Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ditches,
tamboho
, form circles around villages or estates, and dotted in the empty coun-
tryside are the white concrete Merina tombs from where the dead will be exhumed in
fa-
madihana
ceremonies.
Most people stay only a day or so in Tana (as Antananarivo is often called), but there is
plenty to see in the city and the surrounding
hauts plateaux
. A week would not be too long
to experience the cultural, historical and natural sites which lie within a day's excursion
from the capital. The kingdom of Imerina thrived for over a century before French colon-
isation, so it is here that the rich and fascinating history and culture of the Merina people
are best appreciated.
HISTORY
At the end of the 16th century the Merina king Andrianjaka conquered a Vazimba town
called Analamanga, built on a great rock thrusting above the surrounding plains. He re-
named it Antananarivo and ordered his palace to be built on its highest point. With its sur-
rounding marshland ideal for rice production, and the security afforded by its position, this
was the perfect site for a Merina capital city.
In the 18th century there were two centres for the Merina kingdom: Antananarivo and
Ambohimanga.Thelatterbecamethemoreimportantandaround1787Ramboasalamawas
proclaimedkingofAmbohimangaandtookthenameofAndrianampoinimerina.Thename
means 'the prince in the heart of Imerina' which was more than an idle boast: this king
was the Malagasy counterpart of the great Peruvian Inca Tupac Yupanqui, expanding his
empire as much by skilful organisation as by force, and doing it without the benefit of a
written language. (History seems to demonstrate that orders in triplicate are not essential
to efficiency.) By his death in 1810 the central plateau was firmly in control of the Merina
and ably administered through a mixture of old customs and new. Each conquered territ-
ory was governed by local princes, answerable to the king, and the system of
fokonolona
(village communities) was established. From this firm foundation the new king, Radama I,
was able to conquer most of the rest of the island.
Antananarivomeans'cityofthethousand',supposedlybecauseathousandwarriorspro-
tected it. By the end of the 18th century Andrianampoinimerina had taken Antananarivo
from his rebellious kinsman and moved his base there from Ambohimanga. From that time
until the French conquest in 1895 Madagascar's history centred around the royal palace or
rova
, the modest houses built for Andrianjaka and Andrianampoinimerina giving way to a
splendid palace designed for Queen Ranavalona I by Jean Laborde and later clad in stone
