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Madagascar: A Short History
Two thousand years ago, the island of Madagascar was likely uninhabited. Its unique flora and fauna had gone totally undisturbed by human contact until the first navigators landed on its shores. No one knows where those first inhabitants hailed from, but over the centuries Madagascar developed its own distinctive language and cultural systems. The only recent history of its kind in English, Madagascar, traces two millennia of human activity in one of the world’s most fascinating, yet least-known, societies.
In graceful prose, Solofo Randrianja and Stephen Ellis, both leading historians of Madagascar, elucidate the three main phases of its the earliest settlements, the age of kingdoms, and the island’s entry into intercontinental systems of commerce and exchange, including over sixty years under French rule. Through the course of this colorful and turbulent history, Randrianja and Ellis explore the tensions between the development of a unique culture and the absorption of immigrants, the development of strong social hierarchies, and the long-lasting effects of slavery and the slave trade.
In graceful prose, Solofo Randrianja and Stephen Ellis, both leading historians of Madagascar, elucidate the three main phases of its the earliest settlements, the age of kingdoms, and the island’s entry into intercontinental systems of commerce and exchange, including over sixty years under French rule. Through the course of this colorful and turbulent history, Randrianja and Ellis explore the tensions between the development of a unique culture and the absorption of immigrants, the development of strong social hierarchies, and the long-lasting effects of slavery and the slave trade.
272 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 18, 2020
At last I finished this book, more than two weeks after returning from my trip to Madagascar. It’s dry as paper, a tough slog made even more difficult by loads of academic jargon and rather garbled paragraphs that often seem to contradict themselves. It focuses entirely on political history, and doesn’t say enough about culture and life on the island. But most books about Madagascar focus on the lemurs and the baobab trees, and only mention the Malagasy people to scold them for deforesting the island and not valuing its unique wildlife. This book, at least, is nominally about the people, attempting to separate their perspectives and worldview from colonialist interpretations and values.
July 21, 2025
Was it “a world unto itself”?
Many writers have used my title phrase to describe Madagascar. Perhaps environmentally it is true, but in this book you will read the argument that it was much more linked to the rest of the world than has been portrayed. They also ask the question—How can you periodize the history of a country that is not well documented until the 19th century? How can you even know what were the major transition points, the most important events, etc.? People arrived from Indonesia by way of points around the Indian Ocean. Or did they cross the open seas directly? How much African influence was there in the beginning? These issues are discussed if not solved. There are rumors of Vazimba, a mythical race of small people similar to menehune in Hawai’i. But the settlers came from both Africa and Indonesia, peopling various areas of this enormous island. They began to speak a language with several mutually-intelligible dialects. Sanskrit-origin words are found in the Malagasy language which belongs to the Austronesian family, but probably came from Southeast Asia with the waves of immigrants, not from India. Islam arrived from Java and Sumatra, not from the Middle East, but never became dominant. Slavery existed from the beginning, indicating a stratified society from earliest times. In latter times, in recorded history, slavery was widespread, both within Madagascar and as an export trade. The early people cleared a lot of land for growing rice and for pasturing cattle, but probably not as much as some writers conclude. In short, before the 1600s, there is very little known about what went on.
At that time, several powerful kingdoms arose, never extending over the whole island. The authors note that Malagasy culture developed a rigorous cosmological order which helped unify the country and “provide a sense of political order in an island in which modern concepts of politics, government, and religion were in many respects non-existent” before printed texts in Romanized Malagasy appeared in the 19th century. The ideas that made political order possible originated in India, Africa, and the world of Islam. One important idea was the divine nature of sovereignty.
Sakalava kingdoms arose in the 1500s, based on cattle and slave trading, but we have little data on them outside mythology. The first Europeans arrived in the 1600s. Their settlements were unsuccessful, but they brought guns and prickly pear cactus (which spread all over the south) and went into slave trading in a big way. Many smaller kingdoms sprang up engaged in that slave trade from 1700 to 1813 which led to a loss of population and numerous wars which provided the slaves. The last of the minor kingdoms to appear was Imerina, founded in the central highlands. The kings of this dynasty extended their rule over much of the island. Most previous writers held that they controlled the whole thing, but these writers point out that between 1817 and 1895 there were rather shifting zones of more or less control. As in many traditional polities, control of people was more important than control of territory. A very mixed population (of different, Malagasy speaking ethnic groups) arose due to wars and slavery creating a better atmosphere for a nation in the long run. In the highland areas, the proportion of slaves was nearly fifty percent, thus drawing into question the “ethnic purity” of any groups.
The Merina rulers of the 19th century have been written about extensively. They emulated European rulers in style, supported many European advisors and teachers, and aspired to be accepted internationally as bona-fide rulers. They converted to Christianity of a sober, northern European variety though as you left the capital, Antananarivo, the influence of that religion grew progressively less. The monarchical style had to change with the adoption of new religious beliefs so that people in the capital viewed the world quite differently from those in the countryside. The traditional belief in the “divine nature of sovereignty” had to decline.
The remainder of the book covers events and changes in a way not dissimilar to older writers. The French took over in 1896, but had to fight rebels and bandits for some years afterwards, a difficult task thanks to an almost complete lack of roads and too few soldiers. It took nearly twenty years to get total control. The last queen was exiled to Algeria. After WW II there was a poorly-planned uprising that left thousands of Malagasy dead. Finally the French granted “independence” in 1960, but hung on, calling the shots for more than a decade. “In truth, independence may be considered not as the description of a political reality, but as an ideology—one of the many produced during the twentieth century.” (p.177) From 1972 to 2009, Madagascar underwent military rule, the rule by elected but dictatorial men, and a period of heavy Soviet-East German influence that didn’t do the country much good.
If you want to know about Madagascar and a history that contradicts or introduces new ideas to what is generally assumed, this is your book. It may not be the last word, but then, not many words are published about this interesting country.
Many writers have used my title phrase to describe Madagascar. Perhaps environmentally it is true, but in this book you will read the argument that it was much more linked to the rest of the world than has been portrayed. They also ask the question—How can you periodize the history of a country that is not well documented until the 19th century? How can you even know what were the major transition points, the most important events, etc.? People arrived from Indonesia by way of points around the Indian Ocean. Or did they cross the open seas directly? How much African influence was there in the beginning? These issues are discussed if not solved. There are rumors of Vazimba, a mythical race of small people similar to menehune in Hawai’i. But the settlers came from both Africa and Indonesia, peopling various areas of this enormous island. They began to speak a language with several mutually-intelligible dialects. Sanskrit-origin words are found in the Malagasy language which belongs to the Austronesian family, but probably came from Southeast Asia with the waves of immigrants, not from India. Islam arrived from Java and Sumatra, not from the Middle East, but never became dominant. Slavery existed from the beginning, indicating a stratified society from earliest times. In latter times, in recorded history, slavery was widespread, both within Madagascar and as an export trade. The early people cleared a lot of land for growing rice and for pasturing cattle, but probably not as much as some writers conclude. In short, before the 1600s, there is very little known about what went on.
At that time, several powerful kingdoms arose, never extending over the whole island. The authors note that Malagasy culture developed a rigorous cosmological order which helped unify the country and “provide a sense of political order in an island in which modern concepts of politics, government, and religion were in many respects non-existent” before printed texts in Romanized Malagasy appeared in the 19th century. The ideas that made political order possible originated in India, Africa, and the world of Islam. One important idea was the divine nature of sovereignty.
Sakalava kingdoms arose in the 1500s, based on cattle and slave trading, but we have little data on them outside mythology. The first Europeans arrived in the 1600s. Their settlements were unsuccessful, but they brought guns and prickly pear cactus (which spread all over the south) and went into slave trading in a big way. Many smaller kingdoms sprang up engaged in that slave trade from 1700 to 1813 which led to a loss of population and numerous wars which provided the slaves. The last of the minor kingdoms to appear was Imerina, founded in the central highlands. The kings of this dynasty extended their rule over much of the island. Most previous writers held that they controlled the whole thing, but these writers point out that between 1817 and 1895 there were rather shifting zones of more or less control. As in many traditional polities, control of people was more important than control of territory. A very mixed population (of different, Malagasy speaking ethnic groups) arose due to wars and slavery creating a better atmosphere for a nation in the long run. In the highland areas, the proportion of slaves was nearly fifty percent, thus drawing into question the “ethnic purity” of any groups.
The Merina rulers of the 19th century have been written about extensively. They emulated European rulers in style, supported many European advisors and teachers, and aspired to be accepted internationally as bona-fide rulers. They converted to Christianity of a sober, northern European variety though as you left the capital, Antananarivo, the influence of that religion grew progressively less. The monarchical style had to change with the adoption of new religious beliefs so that people in the capital viewed the world quite differently from those in the countryside. The traditional belief in the “divine nature of sovereignty” had to decline.
The remainder of the book covers events and changes in a way not dissimilar to older writers. The French took over in 1896, but had to fight rebels and bandits for some years afterwards, a difficult task thanks to an almost complete lack of roads and too few soldiers. It took nearly twenty years to get total control. The last queen was exiled to Algeria. After WW II there was a poorly-planned uprising that left thousands of Malagasy dead. Finally the French granted “independence” in 1960, but hung on, calling the shots for more than a decade. “In truth, independence may be considered not as the description of a political reality, but as an ideology—one of the many produced during the twentieth century.” (p.177) From 1972 to 2009, Madagascar underwent military rule, the rule by elected but dictatorial men, and a period of heavy Soviet-East German influence that didn’t do the country much good.
If you want to know about Madagascar and a history that contradicts or introduces new ideas to what is generally assumed, this is your book. It may not be the last word, but then, not many words are published about this interesting country.
February 8, 2022
A good, brief overview of the island, focused on its political and demographic developments.
March 27, 2021
The book is not too long, but it spans from the early settlement of Madagascar (around 500) to 2002. The writing was a bit difficult and probably more enjoyable for historians, but I learned a lot of interesting information (the kingdoms, the slaves, the privilege of killing cows). This island really is unique. It's difficult to find literature regarding Madagascar, so I compliment the effort of these two authors (who spent half a century writing this book apparently).
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews