Andriamanelo

Andriamanelo (1540–1575) was king of Alasora in the central highlands of Madagascar . Historians generally consider him the progenitor of the royal Merina dynasty, which extended its rule over all of Madagascar until the end of the 19th century. The son of a mother from the Vazimba tribe and a man from the Hova tribe from the southeast, from Anosy , led a series of campaigns against the Vazimba people, initiating a process through which these people were ultimately driven from the plateau . The conflict that accompanied his rule also led to the implementation of many innovations. This included the establishment of fortified villages in the highlands and the use of iron weapons. Oral tradition ascribes Andriamanelo also the introduction of a ruling caste ( Andriana ) and the establishment of the succession to the throne. In addition, the introduction of the circumcision ritual, the wedding custom vodiondry and the Malagasy astrology ( sikidy ) are ascribed to him.

youth

Andriamanelo was the eldest son of the ruling Vazimba queen Rafohy (also called Rangita in the oral tradition ) and her husband Manelobe from the Hova tribe , who may have descended from the Zafiraminia from Anosy . At the time of Rafohy and Manelobe's marriage, the Hova were a minority who had only recently advanced from their ancestral territory in the southeast into the highlands dominated by the Vazimba. The marriage resulted in two sons: Andriamanelo and his younger brother Andriamananitany, as well as the sister Rafotsindrindramanjaka. Rafohy decided that Andriamanelo should take over rule after the mother's death. It also stipulated that it was not his heir, but his younger brother who should become king after him. This succession, which was ordered by the queen "for all time", was called fanjakana arindra ("orderly government") and also had an impact on the general line of succession: Whenever there was an elder heir and a younger in a family, the parents would first bequeath the authority to the elder and after his Taod it would pass to the younger. The Queen gave the village of Alasora (one of the Twelve Sacred Hills of Imerina ) to Andriamanelo as her own territory for as long as she lived and his brother Andriamananitany got the village of Ambohitrandriananahary.

Domination

Andriamanelo waged war against the Vazimba to drive them from the highlands.

An essential feature of Andriamanelo's reign was the expansion of his dominion. From the holy hill of Alasora he carried out military campaigns and drove the Vazimba, according to legend the first settlers of Madagascar, from the highlands to the west. After Andriamanelo had successfully expanded and he now ruled over both Alasora in the south and Merimanjaka in the north, he directed his campaigns of conquest against Analamanga , which was in the middle of his territory. In the surrounding areas he drove out all the vazimba. The legend combines the military successes with inventions that Andriamanelo spread. This included the processing of iron and the introduction of iron spearheads. The Vazimba fought with clay weapons at that time. Andriamanelo also fortified his royal city with Hadivory (dry moat ), Hadifetsy (defensive moat ) and Vavahady (city gates with a large stone disk as a closure). However, he did not manage to conquer Analamanga. Only his grandson Andrianjaka would ultimately defeat this Vazimba fortress.

Andriamanelo expanded his rule not only through military campaigns. After the death of his younger brother, Andriamanelo married a maternal cousin, Ramaitsoanala ("Green Forest"). Her father, Rabiby, was an astrologer and King of Ambohidrabiby. Her mother Ivorombe has been described in legends as a water deity. Through this strategic marriage Andriamanelo secured rule over the area around Ambohidrabiby. Ramaitsoanala took the name Randapavola and later became known as Queen Rasolobe after giving birth to the seventh son, Ralambo . The six older children were either stillborn or died in early childhood.

Andriamanelo is often depicted as the king who spread civilization, in contrast to the primitive Vazimba he fought against. Therefore, the oral tradition ascribes arts such as silversmithing, astrology ( sikidy ) and ironworking to him. He introduced the manufacture of pirogues and was the first in the highlands to use levees to turn the swamps around Alasora into rice fields. The circumcision was performed after his ritual. Elements of these rituals are still practiced in some Merina families today.

However, many of these innovations can be further traced back through archaeological evidence. Some come from the Hova tribe. Astrology was introduced, for example, through contacts with Arab seafarers.

Succession arrangements

Alasora was the first highland village to be fortified during Andriamanelo's war with the Vazimba.

Andriamanelos ancestors had introduced the law of inheritance, according to which the younger brother should inherit after the older brother. However, this line of succession created major challenges. Rafohy's younger son Andriamananitany initially agreed, but soon afterwards began to build a new village, which he arrogantly referred to as Ambohitrandriamanitra ("God's village"). He adopted the system of fortifications his older brother had created and was even ahead of him. There were rumors that he wanted to undermine his brother's rule. However, when he learned of his brother's anger, he left the village and, with his brother's permission, founded a new one called Ambohimanoa ("Village of Submission"). However, he also built a defensive trench there again. He was murdered by a group of Hova - possibly on the orders of Andriamanelo.

The king was saddened and tried to improve the situation by marrying his brother's son, who was now an orphan , to his own sister, Rafotsindrindramanjaka, explaining that the child from this relationship, if it was a girl, would be his own son Ralambo would be married; if it were male but would be the successor to Ralambo. A girl was born and thus Ralambo could at least indirectly fulfill his mother's wishes. Therefore the first son of his second wife was passed over in the line of rule. Instead, he was Andrianjaka , Ralambos son of Rafotsindrindramanjaka used. Andriamanelo is also credited with the introduction of the Andriana as a caste of nobles of the Merina, from which a pronounced caste system developed over time. Since then the term "Hova" has only been used for simple, non-noble people. Only Ralambo then referred to her as "Merina".

Vodiondry

The marriage custom of Vodiondry is also attributed to Andriamanelo. On the occasion of the wedding with Ramaitsoanala, Andriamanelo sent her various wedding gifts, including the Vodiondry meat from the rear leg of the sheep (hip flower, top shell) as the most delicious piece of meat. The value of this piece of meat was affirmed by Ralambo, who demanded the same pieces from every slaughtered zebu as the king's share. Since then it has been a tradition for the groom to give the bride's family Vodiondry. Over time, however, these marriage gifts were replaced by a symbolic piaster , monetary gifts and other things .

Death and succession

Andriamanelo's tomb in Alasora

Andriamanelo ruled into old age and died around 1575. He was inherited by his only son Ralambo. Andriamanelo was buried in a mound grave in Alasora. It is said that he was buried in the southeast of the Royal Estate, not the north as was the custom. This is probably due to the fact that Andriamanelo was "different"; as a man of mixed ethnicity, he was denied his usual seat. A similar burial place in the north was probably his mother's grave. These two tombs are considered to be the oldest known royal tombs in Imerina.

literature

This article or section needs to be revised. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

• François Callet [1908]: Tantara ny andriana eto Madagasikara (histoire des rois) ( fr ). Imprimerie catholique, Antananarivo 1972.
• Raymond Kent: Early Kingdoms in Madagascar and the Birth of the Sakalava Empire, 1500-1700, Volume 1 . Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Madison WI 1970.
• Susan Kus: Matters Material and Ideal . In: Ian Hodder (Ed.): Symbolic and Structural Archeology . Cambridge University Press, New York 1982, ISBN 978-0-521-24406-0 .
• Daniel Miller, Michael Rowlands: Domination and Resistance . Routledge, London 1989, ISBN 978-0-415-12254-2 .
• Bethwell A. Ogot: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century ( fr ). UNESCO , Paris 1992, ISBN 978-0-520-06700-4 .
• Jean-Baptiste Piolet: Madagascar et les Hova: déscription, organization, histoire ( fr ). C. Delagrave, Paris 1895.
• Chantal Radimilahy: Ancient Iron-working in Madagascar . In: Thurstan Shaw (Ed.): The Archeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns . Taylor & Francis, London 1993, ISBN 978-0-415-11585-8 .
• Christiane Rafidinarivo: Empreintes de la servitude dans les sociétés de l'océan India: métamorphoses et permanences ( fr ). Karthala Editions, Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-8111-0276-0 .
• Françoise Raison-Jourde: Les souverains de Madagascar ( fr ). Karthala Editions, Paris 1983, ISBN 978-2-86537-059-7 .
• Camille de la Vaissière, Antoine Abinal: Vingt ans à Madagascar: colonization, traditions historiques, moeurs et croyances ( fr ). V. Lecoffre, Paris 1885, ISBN 3-540-63293-X .
• André You: Madagascar, histoire, organization, colonization ( fr ). Berger-Levrault & Cie, Paris 1905.
• Maurice Bloch: From Blessing to Violence: History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina of Madagascar . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK 1986, ISBN 978-0-521-31404-6 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Raison-Jourde (1983), p. 142
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Kus (1982), pp. 47-62
3. ^ Raison-Jourde (1983), p. 239
4. ↑ ^{a b c} de la Vassière & Abinal 1885, p. 62
5. ↑ Ogot (1992), p. 430
6. ↑ Kent (1970), p. 93
7. ↑ You 1905, p. 34
8. ↑ ^{a b} Christopher Buyers: The Merina (or Hova) Dynasty 1 . www.royalark.net. 2008. Archived from the original on April 3, 2011. Retrieved on April 3, 2011.
9. ↑ Piolet (1895), p. 206
10. ↑ Rafidinarivo (2009), p. 84
11. ↑ Radimilahy (1993), pp. 478-483
12. ↑ Madatana: Alasora: Royaume d'Andriamanelo et terre des Velondraiamandreny ( fr ) www.madatana.com. 2011. Archived from the original on April 3, 2011. Retrieved on November 10, 2010.
13. ↑ de la Vassière & Abinal 1885, p. 61
14. ↑ Raison-Jourde 1983, pp. 241-242
15. ^ Raison-Jourde (1983), p. 238
16. ↑ Christopher Buyers: The Merina (or Hova) Dynasty: Imerina 2 . Archived from the original on February 19, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
17. ^ Miller & Rowlands (1989), p. 143
18. ↑ Kent (1970), pp. 308-309
19. ↑ Guillaume Grandidier: Le mariage à Madagascar . In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris. vol. 4, pp. 9–46, 1913 [1]
20. ^ Raison-Jourde 1983, p. 131

predecessor	Office	successor
Rafohy (Rangita)	Ruler of Imerina 1540–1575	Ralambo