Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Laborde set to work and within a few years he had not only built an arms and
munitions factory in Mantasoa (about 60km east of Antananarivo), but a com-
plete industrial complex, too, with blast furnaces to produce cast iron, puddling
mills to produce wrought iron, a steel plant, glassworks, brickworks, a cement
plant and textile mills. He also built a summer palace for Ranavalona in Ambo-
himanga and contributed to a host of engineering projects, from roads to
bridges.
As Ranavalona became more and more tyrannical, Laborde decided to take
part in a plot to overthrow her in 1857. The coup failed and Laborde was
banned from the island. The 1200 or so labourers that had slaved on the
Mantasoa industrial complex took the opportunity to rebel and torched the place
- the few buildings left standing can still be viewed in Mantasoa.
Laborde was invited back in 1861 by Radama II, Ranavalona's son, and was
made France's first consul to the Merina court by Napoleon III. Laborde died in
1878 in Madagascar and is buried in Mantasoa, on a hill overlooking what was
once the engine of Madagascar's industrial revolution.
Malagasy Nationalism & Independence
In the early 20th century Madagascar's new rulers abolished slavery, although it was re-
placed with an almost equally exploitative system of taxes. Land was expropriated by for-
eign settlers, and a coffee-based import and export economy developed. With economic
growth and an expanding education system, a new Malagasy elite began to emerge, and
resentment of the colonial presence grew in all levels of society. Several nationalist move-
ments evolved among the Merina and Betsileo tribes, and strikes and demonstrations be-
came more frequent.
Nationalist leader Jean Ralaimongo began the Malagasy independence movement in the
1930s, but his campaign was cut short by the outbreak of WWII. During the first half of
WWII the French in Madagascar came under the authority of the pro-Nazi Vichy govern-
ment. But the Allies, fearing the Japanese could use Madagascar as a base to attack ship-
ping, launched a seaborne attack and captured the town of Diego Suarez. Antananarivo and
other major towns also fell to the British after months of fighting but were handed back to
the Free French (those who fought on the side of the Allies in WWII) of General de Gaulle
in 1943.
Nationalist leader Jean Ralaimongo became a slave at the age of seven;
he was freed in 1898, when the colonial government abolished slavery.
After serving with the French during WWI, he stayed in France and met
