading posts for the importers (the same is often true in ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia).

More permanent settlement and occupation of Madagascar by the Comoros people certainly follows this, but so too does the extinction of the elephant birds, Aepyornis and Mullerornis. They are giant emu-like creatures which have existed alongside humans on the island for at least nine thousand years. Such a length of time with human hunting clearly taking place from at least 8000 BC but no extinction even until now is puzzling - unless it is the new arrivals who actively pursue the birds to extinction.

c.1300

The Ambohidratrimo kingdom emerges on Madagascar.

1500

Pedro Alvares Cabral leads a thirteen-vessel fleet from Portugal to introduce Christianity wherever he goes, by force if necessary. Following directions given to him by Vasco de Gama and with one of his vessels captained by Vasco de Gama's companion, Nicolau Coelho, he sails to Brazil and then on round the Cape of Good Hope towards Mozambique and Madagascar, before returning to Portugal.

c.1590

The Betsileo state of Imamo emerges on Madagascar.

c.1675

The Merina state emerges on Madagascar.

c.1685

The Menabe kingdom on the River Sakalava emerges.

The broad plains of western Madagascar dominate the landscape and provide prime farming resources for the island, in contrast to the south which is much more dessicated

c.1690

The Boina kingdom emerges.

c.1710

The Tananarive kingdom emerges. At an unknown point in the same century, the Betsileo states of Anrindrano, Antakarana, Bara, Fisakana, Isandra, Lalangina, and Mananddriana also emerge.

1712

The Betsimisaraka kingdom is formed.

1774 - 1786

The short-lived kingdom of Antogil is formed by a European adventurer.

1794

Andrianampoinimerina conquers the Tananarive kingdom.

1797

Merina conquers Ambohidratrimo.

1817

The British governor of Mauritius concludes a treaty with Radama of Merina to abolish the slave trade in Madagascar. In return for the loss of a considerable part of the clan's revenue, Britain supplies military and financial assistance so that Radama can conquer the island's eastern coast and create a largely unified kingdom. This allows Christian missionaries to penetrate deeper into the island's territory and also spread the Latin alphabet.

c.1820

The Boina kingdom becomes tributary to Merina.

1822

The Tanibe kingdom is formed.

1824 - 1828

With British support, Radama completes the Merina conquest of the Madagascan clans. He is recognised as king of Madagascar by Britain. The Menabe clan in the west, the Betsimisaraka clan on the east coast, and the kingdom of Tanibe are amongst the last to be subdued.

1840

The Boina kingdom is annexed by Merina. In the same decade the Sakalava sign treaties with the French which the latter use as a basis of establishing a protectorate over north-western Madagascar in 1882.

1869

The kingdom of Bemihisatra is formed on the island.

1882

Based on treaties signed with the Sakalava in the 1840s, the French establish a protectorate over north-western Madagascar.

1883

Using the excuse of a cancelled treaty and the loss of French property, France invades Madagascar in the First Franco-Hova War and conquers the island in the face of Merina resistance.

French vessels are shown in this woodcut at Tamatave, prior to the colonial period but during the build up to that period which would see Madagascar dominated by the French

1896 - 1897

The French parliament votes to annexe Madagascar. The Merina monarchy comes to an end, with the royal family being sent into exile to Algeria (via Reunion) along with the prime minister.

A collection by Clara Herbert of ephemera which is related to the queen is put together during Herbert's employment by the royal family between 1890 and the 1920s. It includes an archive of fashion, photographs, and letters, along with one of the queen's dresses. The collection is returned to Madagascar in 2020 via auction.

In 1896 French governors are appointed to control the island in the form of French Colonial Madagascar.