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Location of Madagascar

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country lying off the southeastern coast of Africa. It is the world's fourth largest island, the second-largest island country and the 44th largest country in the world. Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo.

Madagascar consists of the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from Africa during the Early Jurassic, around 180 million years ago, and split from the Indian subcontinent around 90 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation; consequently, it is a biodiversity hotspot and one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries, with over 90% of wildlife being endemic. The island has a subtropical to tropical maritime climate.

Madagascar was first settled during or before the mid first millennium AD by Austronesian peoples, presumably arriving on outrigger canoes from present-day Indonesia. These were joined around the ninth century AD by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel from East Africa. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. Subsequently, the Malagasy ethnic group is often divided into 18 or more subgroups, of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands. (Full article...)

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Ranavalona I (born Rabodoandrianampoinimerina (also called Ramavo); 1778 – 16 August 1861) was the spouse of Radama I and daughter-in-law of Andrianampoinimerina. In 1828, upon the death of King Radama, Ramavo survived royal court drama and out-maneuvered her rivals, and finally ascended to the throne on August 4, 1829, according to the succession law, and changed her name to Ranavalona (Ranavalomanjaka means the reigning Ranavalona). She was sovereign of the Kingdom of Madagascar from 1828 to 1861. After positioning herself as queen following the premature death of her young husband, Radama I, Ranavalona pursued a policy of caution with regards to foreign influence and self-sufficiency, reducing economic and political ties with European powers, repelling a French attack on the coastal town of Foulpointe, and taking vigorous measures to contain the small but growing Malagasy Christian movement initiated under Radama I by members of the London Missionary Society.

She made heavy use of the traditional practice of fanompoana (forced labor as tax payment) to complete public works projects and develop a standing army of between 20,000 and 30,000 Merina soldiers, whom she deployed to pacify outlying regions of the island and further expand the realm. The combination of regular warfare, disease, difficult forced labor and harsh trials by ordeal using a poisonous nut from the Tangena shrub resulted in a high mortality rate among both soldiers and civilians during her 33-year reign, with Madagascar's population reducing from 5 million in 1833 to 2.5 million in 1839. (Full article...)

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Pousse-pousses in central Antsirabe

Antsirabe (Malagasy pronunciation: [anˌtsiraˈbe]) is the third largest city in Madagascar and the capital of the Vakinankaratra region, with a population of 265,018 in 2014.

In Madagascar, Antsirabe is known for its relatively cool climate (like the rest of the central region), its industry and the high concentration of pulled rickshaws or pousse-pousse. It attracts around 30,000 tourists a year. (Full article...)

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The nelicourvi weaver (Ploceus nelicourvi) is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Together with its closest relative, the sakalava weaver, it is sometimes placed in a separate genus Nelicurvius. A slender, sparrow-like bird, it is 15 cm (5.9 in) long and weighing 20–28 g (0.71–0.99 oz). Breeding males have a black bill and head, brown eyes, yellow collar, grey belly, chestnut-brown lower tail coverts, olive back, and blackish flight feathers edged greenish. Non-breeding males have mottled grey and green heads. In the breeding female the front of the head is yellow and the back olive green, with a broad yellow eyebrow. It builds solitary, roofed, retort-shaped nests, hanging by a rope from a branch, vine or bamboo stem, in an open space. It primarily feeds on insects, looking on its own or in very small groups, often together with long-billed bernieria. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland and mountain forests. The conservation status of Nelicourvi weaver is least concern according to the IUCN Red List. (Full article...)

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Landscape near Fianarantsoa, Madagascar.

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Credit: Marius Conjeaud

A Furcifer minor, a species of lizard endemic to Madagascar.

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