The Island of Madagascar

   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...

   The island of Madagascar is one of the East African regions that is home to some of the oldest and most important historic centers of cloth production. A special focus is on the Merina weavers (Fig. 1) of the central highlands in Madagascar. They were among the island’s most prolific and innovative cloth makers.    One of the most renown cloths is the akotifahana. Akotifahanas are woven from lustrous “Chinese” silk with intricate patterns and riotous color. These large mantles were made in the Merina kingdom of the central highlands in Madagascar. They were made to dress the elites and to wrap their revered for burial. Many times, Merina King and Queens would gift these prestigious cloths to high-ranking subjects and foreign allies. These cloths have been analyzed for religious or socio-political reasons, but none have been found. According to the chapter Things for Making Cloth in the “Ombaisy’s Manuscript,” the designs for akotifahanas were random an...

   The Republic of Madagascar is located about 250 miles off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean and is the fourth largest island in the world. It’s capital, Antananarivo, is in the island’s Central Highlands (18.8792°S, 47.5079°E). The land mass of the island of Madagascar is approximately 227,000 square miles and has areas of high elevation and several lakes. Some of the mountains in Madagascar are over 8,000 feet. The country of Madagascar experiences two climatic seasons: There is a hot and rainy season that runs from November to April and a dry, cooler season that runs from May to October. Madagascar often experiences cyclones because of the southeast trade winds. The island of Madagascar is known for its tropical rain forest in the eastern part of the country. It is also famous for its abundance of different flora, fauna, and unique species that are only found there due to its geographic isolation.       The population of Madagascar is made...