Kingdom of Madagascar
| Fanjakan'i Madagasikara | |||||
| Kingdom of Madagascar | |||||
| 1787-1897 | |||||
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| Official language | Malagasy | ||||
| Capital | Antananarivo | ||||
| Form of government | Absolute Monarchy | ||||
| Head of state |
King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810) King Radama I (1810–1828) Queen Ranavalona I (1828–1861) King Radama II (1861–1863) Queen Rasoherina (1863–1868) Queen Ranavalona II (1868–1883) Queen Ranavalona III. (1883-1897) |
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| Head of government | prime minister | ||||
| surface | 587,041 km² | ||||
| Time zone | UTC +3 | ||||
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The Kingdom of Madagascar ( Malagasy : Fanjakan'i Madagasikara ) or Kingdom of the Merina or Merina Kingdom ( Fanjakan'Imerina ) was a pre-colonial state in Southeast Africa on the territory of today's Republic of Madagascar and existed from 1787 to 1897. The rulers came from the tribe the Merina , who live in central Madagascar and constitute the largest ethnic group. The capital was in Antananarivo and the religious center in Ambohimanga .
prehistory
The ancestors of the Merina, who belong to the Austronesian peoples , immigrated from the Malay Archipelago to Madagascar 2000 years ago and settled in Imerina , the highlands of central Madagascar. Through them, the country has been shaped by Indonesian influences to this day. According to the oral tradition of the Madagascans, the Vazimba , who had previously lived in the island's mountainous region, were ousted by the Merina under King Andriamanelo in the 16th century . This gained control over the entire Imerina area.
The unity of the territory was maintained by his successors until King Andriamasinavalona divided the territory among his four sons. These were at war with one another. Only Prince Ramboasalama succeeded in reunification in 1787 when he overthrew his uncle Andrianjaka , ruler of the partial kingdom of Ambohimanga , and ascended the throne as Andrianampoinimerina .
Development of the kingdom
Andrianampoinimerina, the son of Andriamiaramanjakas , inherited the small kingdom of Ambohimanga in 1787 and in 1794 conquered the neighboring kingdom of Antananarivo , which became the political center of the kingdom. In the following years he succeeded through a successful marriage policy and several campaigns, the submission of a large part of the island. He reformed the administration, passed new laws, introduced a penal code and forced rice farmers to use the metal spade. He divided the population into box-like groups and supervised the construction of dams and ditches for the cultivation of the vast land.
The oral traditions of the history of the Merina were first recorded in writing during his reign and summarized as Tantaran'ny Andriana . He had the Rova Palace built above the city of Antananarivo , which from then on served as the residence of the kings of Madagascar. His motto Ny ranomasina no valapariako (“the sea is the limit of my rice field”) described his goal of conquering the entire island. Until his death he succeeded in subjugating the Foko of the Bara and conquering the Betsileo Highlands. Under his rule, the first modern state in the history of Madagascar was established . Only in the south of the island did it encounter resistance and failed due to the complete unification of the island. After his death in 1810 his son Radama I , known as "Radama the Great", succeeded him on the throne.
Radama I. played the colonial powers Great Britain and France against each other in order to complete the unification of the island. With the help of Great Britain he conquered the remaining areas of the island by 1824. The defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Waterloo played a decisive role, because the balance of power between the colonial powers shifted in the Indian Ocean in favor of Great Britain, which occupied the French territories of Mauritius and Réunion in 1810 . Under the rule of Radama I, the British founded the first industrial settlements on the east coast of the island, British missionaries translated the Bible into Malagasy and thus introduced the Latin script .
With the request of the governor of Mauritius to the French government to recognize the kingdom of Madagascar diplomatically, he tried to protect Madagascar from European claims for the future. Radama sought a cultural and social upheaval, allowed Protestant missionaries into the country and formed a government based on the British model. He had the Malagasy language documented in writing and in 1817 contractually forbade the slave trade with Great Britain , which in fact continued to operate. However, the treaties increased British influence; and after the ban on slavery, Réunion became the center of sugar cane cultivation . In return, Great Britain and Mauritius provided financial and military support with which Radama succeeded in subjugating the Sakalava and Betsimisaraka . After the end of the campaign in 1824, he declared: “Today I own the entire island! Madagascar has a regent! ”In 1828 he died on a punitive expedition against the Betsimisaraka, which his wife and successor Ranavalona I , called“ Ranavalona the Cruel ”, initially kept a secret.
Ranavalona I came to power with the help of a palace revolution in which numerous relatives of Radama were murdered in order to undermine his family's claim to power. A reign of terror began under Ranavalona, in which torture and executions were commonplace. Their goal was to end British and French influence in Madagascar. In the course of their rule in 1835/1836 most foreigners were expelled as missionaries, diplomatic contacts were broken off, the practice of Christianity was banned in 1835 and converts were persecuted. During their reign the old nobility and medicine men came back to power, the treaties with Great Britain were dissolved and trade with foreign countries came to a standstill. She had the Manjakamadiana in the center of the Rova expanded. It is estimated that 150,000 Christians have died in the 33 years of her reign.
Her son Radama , who was brought up as a Roman Catholic by his mother unnoticed by the French in Antananarivo , sought contact with the French, whose Emperor Napoleon III. he asked for an invasion of Madagascar. In the "Charte Lambert" of June 18, 1855, he gave the French special rights to exploit previously unused areas. In 1857 his mother exposed this conspiracy with the French and expelled all foreigners from the country. After her death in 1861, her son ascended the throne as Radama II.
Radama II again allowed trade with Réunion and Mauritius and the return of missionaries and foreigners to Madagascar. He continued the reforms of Radama I. The nobility, however, was against liberal politics and instigated a coup d'état under Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony and his brother Rainilaiarivony . The two secured their share of the state business and the government, Rainilaiarivony married the last two queens of Madagascar. Radama II was murdered on May 12, 1863; his widow and cousin Rasoherina was named his successor on May 13, 1863, by a congregation led by Rainilaiarivony, after she agreed to uphold religious freedom .
Rasoherina was educated and baptized Anglican by the London Missionary Society , which is why Anglicanism became the state religion when she came to power. Nevertheless, she also let Catholic and Protestant missionaries into the country who built churches and schools. It was dominated by Prime Minister Raharo , whom it fired in 1864 and replaced by Rainilaiarivony . Under their rule, the English language replaced French as the lingua franca in large parts of the country . She had a constitution drawn up in which nobles, chiefs, Christians and foreigners were given more rights. On June 27, 1865, the Treaty of Antananarivo , a friendship, peace and trade treaty, was signed with the British , which was later extended to all nations. With the treaty, slavery was finally abolished. British troops entered the country via South Africa . She signed a trade treaty with the United States that restricted the importation of arms and the export of cattle. With France, she signed a peace treaty between her descendants and the descendants of the French Emperor . Queen Rasoherina is remembered in Madagascar to this day for exchanging diplomats with London and Paris and for banning Sunday markets.
Rasoherina married their Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony, but public displeasure about his involvement in the murder of Radama II soon forced him to resign and to be exiled in Betsileoland south of Imerina. She then married his brother Rainilaiarivony, who was chief of the army at the time of the murder of Radama II, who was subsequently given the post of prime minister. Rasoherina died on April 1, 1868. Her cousin and widow of Radama II. Ranavalona II. Succeeded her to the throne.
Ranavalona II, also educated by the London Missionary Society and baptized in the Church of England , elevated Anglicanism to the state religion at her coronation. However, the traditional ancestor cult continued to exist alongside Christianity and Islam . During her reign, Madagascar experienced a strong westernization: with increasing activity of British missionaries, economic growth, the building of schools and the beginning of a collection of the current laws. At the same time the conflicts with France increased; In 1883 the first war with France broke out . France justified this step with the restoration of the Lambert Charter and the reconfiscation of the property of French citizens in Madagascar. Ranavalona II died on July 13, 1883; her successor Ranavalona III. was publicly crowned on November 22, 1883.
Ranavalona III. promised her subjects an end to the French invasion and turned to the German Empire , with whom a friendship treaty was signed in 1883. The real aim of an alliance against France was not achieved. At the Congo Conference in Berlin, France prevailed and was awarded Madagascar as an “area of interest”.
Initially, the forces of Ranavalona III succeeded. the repulsion of the invaders, but they could not withstand the French superiority. The French forced them to sign a treaty on December 12, 1887, which gave France a say within Madagascar, left Antsiranana in the north of the country to the French and stipulated the return of the expropriated French property. In Europe, meanwhile, the diplomats struggled to divide Africa and were able to agree on the exchange of Heligoland for Zanzibar between Great Britain and the German Empire, as well as the British renouncing Madagascar in favor of the French. Up until this point in time, Prime Minister Rainilaiarivory successfully played France and Great Britain off against each other, but now France could devote itself to conquering Madagascar without fear of the interference of another major European power.
In 1893, war was declared again on Madagascar . In 1895 French troops landed in Mahajanga and marched up along the Betsiboka River to the capital Antananarivo and took it in a surprise attack. In 1896 the French parliament approved the annexation of Madagascar. Ranavalona III. remained formally queen until the following year. On February 28, 1897, General Joseph Gallieni forced her to abdicate and sent her into exile, first to Réunion and later to Algeria , where she died in 1917. Her remains were only transferred to the other royal tombs in Ambohimanga in 1938 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Virginia Thompson, Richard Adloff: The Malagasy Republic. Madagascar Today. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1965, pp. 4 f.
- ^ A b Charles Cadoux: La république malagache. Berger-Levrault, Paris 1969, p. 12.
- ^ Charles Cadoux: La république malagache. Berger-Levrault, Paris 1969, p. 13.
- ^ A b Gwyn Campbell: The Adoption of Autarky in Imperial Madagascar, 1820-1835. In: The Journal of African History. 28, No. 3, 1987, p. 395.
- ^ A b Frédéric Randriamamonjy, Tantaran'i Madagasikara Isam-Paritra (The history of Madagascar by Region), pages 529-534.
- ↑ Allen and Covell, Historical Dictionary of Madagascar, pp. Xxx-xxxi
- ↑ Frédéric Randriamamonjy, Tantaran'i Madagasikara Isam-Paritra (History of Madagascar by Region), page 546.
literature
- Rebecca L. Green: Merina. The Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 1997; ISBN 0-823-91991-9 (The heritage library of African peoples). Google Books: [1]
- Matthew E. Hules et al .: The Dual Origin of the Malagasy in Island Southeast Asia and East Africa: Evidence from Maternal and Paternal Lineages ; American Journal of Human Genetics, 76: 894-901, 2005.
- Mervyn Brown: A History of Madagascar . Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2000; ISBN 1-55876-292-2 .
- Stephen Ellis, Solofo Randrianja: Madagascar - A short history ; London, 2009
Web links
- The Merinanation (English)
- A Historical Timeline for Madagascar (English)
- History of Madagascar (English)