Merina
The three million Merina form the largest Foko in Madagascar . They speak a Malayo-Polynesian language and live in the central highlands around the capital Antananarivo in the Imerina area . Their ancestors, the Malays , immigrated from the Malay Archipelago at the turn of the ages. To this day, the Indonesian characteristics of the Merina are visible. With around 26%, the Merina represent the largest group of the Malagasy population.
Like most of the tribes in Madagascar, the Merina practice a syncretism of Christianity and traditional religion .
In the late 18th century, Andrianampoinimerina founded the Kingdom of Madagascar . It stretched over much of the island and was continued by his successors until it was ended by the French invasion in 1896.
literature
- Rebecca L. Green: Merina. The Rosen Publishing Group, New York 1997, ISBN 0-8239-1991-9 (English; part of the Heritage library of African peoples; excerpt in the Google book search).
- Pier M. Larson: Desperately Seeking "the Merina" (Central Madagascar): Reading Ethnonyms and Their Semantic Fields in African Identity Histories. In: Journal of Southern African Studies. Volume 22, No. 4, December 1996, pp. 541-560 (English; Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison ; doi: 10.1080 / 03057079608708511 ).
Web links
- Portal: Merina Nation of Madagascar, a people of the nusantarian (malayo-indonesian) world. ( Memento of January 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: cwnet.com. February 3, 2003 (English).