Portal:Madagascar

The Madagascar Portal

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Location of Madagascar

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country in the Indian Ocean that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's fourth-largest island, the second-largest island country, and the 46th-largest country overall. Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo.

Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from Africa during the Early Jurassic period, around 180 million years ago, and from the Indian subcontinent approximately 90 million years ago. This isolation allowed native plants and animals to evolve in relative seclusion. As a result, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot and one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries, with over 90% of its wildlife being endemic. The island has a subtropical to tropical maritime climate.

Madagascar was first permanently settled during or before the mid-first millennium CE (roughly 500 to 700) by Austronesian peoples, presumably arriving on outrigger canoes from present-day Indonesia. These were joined around the ninth century by Bantu groups 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. Consequently, there are 18 or more classified peoples of Madagascar, the most numerous being the Merina of the central highlands. (Full article...)

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Left distal humerus of C. spelea

Cryptoprocta spelea, also known as the giant cave fossa, is an extinct species of carnivore from Madagascar in the family Eupleridae which is most closely related to the mongooses and includes all Malagasy carnivorans.

It was first named in 1902, and was subsequently recognized as a separate species in 1935 from its closest relative, the living fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox). C. spelea was larger than its extant relative but otherwise similar. The two have not always been recognized as distinct species. When and how C. spelea became extinct remains unknown; however, some researchers suggest that the species may have went extinct much more recently or possibly survived to this day based on anecdotal evidence including reports of unusually large fossas. (Full article...)

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A Malagasy woman wearing masonjoany and head-carrying

Women in Madagascar generally live longer than men, whom they outnumber. Marrying young, they are traditionally subservient to their husbands. Roughly a third have their first child before the age of 19, and those who wish to delay having children may not have access to contraceptives. Although it is illegal with no exceptions, abortion is common, with an estimated 24 percent of women having had one. While they are constitutionally equal to men, they have unequal property rights and employment opportunities in certain areas. (Full article...)

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Location of Andrahomana Cave, the only place where Microgale macpheei has been found

Microgale macpheei is an extinct shrew tenrec from southeastern Madagascar. It is known only from two partial skulls found in Andrahomana cave, which radiocarbon dating of associated rodent remains suggests are about 3000 years old. It is the only known recently extinct tenrec. First described in 2007, it is most similar to the smaller Microgale brevicaudata of northern and western Madagascar. M. macpheei has a broad rostrum (front part of the skull) and, like M. brevicaudata, lacks a diastema (gap) between the premolars. A number of details of tooth morphology are characteristic of M. macpheei. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Madagascar-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Antananarivo, the political and economic capital of Madagascar (from Madagascar)
Image 2Map of Madagascar and the western portion of the East Indies, circa 1702–1707 (from History of Madagascar)
Image 3The taro (saonjo in Malagasy) is, according to an old Malagasy proverb, "the elder of the rice" (Ny saonjo no zokin'ny vary), and was also a staple diet for the proto-Austronesians (from History of Madagascar)
Image 4A street vendor selling fresh potato chips and traditional kaka pizon snacks (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 5Oxcarts are an important medium of transport in many places, like Ambatolampy. (from Madagascar)
Image 6National monument in Moramanga commemorating the beginning of the Malagasy Uprising on 29 March 1947. Between 11,000 and 90,000 Malagasy died during the uprising, which lasted nearly two years. (from Madagascar)
Image 7Sorabe Malagasy Arabic script (from Madagascar)
Image 8Christians burned at the stake by Ranavalona I (from History of Madagascar)
Image 9Hiragasy dancer (from Madagascar)
Image 10Nosy Iranja, one of the international tourism destinations in Madagascar (from Madagascar)
Image 11Landing of the 40th Bataillon de Chasseur à Pieds in Majunga, between 5 May and 24 May 1895. (from History of Madagascar)
Image 12A Sumatran village showing several traditional houses (Malagasy levu). The vahoaka ntaolo villages of Madagascar were probably similar in the first millennium AD. This model is still currently present on every coast and in the remote inland areas and forests. (from History of Madagascar)
Image 13The suling is an Indonesian cousin of the sodina (from History of Madagascar)
Image 14Moraingy is a traditional martial art of Madagascar. (from Madagascar)
Image 15Land coverage (left) and topographical (right) maps of Madagascar (from Madagascar)
Image 16The ring-tailed lemur is one of over 100 known species and subspecies of lemur found only in Madagascar. (from Madagascar)
Image 17Map of Madagascar and surroundings, circa 1702–1707 (from History of Madagascar)
Image 18Malagasy Embassy to Europe in 1863. Left to right: Rainifiringa Ralaimaholy, Rev. John Duffus and Rasatranabo aka Rainandrianandraina. (from History of Madagascar)
Image 19Performance of Antandroy dance (from Madagascar)
Image 20Antanosy girl with dark blond hair (from Madagascar)
Image 21Mahafaly tomb with traditional painted decoration (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 22Men in an Outrigger Canoe Headed for Shore, an oil painting by Arman Manookian depicting the Vezo people, c. 1929 (from History of Madagascar)
Image 23Canoe-sarcophagus of the Dayak: a burial that recalls the Malagasy tradition that former Ntaolo Vazimba and Vezo buried their dead in canoe-sarcophagi in the sea or in a lake (from History of Madagascar)
Image 24Malagasy ancestry reflects a blend of Southeast Asian, Oceanian, and Bantu (Southeast African) roots. (from Madagascar)
Image 25Map of Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands (1502) (from History of Madagascar)
Image 26Historical change in per capita GDP of Madagascar since 1950 (from Madagascar)
Image 27Köppen climate classification map of Madagascar (from Madagascar)
Image 28Ramilison Besigara, leader of the Malagasy hiragasy troupe Tarika Ramilison Fenoarivo (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 29Vaγimba- "Those of the forest" in Proto–Southeast Barito, the reconstructed ancestor of the Southeast Barito languages, which includes the languages spoken by the Dayak peoples of the Barito River in Borneo (pictured) (from History of Madagascar)
Image 30Valiha orchestra at the Paris World Exposition of 1931 (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 31News stand in Antananarivo (from Madagascar)
Image 32King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810) (from Madagascar)
Image 33Toy animals made from raffia, a native palm (from Madagascar)
Image 34Education access and quality were prioritized under Ravalomanana. (from Madagascar)
Image 35Poster of the French war in Madagascar (from History of Madagascar)
Image 36Antandroy dancers (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 37Philibert Tsiranana, first president of Madagascar (1960–1972) (from Madagascar)
Image 38Malagasy girl in Nosy Be wearing masonjoany, an endemic decorative and protective paste made from ground wood (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 39Radama I, the first monarch of the kingdom unified central Madagascar. (from History of Madagascar)
Image 40Michael Randrianirina, President of Madagascar and President of the Council of the Presidency for the Re-Foundation. (from Madagascar)
Image 41Rex and Riz cinemas in Antananarivo, Madagascar. (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 42Protesters in Antananarivo, 24 January 2009 (from History of Madagascar)
Image 43Hiragasy musicians wearing coordinating lambas (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 44An Austronesian outrigger canoe; Malagasy vahoaka "people" is from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *va-waka "people of the canoe". The Vahoaka Ntaolo, the first Austronesian ancestors of the Malagasy, probably used similar canoes to reach the great island from Indonesia (from History of Madagascar)
Image 45Ethnolinguistic map of Madagascar (from Madagascar)
Image 46Moraingy is a traditional martial art of Madagascar. (from Culture of Madagascar)
Image 47Madagascar—Gathering of The People for The Making of Laws (LMS, 1869, p.52) (from History of Madagascar)
Image 48French poster about the Franco-Hova War (from Madagascar)
Image 49Faravohitra Catholic church in Antananarivo (from Madagascar)
Image 50Our Lady of La Salette Cathedral in Antsirabe (from Madagascar)