what does Madagaskar mean?

Question

i know that this is an island. just tell me what is the meaning in ... in what language is this?

Answer 1

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth largest island in the world. It is the home of five percent of the world's plant and animal species, 80 percent of them are unique to Madagascar. Among its most notable examples of biodiversity are the lemur family of primates, three endemic bird families and its baobab trees. The adjective (language, ethnicity and citizenship) derived from Madagascar is Malagasy. The primary language spoken in Madagascar is Malagasy.

Answer 2

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth largest island in the world. It is the home of five percent of the world's plant and animal species, 80 percent of them are unique to Madagascar. Among its most notable examples of biodiversity are the lemur family of primates, three endemic bird families and its baobab trees. The adjective (language, ethnicity and citizenship) derived from Madagascar is Malagasy. The primary language spoken in Madagascar is Malagasy.



History:

The written history of Madagascar began in the 7th century, when Arabs established trading posts along the northwest coast. European contact began in the 1500s, when Portuguese sea captain Diego Dias sighted the island after his ship became separated from a fleet going to India. In the late 17th century, the French established trading posts along the east coast. From about 1774 to 1824, it was a favorite haunt for pirates, including Americans, one of whom brought Malagasy rice to South Carolina.



During the Middle Ages, the chiefs of the different settlements on the island began to extend their power through trade with Madagascar's Indian Ocean neighbors, notably North Africa, the Middle-east and India. Large chiefdoms began to dominate considerable areas of the island. Among these were the Sakalava chiefdoms of the Menabe, centered in what is now the town of Morondava, and of Boina, centered in what is now the provincial capital of Mahajanga (Majunga). The influence of the Sakalava extended across what is now the provinces of Antsiranana, Mahajanga and Toliara. But with the domination of the Indian Ocean by the British fleet and the end of the Arab slave trade, the Sakalava would lose their power to the emerging Merina threat. For a short time the Betsimisaraka of the east coast also unified, but this unification was short-lived.

Answer 3

The name of the island comes from the Malagasy language: Madagasikara. That word in turn comes from the proto-Malay "end of the Earth", a reference to the island's long distance by sea from an earlier (South East Asian) homeland. Most historians believe that Madagascar was settled by sea from the Malay archipelago.

Answer 4

Madagascar is an island in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa; the 4th largest island in the world

Answer 5

It's an island country in IndianOCean



famous for bananas



Below the continent of Africa to the south-

Answer 6

Peoples of the East Coast

Madagascar Table of Contents

The Betsimisaraka constitute the second largest (14.9 percent) group of Madagascar's population and clearly are the most numerous on the east coast. They are divided into three subgroups: the northern Betsimisaraka, the Betanimena, and the southern Betsimisaraka. Their territory extends along the coast in a narrow band from the Bemarivo River in the north to the Mananjary River in the south, a distance of some 640 kilometers. The Betsimisaraka, whose name means "numerous and inseparable," have traditionally been traders, seafarers, and fishers, as well as cultivators of the tropical lowland areas. They trace their origins to the confederacy established by Ratsimilaho, allegedly the son of a British pirate and a Malagasy princess, who unified several small coastal states in the eighteenth century. The confederation continued after Ratsimilaho died in 1751, but it was much weakened by internal conflict and external pressure. The Betsimisaraka territory has included the important port city of Toamasina, as well as Fenerive and Maroansetra at the head of the Baie d'Antongil.



South of the Betsimisaraka are ethnic groups who trace their origins to Islamic traders of mixed Arab, African, and MalayoIndonesian origin who settled on the coasts after the fourteenth century, and are known as Antalaotra ("people of the sea"). The Antambahoaka, whose name is translated as "the people," make up 0.4 percent of the population and live around the Mananjary River just south of the Betsimisaraka territory. They claim as their ancestor Raminia, a king who came from Mecca around the early fourteenth century, and are part of a larger group known as the Zafi-Raminia, or "descendants of Raminia;" some of this group migrated from the Mananjary region to become rulers of peoples to the south. Some scholars have speculated that the Zafi-Raminia may have formed part of the ruling class of the Merina, who came to dominate Madagascar in the nineteenth century. Their power and prestige derived from their willingness to use their knowledge of astrology, medicine, and divination to serve the courts of kings throughout Madagascar.



Another people descended from the Antalaotra, the Antaimoro ("people of the shore") constitute 3.4 percent of the population and also live south of the Betsimisaraka. The Antaimoro were apparently the last significant arrivals, appearing around the end of the fifteenth century, possibly from the Arabian Peninsula with a sojourn in Ethiopia or Somalia, just before the coming of the Europeans in the sixteenth century. They are the only Malagasy people before the nineteenth century to possess a system of writing, based on Arabic script. Their books, the sorabe (from the Arabic sura, meaning "writing," and the Malagasy be, meaning "big" or "great"), which were inscribed in ink on special paper made from beaten wood bark, dealt with astrology, divination, medicine, and historical chronicles. Like the Antambahoaka, the Antaimoro are noted throughout Madagascar for their knowledge of the supernatural and medicine.



Among a number of other groups around Farafangana, at the southern end of the Canal des Pangalanes, the most important are the Antaifasy ("people of the sands"), who constitute 1.2 percent of the population. To the south, the Antaisaka (5.3 percent of the population) are found in large numbers around the alluvial valley of the Mananara River. The Antanosy ("people of the island"), who live in the extreme southeastern part of the island around Faradofay, make up 2.3 percent of the population.



The peoples of the eastern escarpment separating the east coast from the central highlands are the Sihanaka ("people of the lake"), who represent 2.4 percent of the population; the Bezanozano (0.8 percent), living south of the Sihanaka; and the Tanala (3.8 percent). The Sihanaka live around Lake Alaotra and practice wet-rice cultivation in a manner similar to that of the Merina. The Bezanozano ("many little braids," referring to their hair style), the Tanala ("people of the forest"), and the inland Betsimisaraka practice slash-and-burn agriculture in the forests, cultivating dry rice, corn, yams, and other crops. Although the Merina conquered the Sihanaka, the Bezanozano, and the inland Betsimisaraka in the early nineteenth century, the southern Tanala remained independent up to the French occupation.



More about the Population of Madagascar.



Madagascar Table of Contents



Source: U.S. Library of Congress

Answer 7

Check this out, you can find out what you need to know. I'm not going to do all the reading for you. :)

Answer 8

http://www.answers.com/topic/madagascar - has extensive information about Madagascar. You may want to check this out too.

Answer 9

did anyone mention it's an island.....thats all I got!!

Answer 10

nothing, its a counrty on the coast of africa

Answer 11

The Republic of Madagascar [ Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande, DejaVu Sans, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Code2000, MV Boli, MS Mincho, Arial, sans-serif,madaˈgaskar] (madagass.: Repoblikan' i Madagasikara, frz.: République de Madagascar [ Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande, DejaVu Sans, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Code2000, MV Boli, MS Mincho, Arial, sans-serif,madagasˈkaːʀ]) is to Indonesia the surface-moderately second largest island state of the world. The Präsidialrepublik with multiple party system lies in the Indian ocean before the east coast of Africa with a coastal length of 4.828 km.

Geography

Madagascar is the fourth largest island of the world. It also „respect continent “called. This designation is due however less to the size of the island than of their long isolated development, which let a very independent nature develop: Madagascar was separated 150 million years ago from Africa and 90 million years ago from India.

By its long geographical isolation Madagascar accommodates a singular fauna. Original groups of animals like the Lemuren and other half apes occur only here. The Raubtiere are represented on Madagascar only by some kinds of deviating creeping cats, the Fossa, the Fanaloka and the Falanuk. A further purely Malagasy group of animals are the hedgehog-similar Tenreks. The Bernierente, which belongs today to the rarest water birds of the world, is a further example. But many kinds are missing like for example apes and poison queues on the island.

The island was originally almost completely wooded. The offshore zones are covered thereby of tropical low land rain forest. From the original rain forests only 4 % are received. The largest connected rain forest surfaces, which still exist, lie on the Masoala peninsula.

Central Madagascar is a Hochebene with average heights of 1.100 M. it drops eastward schroff and steeply, while the rise in the west precipitates more gently. The plateau culminates to that in the Maromokotro, with 2.876 m highest mountain of the island. On the plateau the climate is moderate.

The largest cities are (conditions 1 January 2005): Antananarivo of 1.391.506 inhabitants, Toamasina of 206,390 inhabitants, Antsirabe of 182,804 inhabitants and Fianarantsoa of 167,240 inhabitants.

Population

The Madagassen educates a culturally homogeneous subpopulation, consisting officially of 18 related with one another subpopulations (foko). The cultural unit is expressed in particular by the common language (Malagasy), whereby individual Ethnien uses own dialects and locally varies habits and habits.

Generally the Madagassen lives very tradition-consciously, whereby foreign cultural influences in the course of the time were integrated again and again, particularly in the cities. In relation to the extensive cultural wealth wide-spread material poverty stands, caused by for many decades out and domestic exploitation and several annual natural catastrophes (eddy towers, Dürre).

The large population growth in connection with the traditional burn-off down of forest for agricultural purposes and the Rodung for building, heating material and other purposes causes large ecological problems. The forest surface shrank since the 1950er-Jahren substantial.

•Nationalities

oto approximately 98% Madagassen

oabout 100,000 Komorer

o35,000 Frenchmen

o29,000 Indian

o27,000 Chinese

•Religion

o52% Malagasy faith (Monotheismus, ancestor admiration)

o41% Christianity

23 % Roman-catholic

18 % Protestanten

0,1 % a witness Jehovas

o7% Islam

History

It is little admits over the settlement of the island, which probably took place before approximately 1,500 to 1,200 years. The natives of Madagascar were not, as one to assume could, African. The first settlers belonged to the malaio Polynesian language's group and came from Southeast Asia. It is unclear whether they achieved their goal on direct way or in several stages. The population at that time could be divided into the groups of the Sakalava, Betsileo and Merina, which formed own realms.

Further immigration waves brought smaller groups of African, Indian and Arabs in the country. Particularly latter controlled to in 19. Century inside large parts of the madegassischen foreign trade.

On 10 August 1500 the Portuguese sailor sighted Diogo slide as first Europeans Madagascar and called the island São Lorenço. The island appears later also under the name Santa Apolonia on the maps of the Portuguese.

The Kingdom of Madagascar

With beginning of the rule of the Andrianampoinimerina one can speak of the political agreement of the island Madagascar and with it of the Kingdom of Madagascar.

Andrianampoinimerina (1787-1810): Andrianampoinimerina was first until 1794 king of Ambohimanga (king seat 20 km north of Antananarivo). 1794 it conquered the small kingdom of Antananarivo and shifted its seat from Ambohimanga to Antananarivo.

Gradually Andrianampoinimerina expanded its sphere of influence nearly on the entire island. It issued many laws and organized the administration of the country and applies until today as an important ruler of the country.

Radama I. (1810-1828): Radama followed its father Andrianampoinimerina after the throne. It opened the island carefully in relation to the foreign country, whereby it looked for above all contacts to the Englishmen, that argued with the Frenchmen about the supremacy in the Indian ocean. It reorganized the army after English model. During its reign there were first industrielle settlements of the Englishmen at the east coast. English mission acres translated the Bible into the Malagasy and introduced latin writing.

Ranavalona I. (1828-1861): After early death Radamas governed its wife Ranavalona the country with iron and cruel hand. Tortures and executions was under its regency at the agenda. It banished nearly all foreigners of the island (with exception of her French advisor Jean Laborde) and reduced the relations with the foreign country to a minimum. The practice of the Christian faith was forbidden likewise.

Radama II. (1861-1863): The second Radama was the son of Ranavalona I. he was moderate and began during its short reign again contacts to the foreign country to take up. Its liberal course did not please however all and he fell after only two-year reign an attempted assassination to the victim.

Rasoherina (1863-1868): She was (first) the widow of Radama IITH Rasoherina turned during her reign to the Englishmen. She married the prime minister Rainilairivony, which exercised and in the consequence also of the two successors on the king throne was married actual power as grey Eminenz in the background.

Ranavalona II. (1868-1883): She was the second widow of Radama II. your reign was coined/shaped by the change from the nature religions to the Christianity. 1883 tried to seize the Frenchmen again in Madagascar by force foot. A two-year bloody war began.

Ranavalona III. (1883-1896) (*1861 † 1917): Ranavalona III was the niece of their Vorgängerin. It mounted the throne during the French invasion. It succeeded to the Malagasy army again to strike back the intruders. 1896 could finally become generally accepted the Frenchmen and established a French protectorate in Madagascar. Queen Ranavalona III. was forced from the French Besatzern to the resignation and sent into the exile to Algeria. She was the last Merina queen of Madagascar.

The colonial age

To the conference of Congo 1885 Madagascar France was awarded as sphere of interest. 1896 could be established France against the resistance of the Madagassen, as Manifestation and symbol of the seizure of power still in the same year the last queen from Madagascar were set off.

1896 - 1960: during the colonial age the Frenchmen on the island Madagascar by brutal military force prevailed. Rebellions were struck down by Massenexekutionen. Alone 1947 was niedergemetzelt from the French Besatzern 100,000 Madagassen after a rebellion. 1945 were created the movement of independence. After several rebellions Madagascar became 1958 republic in the Communauté Française and attained finally on 26 June 1960 independence. 1971 were shaken the country by farmer unrests. Between 1972 and 1975 a military dictatorship prevailed.

End of the colonial age and republic

Starting from 1975 prevailed a socialist regime, which approached only at the beginning of the 1980-he 1980 again the west. A new condition limits the power of the president since 1992. By it Madagascar became a Präsidialrepublik, whose first president was set off however after four years, since he exceeded his constitutional authority.

Thereupon 1996 Didier Ratsiraka of the unit party Association pour la Renaissance de Madagascar (AREMA), who into the 1970er-Jahren power held, selected with limited majority to the new president, but only sworn in after some hesitating the constitutional court.

Ratsiraka implemented briefly after its swearing-in in the middle of in 1998 a constitutional amendment, which awarded more power to him. In April 2001 for the first time the second chamber, was selected the senate.

Bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen am 16. Dezember 2001 erhielt Marc Ravalomanana offiziell anfangs keine absolute Mehrheit (46 %), weigerte sich aber, sich einem zweiten Wahldurchgang zu stellen, da er seinen Informationen nach 52 % der Stimmen erhalten hatte. Am 28. April gab das Verfassungsgericht aber ein neues Ergebnis heraus, wonach er mit 51,3 % (gegenüber 35 % für den bisherigen Präsidenten) gewonnen hatte. Ravalomanana wurde vom Verfassungsgericht zum Sieger erklärt. Dazwischen lagen turbulente Monate mit bürgerkriegsähnlichen Zuständen. Der bisherige Präsident Didier Ratsiraka floh, Ravalomanana rief zu Generalstreiks auf und es gab 30 bis 40 Tote. Auch wenn sich die Lage mittlerweile wieder stabilisiert hat, sind die Unzufriedenheit und Armut der Bevölkerung weiterhin sehr groß. Auch von der Wirtschaftskrise infolge der Unruhen hat sich Madagaskar nach wie vor nicht vollständig erholt.