Kingdom of Imerina in the context of "French Madagascar"

The Rova of Antananarivo /ˈruːvə/ (Malagasy: Rovan'i Manjakamiadana [ˈruvᵊn manˌdzakəmiˈadə̥nᵊ]) is a royal palace complex (rova) in Madagascar that served as the home of the sovereigns of the Kingdom of Imerina in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as of the rulers of the Kingdom of Madagascar in the 19th century. Its counterpart is the nearby fortified village of Ambohimanga, which served as the spiritual seat of the kingdom in contrast to the political significance of the Rova in the capital. Located in the central highland city of Antananarivo, the Rova occupies the highest point on Analamanga, formerly the highest of Antananarivo's many hills. Merina king Andrianjaka, who ruled Imerina from around 1610 until 1630, is believed to have captured Analamanga from a Vazimba king around 1610 or 1625 and erected the site's first fortified royal structure. Successive Merina kings continued to rule from the site until the fall of the monarchy in 1896, frequently restoring, modifying or adding royal structures within the compound to suit their needs.

Over time, the number of buildings within the site varied. Andrianjaka founded the Rova with three buildings and a dedicated tomb site in the early 17th century. The number of structures rose to approximately twenty during the late 18th-century reign of King Andrianampoinimerina. By the late 20th century, the Rova's structures had been reduced to eleven, representing various architectural styles and historical periods. The largest and most prominent of these was Manjakamiadana, also known as the "Queen's Palace" after Queen Ranavalona I, for whom the original wooden palace was built between 1839 and 1841 by Frenchman Jean Laborde. In 1867 the palace was encased in stone for Queen Ranavalona II by Scotsman James Cameron, an artisan missionary of the London Missionary Society. The neighbouring Tranovola, a smaller wooden palace constructed in 1819 by Creole trader Louis Gros for King Radama I, was the first multi-story building with verandas in the Rova. The model offered by Tranovola transformed architecture throughout the highlands over the course of the 19th century, inspiring a widespread shift toward two-storey houses with verandas. The Rova grounds also contained a cross-shaped wooden house (Manampisoa) built as the private residence of Queen Rasoherina, a stone Protestant chapel (Fiangonana), nine royal tombs, and a number of named wooden houses built in the traditional style reserved for the andriana (nobles) in Imerina. Among the most significant of these were Besakana, erected in the early 17th century by Andrianjaka and considered the throne of the kingdom, and Mahitsielafanjaka, a later building which came to represent the seat of ancestral spiritual authority at the Rova.

Antananarivo (Malagasy: [antananaˈrivʷ]; French: Tananarive, pronounced [tananaʁiv]), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (pronounced [tana]), is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "Antananarivo-Capital"), is the capital of Analamanga region. The city sits at 1,280 m (4,199 ft) above sea level in the center of the island, making it the highest national capital by elevation among the island countries. It has been the country's largest population center since at least the 18th century. The Presidency, National Assembly, Senate, and Supreme Court are located there, as are 21 diplomatic missions and the headquarters of many national and international businesses and non-governmental organizations. It has more universities, nightclubs, art venues, and medical services than any city on the island. Several national and local sports teams, including the championship-winning national rugby team, the Makis, are based here.

Antananarivo was historically the capital of the Merina people, who continue to form the majority of the city's 1,274,225 (2018 census) inhabitants. The surrounding urban areas have a total metropolitan population approaching three million. All eighteen Malagasy ethnic groups, as well as residents of Chinese, Indian, European, and other origins, are represented in the city. It was founded circa 1610, when the Merina King Andrianjaka (1612–1630) expelled the Vazimba inhabitants of the village of Analamanga. Declaring it the site of his capital, Andrianjaka built a rova (fortified royal dwelling) that expanded to become the royal palaces of the Kingdom of Imerina. The city retained the name Analamanga until the reign of King Andriamasinavalona (1675–1710), who renamed it Antananarivo ("City of the Thousand") in honor of Andrianjaka's soldiers.

Andrianampoinimerina (Malagasy pronunciation: [anˈɖʐianˌmpuʲnˈmerʲnə̥]) (c. 1745–1810) ruled the Kingdom of Imerina on Madagascar from 1787 until his death. His reign was marked by the reunification of Imerina following 77 years of civil war, and the subsequent expansion of his kingdom into neighboring territories, thereby initiating the unification of Madagascar under Merina rule. Andrianampoinimerina is a cultural hero and holds near mythic status among the Merina people, and is considered one of the greatest military and political leaders in the history of Madagascar.

Andrianampoinimerina (whose name means "the king in the heart of Imerina") took power upon deposing his uncle, King Andrianjafy, who had ruled over Imerina Avaradrano (Northern Imerina). Prior to Andrianampoinimerina's reign, Imerina Avaradrano had been locked in conflict with the three other neighboring provinces of the former kingdom of Imerina that had last been unified under King Andriamasinavalona a century before. Andrianampoinimerina established his capital at the fortified town of Ambohimanga, a site of great spiritual, cultural and political significance that was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. The king's original royal lodgings can still be visited at Ambohimanga today. From this position, he progressively extended his domain first over all Imerina and then over the greater Highlands, absorbing the Betsileo, Sihanaka, Bezanozano and Bara territories. Having reigned for 23 years at the time of his death, Andrianampoinimerina had successfully reunited Imerina and vastly expanded the Merina kingdom, with the intent to ultimately unify all of Madagascar under Merina rule. His son and heir, Radama I, continued the conquests Andrianampoinimerina had begun, and over the next two decades largely achieved his father's vision.

Jean Laborde (16 October 1805 in Auch – 27 December 1878 in Mantasoa, Madagascar) was an adventurer and early industrialist in Madagascar. He became the chief engineer of the Merina monarchy, supervising the creation of a modern manufacturing center under Queen Ranavalona I. Later he became the first French consul to Madagascar, when the government of Napoleon III used him to establish French influence on the island.

Born to a blacksmith, Laborde emigrated to India, before attempting to recover treasure from ships wrecked along the coast of Madagascar in 1831. After becoming shipwrecked himself, Laborde made his way to Antananarivo where he manufactured muskets and gunpowder for the queen in a factory located in Ilafy.

Radama I "the Great" (c. 1793–1828) was the first Malagasy sovereign to be recognized as King of Madagascar (1810–1828) by a European state, Great Britain. He came to power at the age of 17 following the death of his father, King Andrianampoinimerina.

Under Radama's rule and at his invitation, the first Europeans entered his central highland Kingdom of Imerina and its capital at Antananarivo. Radama encouraged these London Missionary Society envoys to establish schools to teach tradecraft and literacy to nobles and potential military and civil service recruits. They also introduced Christianity and taught literacy using the translated Bible.

The Bara people are a Malagasy ethnic group living in the southern part of the central plateaus of Madagascar, in the Toliara Province, concentrated around their historic capital at Ihosy. The Bara are the largest of the island's zebu-herding peoples and have historically lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, although an increasing proportion are practicing agriculture. Bara society is highly patriarchal and endogamy and polygamy are practiced among some Bara tribes. Young men practice cattle rustling to prove their manhood before marriage, and the kilalaky musical and dance tradition associated with cattle rustlers has gained popularity across the island.

Historically the Bara were organized into numerous affiliated kingdoms ruled by nobles of the Zafimanely line. They were largely united under a single king in the late 18th century before again dissolving into competing kingdoms. Over the 19th century, Bara participation in slave and cattle trading and raids into neighboring territories saw their wealth and power increase despite the group's fragmented political organization. This economic power enabled the Bara to maintain independence from the expanding authority of the Kingdom of Imerina and resist French authority for nearly a decade following colonization in 1896. Andre Resampa, a powerful political leader in the transition to independence for Madagascar in 1960, hailed from the Bara ethnic group. There were an estimated 520,000 Bara in Madagascar in 2000 constituting roughly three percent of the population, and they remain the island's predominant zebu herders and traders.

The Betsimisaraka ("the many inseparables") are the second largest ethnic group in Madagascar after the Merina and make up approximately fifteen percent of the Malagasy people. They occupy a large stretch of the eastern coastal region of Madagascar, from Mananjary in the south to Antalaha in the north. The Betsimisaraka have a long history of extensive interaction with European seafarers, pirates and bourgeois traders, which produced a significant subset with mixed European-Malagasy origins, termed the zana-malata. European influence is evident in the local valse (waltz) and basesa musical genres, which are typically performed on the accordion. Tromba (spirit possession) ceremonies feature strongly in Betsimisaraka culture.

Through the late 17th century, the various clans of the eastern coastal region were governed by chieftains who typically ruled over one or two villages. A zana-malata pirate named Ratsimilaho emerged to unite these clans under his rule in 1710. His reign lasted 50 years and established a sense of common identity and stability throughout the kingdom. But his successors gradually weakened this union, leaving it vulnerable to the growing influence and presence of European and particularly French settlers, (slave traders), missionaries and merchants. The fractured Betsimisaraka kingdom was easily colonised in 1817 by Radama I, king of Imerina who ruled from its capital at Antananarivo in the Central Highlands. The subjugation of the Betsimisaraka in the 19th century left the population relatively impoverished; under colonisation by the French (1896-1960), a focused effort was made to increase access to education and paid employment working on French plantations. Production of former plantation crops like vanilla, ylang-ylang, coconut oil, and coffee remain the principal economic activity of the region beyond subsistence farming and fishing, although mining is also a source of income.

Andriamanelo (fl. 1540–1575) was king of Alasora in the central highlands region of Madagascar. He is generally considered by historians to be the founder of the Kingdom of Imerina and originator of the Merina royal line that, by the 19th century, had extended its rule over virtually all of Madagascar. The son of a Vazimba mother and a man of the newly arrived Hova people originating in southeast Madagascar, Andriamanelo ultimately led a series of military campaigns against the Vazimba, beginning a several-decade process to drive them from the Highlands. The conflict that defined his reign also produced many lasting innovations, including the development of fortified villages in the highlands and the use of iron weapons. Oral tradition furthermore credits Andriamanelo with establishing a ruling class of nobles (andriana) and defining the rules of succession. Numerous cultural traditions, including the ritual of circumcision, the wedding custom of vodiondry and the art of Malagasy astrology (sikidy) are likewise associated with this king.

The Sihanaka are a Malagasy ethnic group concentrated around Lake Alaotra and the town of Ambatondrazaka in central northeastern Madagascar. Their name means the "people of the swamps" in reference to the marshlands around Lake Alaotra that they inhabit. While rice has long been the principal crop of the region, by the 17th century, the Sihanaka had also become wealthy traders in slaves and other goods, capitalizing on their position on the main trade route between the capital of the neighboring Kingdom of Imerina at Antananarivo and the eastern port of Toamasina. At the turn of the 19th century they came under the control of the Boina Kingdom before submitting to Imerina, which went on to rule over the majority of Madagascar. Today the Sihanaka practice intensive agriculture and rice yields are higher in this region than elsewhere, placing strain on the many unique plant and animal species that depend on the Lake Alaotra ecosystem for survival.

The Sihanaka have a generally egalitarian social structure, with the eldest male at the head of the family. Traditional beliefs predominate, although Christianity has also had an influence. Social life here, as elsewhere in Madagascar, is guided by the principles of respect for the ancestors and the fady (taboos) established by them. Traditional social practices include complex funeral and divorce rites and a strong and continuing prohibition on working in paddy fields on Tuesdays.