Districts are second-level administrative divisions of Madagascar below the regions. There are 114 districts in Madagascar. Districts are themselves divided into communes; while some of the districts in urban areas (such as the City districts of Antananarivo, Antsirabe I, Antsiranana I, Fianarantsoa I, Toamasina I and Toliara I) and offshore islands (such as the districts of Nosy Be and Nosy Boraha) each consist of only one commune, most of the districts are divided typically into 5–20 communes.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier
Nosy Boraha in the context of Malagasy Protectorate
The Malagasy Protectorate (French: Protectorat français de Madagascar, Malagasy: Protectorate Frantsa ny Madagasikara) was a French protectorate in what is now Madagascar. Through the protectorate, France attempted to control the foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Imerina through its representative at Antananarivo. France declared the island a protectorate in 1882 after reaching an agreement with Britain, which had been the first European power to establish a lasting influence and presence on the island that dated back to the arrival of London Missionary Society missionaries around 1820; Britain agreed to sanction French claims to Madagascar in exchange for French recognition of its claims to Zanzibar. The French justified the establishment of a protectorate on the basis of land claims over outlying islands like Nosy Be and Nosy Boraha and a treaty signed with a local leader of the western coastal Sakalava people. It was further justified through documents signed by King Radama II, including a letter he was possibly tricked into signing that entreated Napoleon III to support a coup d'état against Ranavalona I, and land ownership agreements with French industrialist Joseph-François Lambert that were revoked upon Radama's assassination in 1863. It ended in 1897 as Madagascar became a French colony.
Successive sovereigns Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III and their Prime Minister, Rainilaiarivony, rejected the claim of French protectorate status and consistently refused to acknowledge the French representative or submit to the demands of the French, who attempted to impose control over Madagascar's foreign affairs and trade. The Malagasy government sent letters to foreign trade and diplomatic allies, including Britain and the United States, to request they advocate to France on behalf of Madagascar for continued Malagasy independence. France engaged Madagascar diplomatically and bombarded coastal cities in an attempt to enforce its claims, but Madagascar continued to govern its affairs with relatively little interference.