Republic Of Madagascar

The world's fourth largest island, with a unique biological and physical endowment, Madagascar is home to an extraordinary insular civilization that has struggled for more than a century against external domination. In this sensitive introduction to the Indian Ocean's "great island," Philip Allen shows how family affinities and community loyalties at the foundation of Madagascar's culture have influenced Malagasy nationalism and forged islandwide traditions. These same principles have nonetheless engendered social cleavages and resistance to economic and political change. In chapters on modern Madagascar, Allen analyzes the inability of a series of regimes to maintain authority among a people deeply bound to rituals of communication with their spiritual environment. He demonstrates how the first Malagasy Republic became stigmatized by its lingering identification with French colonialism and how the nationalist revolution in 1972 soon hardened into autocratic radicalism. Allen explores the complex challenges facing Madagascar's resurgent democratic forces–including a need to conserve the island's irreplaceable biodiversity and to facilitate authentic participation in public affairs without offending ancestral customs and local precedents. Finally, he discusses efforts to end Madagascar's economic and political dependence and to improve living conditions for its tragically impoverished population.

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. It is a unique blend of Asia and African culture. Although close to the East Coast of Africa, Madagascar came to be inhabited by sea-faring peoples from present day Indonesia. Although so close to the east coast of Africa where traces of human existence go back hundreds of thousands years, Madagascar was uninhabited until about two thousand years ago. How it came to be inhabited by sea-faring peoples from present day Indonesia is just one of the many fascinating aspects of this book. The History of Madagascar examines the origins of Malagasy, the early context with Europeans and the struggle for influence in the nineteenth century between the British and the French. It also covers the Colonial period from 1896 to 1960, the recovery of independence and subsequent history up to the early 1990's. A highly readable, entertaining introduction to the history, politics and people of Madagascar.

Provides facts about the social, economic, political and millitary institutions of the country.

An ideal sourcebook for practical information for travelers and an in-depth background to island culture and wildlife in Africa's Madagascar.