Merina

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Merina

Not to be confused with Mirena.

The Merina is the largest ethnic group in Madagascar

Madagascar

Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the List of islands by area, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are Endemism to Madagascar....
. Boasting a population of 3 million, which equals to about one-quarter of the country's population, they speak a Malayo-Polynesian language and are concentrated in the central highlands.

Their ancestors, the Austronesians, migrated

Human migration

Human migration denotes any movement by humans from one district to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups.Migration is one of the four evolutionary forces ...
from the Malay archipelago

Malay Archipelago

The Malay Archipelago and Maritime Southeast Asia are names given to the archipelago located between mainland Southeast Asia and Australia....
(Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Malaysia) around the beginning of the common era

Common Era

Common Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used in the Western world, and also internationally, for numbering the year part of the calendar date....
.

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Encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Mirena.

The Merina is the largest ethnic group in Madagascar

Madagascar

Human migration

Malay Archipelago

Common Era

Common Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used in the Western world, and also internationally, for numbering the year part of the calendar date....
. Today, the Austronesian features of the Merina are still quite visible .

In the late 18th century rulers from the Merina aristocracy began to assert political domination over much of the island. In 1895-96 the French abolished the Merina monarchy by force.

The Merina Kingdom

The Merina kingdom in the central highlands of Madagascar

Madagascar

Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the List of islands by area, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are Endemism to Madagascar....
, a state of rice-farmers, had lived in relative isolation from the rest of Madagascar for several centuries, but by 1824 the Merina had conquered nearly all of Madagascar — thanks to the leadership of two shrewd kings, Andrianampoinimerina

Andrianampoinimerina

Andrianampoinimerina , was a Merina military and political leader of Madagascar island who had a significant impact on Madagascar history. Also a great orator, he is considered by some historians as one of the greatest political rulers and military strategists of all times, in the same vein as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan...
(circa 1785 – 1810) and his son Radama I (1792 – 1828). The kingdom's contact with French and later British powers helped to modernize the state allowing its very capable leaders to build schools and an impressive modern army. But the peace and stability of the Merina kingdom would come to an end with the first Franco-Hova War

Franco-Hova War

The Franco-Hova Wars consisted of France military interventions in Madagascar between 1883 and 1896 that overthrew the ruling monarchy of the Merina Kingdom, and resulted in Madagascar becoming a French colony....
. At the war’s end, Madagascar ceded Antsiranana

Antsiranana

Antsiranana, named Diego Soares prior to 1975, is a city at the northern tip of Madagascar.Antsiranana is the capital of the Diana, Madagascar region and of the Antsiranana Province autonomous province....
(Diégo Suarez) on the northern coast to France and paid 560,000 gold franc

Gold franc

The gold franc was the unit of account for the Bank for International Settlements from 1930 until April 1, 2003. It was replaced with the Special Drawing Right....
s to the heirs of Joseph-François Lambert. In Europe, meanwhile, diplomats partitioning the African continent worked out an agreement whereby Britain, in order to obtain the Sultanate of Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar is part of the East African republic of Tanzania. It consists of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25?50 km off the coast of the mainland....
, ceded its rights over Heligoland

Heligoland

Heligoland is a small Germany archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Denmark and British Empire possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the southeastern corner of the North Sea....
to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
and renounced all claims to Madagascar in favor of France. The agreement spelled doom for the independence of Madagascar.

In 1895, a French flying-column

Flying column

A flying column, in military organization, is an independent corps of troops usually composed of Combined arms, to which a particular task is assigned....
landed in Mahajanga

Mahajanga

Mahajanga is a city, a district, and a province on the north-west coast of Madagascar....
(Majunga) and marched by way of the Betsiboka River

Betsiboka River

Betsiboka River is a 525 km long river in central-north Madagascar. It flows northwestward and empties to Bombetoka Bay, forming a large river delta....
to the capital, Antananarivo

Antananarivo

Antananarivo is the Capital and largest city in Madagascar. It is also known by its French language name Tananarive or the colonial shorthand form Tana....
, taking the city’s defenders by surprise. They had expected an attack from the much closer east coast. Twenty French soldiers died fighting and 6,000 died of malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa....
and other diseases before the second Franco-Hova War ended. In 1896 the French Parliament voted to annex

Annexation

Annexation is the legal incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities....
Madagascar. The 103-year-old Merina monarchy ended with the royal family sent to exile in Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
.

Caste System

Among all the Malagasy ethnicities, the Merina historically have one of the most stratified caste systems. In general they are divided into three classes : the Andriana (Nobles), the Hova (masses), and the Andevo (slaves). Each class is then hierarchically divided into sub classes.

The Andriana are divided into seven from the highest ranking to the lowest as follows :

Zanakandriana (the reigning Royal House).
Zazamarolahy.
Andriamasinavalona.
Andriantopokoindrndra.
Andrianamboninolona.
Andriandranado.
Zanadralambo, of Andrianjaka.

Merina

The Merina Kingdom

Caste System

See also

External links