Antanarivo - History
In
1500, explorer Diego-Diaz set out to uncover a port of call along the
"Spice Route" to India; what he found was the country of
Madagascar, today the world's leading producer of cloves and vanilla.
A
more romantic interpretation of the country's beginnings is the belief
that when the Godnwanaland exploded, an enormous slice was set loose to
float adrift in the Indian Ocean. The people of Madagascar respect such
legends, or "fady," and today keep alive the "vintana,"
a religious calendar which defines the occupations for each day of the
week.
Moreover,
with its proximity to the Indian Ocean trade routes, the country was once
a veritable haven for many of the legendary pirates of the seven seas.
Stories of swashbuckling scoundrels and buried treasure are an interwoven
part of the nation's history. 
A
kaleidoscope of 12 million residents of African, Arabian and Eastern
blood, this southern African country is the world's fourth largest island.
At the center of activity is the capital city of Antananarivo, nestled
under the massive (8,671 ft) Ankaratra Mountains.
The
Malagasy are of mixed Malayo-Indonesian and African-Arab ancestry.
Indonesians are believed to have migrated about C.E. 700.
Archaeologist have found human remains of African decent dating to 2000
years ago. King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810) ruled the
major kingdom on the island, and his son, Radama I (1810–28) unified
much of the island. The French made the island a protectorate in 1885, and
then in 1894–95 ended the monarchy, exiling Queen Rΰnavΰlona
III to Algiers. A colonial administration was set up, to which the Comoro
Islands were attached in 1908, and other territories later. In World War
II, the British occupied Madagascar, which retained ties to Vichy France.
An autonomous republic within the French Community since 1958, Madagascar
became an independent member of the community in 1960. In May 1973, an
army coup led by Maj. Gen. Gabriel Ramanantsoa ousted Philibert Tsiranana,
president since 1959. Comdr. Didier Ratsiraka, named president on June 15,
1975, announced that he would follow a socialist course and, after
nationalizing banks and insurance companies, declared all mineral
resources nationalized. Repression and censorship characterized his
regime. Ratsiraka was reelected in 1989 in a suspicious election that led
to riots as well as the formation of a multiparty system in 1990. In 1991
Ratsiraka agreed to share power with democratically minded opposition
leader, Albert Zafy, who then overwhelmingly won the presidential
elections in Feb. 1993. But Zafy was impeached by parliament for abusing
his constitutional powers during an economic crisis and lost the 1996
presidential election to Ratsiraka, who became president in Feb. 1997.