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Writer's pictureTahiana

INTRODUCTION OF MADAGASCAR

Updated: Aug 29, 2019

Before starting, let me introduce myself. My name is Tahiana and i'm tour guiding around Madagascar for few years now. Nothing anyway predicted the activity i'm doing now since i'm coming from a very different background. After finishing high school, i went to the college of the capital Antananarivo to study physics and chemistry and swapped into gemology where i got my diploma as an "International Expert in colored Gemstones" in 2009 from the Gemmological Association and Gem Testing of Great Britain (Gem-A) in London. Moreover, i have a gemstone quarry that started to take care of from 2004. But, the situation or the chance led me to the tourism industry in 2012 where i enjoy it, by sharing knowledges and above all let people discover Madagascar through my experiences ...

When talking about MADAGASCAR, most of the time people especially young generations knew this country through the famous animated cartoons that were released a decade ago. But some know Madagascar for long time and i am sometimes impressed and astonished hearing people i already led saying: "it's been for more than twenty years now that we intended to come here but it's only now that we realize it". Actually, Madagascar is famous for scientists for centuries because of its biodiversity ... so unique. If ever you know Galapagos Archipelagos and its wildlife treasures, Madagascar has got far more beyond what you see there talking about the numbers and the size of the place. Madagascar is 592,800 square kilometres (228,900 sq mi) and Galápagos Archipelago is 7,880 km2 (3,040 sq mi) . Madagascar is definitely a living laboratory, a paradise for scientists.


Red-bellied lemur in the rain forest of Madagascar, taken from Lumix DMC-FZ 300

Madagascar is a country belonging to the African continent, an island located in the south east part of Africa, the mainland. it is the fourth largest island in the world after Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. It belonged to the super continent called Gondwana hundreds of thousand years ago before it broke apart around 180 million years ago.

Super-Continent Gondwana with Madagascar in the middle

It is different and unique from many aspects, its geology, landscape, plants, animals, and climate. All of them are interdependent, each plays an important role for the balance of the ecosystem and thus make each area of the vast country unique.

About religion, most of the Malagasy people are still following the traditional or ancestors beliefs called "animism" where people are respecting the nature, even if the religions coming from outside like the Islam or Christian religions are present and widely followed.

The history of Madagascar is a bit complex due to the "right" information that doesn't arrive to us. Sometimes, it's occulted but there is also a real willingness of changing it. the real example of that is obvious and we see nowadays is the Malagasy New Year. Lots of entities like tribe or group of people in the country try to create what they think that can be beneficial for each of them and take advantage of it. The "problem" of the Malagasy culture is, it is based on oral tradition and lots have been modified or altered in the course of its history. The first historians who wrote books about Madagascar said the first presence of human in the country started in 5th or 6th century AD, then it went back few centuries BC and for few years now after discovering artifacts and making deep researches, probably Madagascar have been inhabited even back to 10,000 BC. Before the colonization that the country experienced from 1896 until 1960 where we regained our independence, we had Queens and Kings who ran the country and this had ever been like that. After the independence, we now have Republic and we are run by an elected president.

Queen of Madagascar "RANAVALONA I" (1828-1861)

What is interesting to know as well is the Malagasy language that we speak nowadays already existed long ago, some researchers even say it's pre-Sanskrit which is one of the oldest language on earth. But what is sure is it already existed at the time of this Sanskrit language. The first writing that came in the country was the Arabic script brought by Arab merchants in the 4th or 5th century. And only in the 19th century that the Latin alphabet arrived through the European missionaries.


If what i am posting interest you or you have questions, please send comments. I will write in the future what you will look for or is awaiting for you when you visit Madagascar or it will just increase your knowledge about Madagascar and its wonders.

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Jill Mangum
Apr 02, 2019

Hi Tahiana. Nice job on your blog :)

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