by
Jillian L.

NATIONAL FLAG OF MADAGASCAR

LOCATION:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR

            The French colonized Madagascar in 1885. The French people used some of the poor people in Madagascar as slaves. They also cut down some of the forests to plant sugarcane, cotton, and coffee plantations. The Malagasy people were infuriated by this.

            Colonization both helped and hurt the indigenous people of Madagascar. It helped them because there were several construction projects and they were making economic progress. It hurt them because some people were treated like semi-slaves. There was also harsh taxation which caused people to work very hard to pay the French.

            The native people voted in a referendum, or the principle or practice of a legislative body to the vote for the electorate for approval or rejection, to become an autocracy within the French community of overseas nations. This was in 1958. Finally independence was granted on June 26, 1960.

            The recent history of Madagascar has been influenced by the struggles for power between the Cộiters, or costal people, and the highland Merina. French customs still dominate in life in Madagascar. President Tsiranana was pro-French and did not want to establish diplomatic contact with communist countries. He was a Cộiter so he was disliked by the Merina. Antigovernment demonstrations made president Tsiranana resign in 1972. The civilian government was then changed to a military one. Several of the economic problems and struggles have gone down and disappeared through out the years. If Madagascar had not been colonized it would have been less developed and several of the buildings would have not been created. The French were able to teach the indigenous people ways to live that helped establish not only the customs of the people but the people themselves. So all in all the structure of the country would not be very advanced if it weren’t for the techniques of the French that helped build the people, the architecture, and some of the cultures. 

Works Cited

Flag and map courtesy of Microsoft Clipart Gallery.

Heale, Jay. Madagascar.

InfoPlease. www.infoplease.com

Lonely Planet. www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/madagascar/history

Pictures courtesy of Google Images