MADAGASCAR

Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar (older name Malagasy Republic), is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth largest island in the world, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are endemic to Madagascar. Most notable are the lemur infraorder of primates, the carnivorous fossa, three endemic bird families and six endemic baobab species.

MISSIONARIES:

Pritchard, Ja & Rachel

HISTORY:

Archaeologists estimate that humans arrived on Madagascar between 200 and 500 AD, when seafarers from southeast Asia arrived in outrigger canoes. Bantu settlers probably crossed the Mozambique Channel to Madagascar at about the same time as or shortly afterwards. However, the written history of Madagascar begins in the 7th century, when Arabs established trading posts along the northwest coast.

During the Middle Ages, the chiefs of the different settlements began to extend their power through trade with Indian Ocean neighbors, notably East Africa, the Middle East and India. Large chiefdoms began to dominate considerable areas of the island. European contact began in the year 1500, with Portuguese traders and later in the 17th century, the French established trading posts. From about 1774 to 1824, Madagascar was a favorite haunt for pirates.

Merina rulers with the financial and military assistance of Britain ruled until the French invaded Madagascar in 1883. In 1890 the British accepted the full formal imposition of a French protectorate over Madagascar that had been imposed in a milder form in 1885, in return for eventual control over Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) and as part of an overall definition of spheres of influence in the area.

After the conclusion of some brief hostilities, in 1896 the French Parliament voted to annex Madagascar. The 103-year-old Merina monarchy ended with the royal family being sent into exile in Algeria. In 1947, with French prestige at low ebb, a nationalist uprising was suppressed after several months of bitter fighting with 8,000 persons killed. The French later established reformed institutions in 1956 under the Overseas Reform Act, and Madagascar moved peacefully towards independence. The Malagasy Republic was proclaimed on October 14, 1958, as an autonomous state within the French Community. A period of provisional government ended with the adoption of a constitution in 1959 and full independence on June 26, 1960.

RELIGION:

Approximately half of the country's population practices traditional religions, which tend to emphasize links between the living and the dead. The Merina in the highlands particularly tend to hold tightly to this practice. They believe that the dead join their ancestors in the ranks of divinity and that ancestors are intensely concerned with the fate of their living descendants. The Merina and Betsileo reburial practice of famadihana, or "turning over the dead", celebrates this spiritual communion. In this ritual, relatives' remains are removed from the family tomb, rewrapped in new silk shrouds, and returned to the tomb following festive ceremonies in their honor where sometimes the bodies are lifted and carried high above the celebrant’s heads with singing and dancing before returning them to the tomb.

About 22% of the Malagasy are Roman Catholic and 22% are Protestant. Many incorporate the cult of the dead with their religious beliefs and bless their dead at church before proceeding with the traditional burial rites. They also may invite a pastor to attend a famadihana. The Roman Catholic church is open to its members continuing these practices, while many Protestant denominations tend to condemn them.