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Precolonial Era

The ruins of fortifications built by Arab traders as far back as the ninth century underscore Madagascar's historical role as a destination for travelers from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Not until the beginning of the sixteenth century, however, did European ships flying Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French flags explore Madagascar's shoreline. Beginning in 1643, several French settlements emerged; the best known of these, Tolanaro (formerly Faradofay) on the southeast coast, lasted for more than thirty years. The settlement survived in part because the colonists had taken pains to establish cordial relations with the Antanosy, the ethnic group inhabiting the area. Relations deteriorated later, however, and in 1674 a massacre of nearly all the inhabitants ended French colonization endeavors for more than a century; survivors fled by sea to the neighboring territory of Reunion.

This early checking of French imperial designs coincided with the spread of piracy into the Indian Ocean. In the absence of a significant naval power in waters remote from Europe, privateer vessels attacked ships of many nations for nearly forty years. The favorite hunting grounds were in the north in the Arabian Sea and Red Sea areas, but Madagascar was a popular hiding place where crews could recuperate and replenish supplies for another attack. By this time, the institution of slavery also had been implanted on the island. Madagascar became a source of slaves, not only for the neighboring islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, but also for more distant points, including the Western Hemisphere.

Madagascar's social and political structure facilitated the slave trade. Within several small coastal kingdoms, stratified societies of nobles, commoners, and slaves gave allegiance to a single king or queen. For example, the Sakalava ethnic group dominated the western and northern portions of Madagascar in two separate kingdoms. Menabe, on the barren western grasslands, had its first capital at Toliara; Boina, in the northwest, included the port of Mahajanga. The towns became centers of trade where cattle and slaves, taken in war, were exchanged with European merchants for guns and other manufactured goods. These political domains were complemented by the Betsimisaraka kingdom along the east coast, and the southern coastal kingdoms dominated by the Mahafaly and the Antandroy ethnic groups.

The seventeenth century in one respect closely resembled the nineteenth, inasmuch as it was a time of great activity in colonial expansion. The nations of Europe seemed all eager to found " establishments"or " plantations" among uncivilized or semi-civilized peoples. The large island of Madagascar naturally attracted their attention, and in both France and England ambitious schemes of colonization were engaging the thoughts of leading men. In 1642 Cardinal Richelieu granted a patent to Captain Rigault for the exclusive right of sending ships and forces to Madagascar, and a company was formed under the name of the French East India Company.

Even at an earlier date (about 1638) similar plans were being discussed by the merchants of England, and Richard Boothby states that it was decided that Prince Rupert should go as Viceroy to Madagascar. These English schemes bore little fruit, and in the troubled times that followed Prince Rupert found work to do much nearer home; but the French sent out various expeditions, and established themselves at Fort Dauphine (still called by the natives Faradofay, after the French name), at Foule Point, and at other places on the east coast. The history of these early establishments is little else than a story of continual struggles with the natives, and with that even more dangerous enemy, the prevailing malarial fever.

When the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon were taken from France by the English in 1810, Governor Farquhar at once sent a detachment to Foule Point and Tamatave to take possession of the forts formerly occupied by the French, and issued a proclamation taking possession of Madagascar as one of the dependencies of Mauritius. Although the French had settlements, and abandoned them, and were always opposed by the Hovas, the English not only held Port Tamatave for years, but in 1815 laid claim to all Madagascar as a dependency of Mauritius, then in British power. Friendship with the Hovas dates from the treaty of 1817. Lord Clarendon always opposed the designs of France to secure a Protectorate there.

When peace was reestablished in 1815, the Governor of Bourbon, M. Bouvet de Lozier, loudly protested against such an act; and according to Captain Oliver's account, "the English Government admitted that the claim was not well founded, and ordered Governor Farquhar to restore to the French all the posts which had been occupied by them before the war." The French, however, seem to have done little to vindicate their claims, nor could the British Government have regarded them as having any solid foundation, for in making a treaty with Radama I on 23 October 1817, it not only restored to the king one hundred square miles of land obtained by the British from the natives near Port Loquez, but unreservedly acknowledged him to be king of Madagascar, and not merely, as he had formerly been called, "Chief, or King of the Hovahs."

During the reign of Radama I (1810-28) the British gained the ascendancy. English officers drilled the Hova troops and English missionaries introduced schools and the Christian religion. Under Queen Ranavulona I (1829-61) a strong reaction from European ideas occurred. Reforms were abolished, the missionaries were persecuted, and trade relations with England were broken off. Christianity was declared illegal in 1835. An unsuccessful attack on Tamatave by the English and French in 1845 led to a general massacre of Christian converts (Malagasy).

In 1845, when French and English traders in Tamatave were being treated with great harshness by the native authorities, a combined attack upon the fort was made by English and French war vessels. This attack was not successful, and the Hovas have often boasted that they won a victory over both the French and the English. As a matter of fact, however, tho the fort was not taken, their losses were much heavier than those of the attacking forces. On the death of Queen Ranavalona I, in 1861, both France and England sent embassies to be present at the coronation of her son and successor, Radama II, and subsequently both governments made treaties acknowledging the king or queen reigning in Antananarivo to be sovereign of the whole island.

After 1853, the Europeans regained an entrance into the capital, Antananarivo, through the influence of Prince Rakoto, heir to the throne. As Radama II (1861) Rakoto showed himself friendly to the French, and undertook to restore the reforms of Radama I. He was murdered by the conservative faction at court. Though Queen Ranavalona II adopted Christianity in 1869, the Hova government remained jealous of European aggression and took measures to prevent the foreign acquisition of land in the island.

In 1883 the invasion of French territory and the plundering of French citizens led to the bombardment of Tamatave. After two years' desultory fighting Madagascar, by treaty, became a protectorate of France, though it retained its nominal independence. In 1885, the French finally succeeded in establishing a protectorate over Madagascar.