The Island of Madagascar

       Madagascar is a beautiful island located about 250 miles off the east African coast in the Indian Ocean. It is the fourth largest island in the world. The capital of Madagascar is called Antananarivo and is in the Central Highlands. The island is approximately 227,000 square miles and can have mountains that reach over 8,000 feet. Madagascar only experiences two climatic seasons a year: there is a hot and rainy season that lasts from November to April and a dry, cooler season that lasts from May to October. Because of its location, Madagascar often experiences cyclones created by the southeast trade winds. These cyclones have, in the past, often caused a lot of damage. While Madagascar has cyclones on one part of the island, there is also an area that Madagascar is very well known for, the tropical rain forest located in the eastern part of the country. This rain forest is home to over 150,000 species of flora and fauna, most of which are unique for...

   Madagascar has changed hands a few times over the many years that the Africa nation has existed. Around 1500 the Portuguese encountered Madagascar which also lead to many other European nations having an interest in the island.    For many years, the Portuguese and other European nations tried to establish settlements on the island of Madagascar, but all their efforts failed. In the seventeenth century, Europeans described Madagascar as being a landscape of small kingdoms. [1] Eventually a settlement was established in Madagascar, specifically on Ile Sainte Marie, which became the home for at least 45 pirates. These pirates were supported by the small kingdoms in Madagascar and often married Malagasy women, sometimes even members of royal families. [2]    Between the 18 th and the 19 th centuries, three main kingdoms appeared: the Merina in the central plateau, the Sakalava in the west, and Betsimisraka in the east. The Merina kingdom event...

   Christianity was not the first religion to get to the island of Madagascar. Around the Middle Ages, Islam was brought to the island by Arab and Somali Muslim traders but failed to take hold in several southeastern coastal communities. However, a few Islamic schools were established along the eastern coast. Today Muslims make up about 7% of Madagascar’s population.    The Malagasy people, especially in Imerina, were oddly receptive of European ideas and influences which was unique in an African country in the nineteenth century. Christianity was introduced to the island of Madagascar by British missionaries between 1818 and 1895. These dates are from when the first British missionaries arrived on the island to the year when Madagascar was conquered by the French and lost their independence.    Formal education began in 1820 at the Palace School in Antananarivo but Christianity itself was not taught until 1829 when it was integrated into and taug...

   Madagascar has a population that is predominantly of mixed Asian and African origin. The island of Madagascar was uninhabited until Indonesian seafarers arrived around the first century A.D. and married African wives and slaves. Migrations continued from both the Pacific and Africa which furthered the mixture of Asians and Africans.    The seventh century A.D. brought about the written history of Madagascar. Arabs established trading posts along the northwest coast. It wasn’t until the 1500's that Madagascar experienced European contact. A Portuguese sea captain, Diego Dias, sighted the island when his ship became separated from a fleet that was bound for India. Since then there have been numerous contacts between Europeans and the Malagasy people and each time they were able to resist the attempts made by the Europeans to establish footholds on the island.  [1] Map of the community at Tranovato Ilha de Santa Cruz 1656 Madagascar. - Author Flacourt....

    Madagascar is one of the world’s largest islands and is home to many unique floras and faunas. This biodiversity hotspot, however, has become very vulnerable over the years due to a lack of conservation and tourism. The island of Madagascar lies mainly within the tropics but in the highlands, the climate is moderated by altitude. The land area in Madagascar is broken into three types, 87% of the land is classified as humid, 8% as semi-arid, and 5% as arid. [1] Madagascar is currently dealing with the serious problems of deforestation and soil erosion. The south part of the island is vulnerable to drought while the east coast deals with heavy rainfall and severe cyclones.    Subsistence agriculture is a prime driver of the deforestation in Madagascar. Madagascar is a major agricultural society and they grow rice, beans, cotton, sugar, maize, and wheat. These are mostly grown for subsistence except for maize. Maize production in the west accounts for ...

   Madagascar has an abundant amount of religious and spiritual beliefs, some of which are only practiced in a certain area on the island. The Malagasy people do practice Christianity (41%) and Islam (7%) but most of the peoples of Madagascar are pagan (51%) [1] . Christianity is high in the nation of Madagascar but most of the time, the Malagasy people tend to borrow aspects from Christianity and combine them with their traditional beliefs.        Most Malagasy people have accepted the existence of a supreme God, known as Zanahary (Creator) or Andriamanitra (Sweet, or Fragrant, Lord). However, the most basic of their traditional beliefs is the existence of close ties between the living and the dead. The Malagasy believe that the dead play a part in intermediary between the supreme God and humans and have the power to affect the fortunes of the living for good or evil.            The burial tomb has bec...