Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Antananarivo Highlights
Follow our walking tour through Antananarivo's lovely
Haute-Ville
and
busy
Basse-Ville
(
Click here
)
Spend an afternoon in the spiritual home of Malagasy identity, the royal hill
of
Ambohimanga
(
Click here
)
Splurge on dinner at
La Varangue
(
Click here
)
Join a
guided tour
(
Click here
)
of Tana's sacred hills or the capital's sur-
rounding villages
Shop till you drop (and haggle all you can) at
Marché Artisanal de La
Digue
(
Click here
)
Take a day trip to
Ambatolampy
(
Click here
)
in the highlands
Attend an afternoon of
hira gasy
(
Click here
)
- music, dancing and
storytelling spectacles - in Tana or the surrounding villages
History
The area that is now Antananarivo was originally known as Analamanga (Blue Forest),
and is believed to have been populated by the Vazimba, ancestors of today's Malagasy
about whom little is known. In 1610 a Merina king named Andrianjaka conquered the re-
gion, stationed a garrison of 1000 troops to defend his new settlement, and renamed it
Antananarivo, 'Place of 1000 Warriors'.
Inthelate18thcentury,Andrianampoinimerina,thewarriorking,movedhiscapitalfrom
Ambohimanga to Antananarivo, where it became the most powerful of all the Merina king-
doms. For the next century, Antananarivo was the capital of the Merina monarchs and the
base from which they carried out their conquest of the rest of Madagascar.
Tana remained the seat of government during the colonial era, and it was the French who
gave the city centre its present form, building two great staircases to scale the city's hills
and draining swamps and paddy fields to create present-day Analakely. In May 1929, the
city was the site of the first major demonstration against the colonialists.
Today the greater Antananarivo area is Madagascar's political and economic centre.
ANTANANARIVO IN…
ONE DAY
After breakfast at
InfiniThé
(
Click here
)
, head up to the
Rova
(
Click here
)
and
the
Musée Andafivaratra
(
Click here
)
; arrange for a guide from
Ortana
(
Click
city centre following our walking tour through the Haute and Basse Villes. Stop
at
La Terrasse du Glacier
(
Click here
)
for lunch. In the afternoon, head to
