〔Random Stuff〕

If You Aren't Interested With Madagascar, Don't Look At This Chapter

-xoAidanz this is the Madagascar's chapter

History :

we, the Malagasy people, came from 4 ethnicities :the bantu, the southeast Asian, the Arabic and a small part of European heritage that we call "vazaha". We are characterized in 4 periods : the first settlers in Madagascar around 3000 BC and until 1500,many people from other continent came there mostly Europeans and Arabic which lead to the so-called legend of libertalia about pirates who landed in Sainte-Marie

After came the "Faha-mpanjaka" period which is technically the royalty era of Madagascar. First a lot of small kingdoms there and there (the main one we've talked in class were Tamatavy, betsileo, Sakalava and Merina) until Andrianampoinimerina and his son Radama unified the island and that's extended from the Merina kingdom on the center to the whole island (they're both glorified and admired for making Madagascar's very advanced but they were slavers and only enslaved the people around the coast but that's a controversial subject-)

And then there was the colonial era (or fanjahanatany) in 1876 were the French colonized the island and deported the last queen of Madagascar, Ranavalona III, in Algeria. We gained independence in 26th June 1960 and joined the communist party, with Didier Ratsiraka as the leader, in 1972 there were several protestations in universities to the point where some of them were burned leading to the end of the 1st republic, more protestations like in 2009, floods during 2004 which was the most dangerous on the island and here we are today.

Cultures :
Despite how some Christians are being mean toward the traditional and folkloric religion in out island, a lot of them still maintain some superstition and. For example, my father who's against famadihana (a ceremony of the deaths were we change the "lamba" of the deceased person and do a small celebration in the street), still believe about the superstition of not pointing with your finger a tombstone and less, do NOT wear red during a funeral because that is "fady" which mean bad luck or a curse.

And about the Christianity here, the main are just on the center, in Antananarivo, but the rest of the island mostly believes in folklore religion and on the north, it's Islam.

For example, on the ambanivohitra (the rural era), they celebrate the Malagasy new year which is around the end of March.

In the end, we have 18 ethnicities in Madagascar (Antakarana, Bara, Mahafaly, Antandroy, Vezo, Sihanaka, Sakalava, Antaisaka, Antaifasy, Antambahoaka, Antaimoro, Antanosy, Betsimisaraka, Merina, Tsimihety, Tanala, Betsileo and Bezanozano ) with each of them their own culture and and way of life. For example, the betsileo are known for the famadihana (like I've said earlier) and zébu rodeo. The betsimisaraka for being the best fishermen. The Sakalava are the bantu side of Madagascar were they have their ceremony in which they talk to their ancestors. The antandroy are the one who lives near forest and are known for their music with traditional drums and flutes and spears (my fav group is tiharea. Their voices are so beautiful <3). The Bara are known for their braids and cattle. The antaifasy are the one who lives in desert and so one.

Trivia:
-Madagascar is nearly considered as a whole new continent not because of the landmass but because since our origins are really mixed, not only our people have a mix of a lot of things but so do our animals. 96% of the floral and faun is only found here and no one else.

-Despite that, deforestation is a huge problem in Madagascar. 80% of our forest got burned down because s o m e h o w, some people find it cool do it. And so do hunting endangered animals. 🙂🔫. Nevertheless, reboisement is spread more and more on the island and when you go on the road to Mahajanga and other place like this, you'll probably find a lot of small tree that plants who are growing and look fresh compared to the nearly dead trees on the road.

-Did I tell you that our origin are really mixed? Yes? Well there's more and that would lead us to ww2 again. The concentration camps were supposed to be in Madagascar and there's some leftover of it at the north but because of the attack of the ussr and other stuffs, the German didn't had time to deport all the jews here so they kept the rest in Germany. Until now, a small percentage of the Malagasy population have also Jewish heritage.

-Still about ww2! Sorry I should probably put this on history but I was too lazy-. Anyway. The Japanese empire wanted our island as well to have a better access towards Africa but the British fought them back. The name of the operation was "ironclad" and for a small amount of time, Madagascar was occupied by the British.

-Luis Miguel Sánchez cerró have Malagasy slaves descendent and there's a small community in Peru around 3000 people and there's even a place called "ferme malakasy" in there.

-You think malagasy people have too much origin? That's nothing compared to our language. I don't really know how to describe this except the typical "it has malayo Polynesian and African bantu heritage" but apparently, according to Wikipedia and some comments I've found on YouTube, I has a weird mix between Thai, Tagalog, malay, Indonesian, Arabic, German, Samoan, Hawaiian, English, French and Niger-Congolese. Yeah, I'm kind of lost too.

-Ranavalona I is considered as the most cruel and murderous woman in history. She killed 70% of our population (and it's not the Merina people, yup it's the entire population of Madagascar) and left her mother starving to death. To prove that you weren't her foe, you had to eat three raw chicken skin. Yeah, you heard it right. And if you didn't puke three time, you were guilty (apparently). She tortured Europeans and Christians by throwing them on Rocky cliffs and if they survived, they were eaten by starving animals.

-despite all of that, our country still remains among the most unhappiest countries on earth and poorest. Still, more and more Malagasy are becoming more optimistic about our future including me, despite all of the shits that are happening, I hope a better future for Madagascar.

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as much as I loved to ramble about it. Sorry if I misinformed a lot of things, I've been a little bit tired lately because of school and I would probably fix or redo it one day but for now, I hope you've been informed enough. Tell me if you have any informations you want to add <3

-Miranto