Madagascar is said to have been known to the ancients. In the thirteenth century Marco Polo makes mention of the island. The Portuguese visited it in 1506, and the first European nation that attempted to form settlements thereon were the French, in the year 1642.
Madagascar lies to the northeast of Africa, from which it is separated by the Mozambique Channel, seventy-five miles in breadth. It stretches from latitude 12° to 25° south, and from 40° to 48° east longitude. After Borneo, it is the largest island in the world. Its area is about 10,000 geographical square miles. Estimates of its population differ greatly, some writers giving from a million and a half to two millions, others raising the numbers to six millions.
The island contains woods of immense extent, far-stretching plains and valleys, many rivers and lakes, and great chains of mountains, whose summits rise to a height of from ten to twelve thousand feet, and even higher. The vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant, the climate very hot. The coasts, where there are many swamps, are very unhealthy for Europeans, but the interior of the island is more salubrious. The chief productions are some peculiar balsams and gums, sugar, tobacco, silk, maize, indigo, and spices. The forests yield the handsomest kinds of wood for buildings and furniture, and trees bearing almost every fruit of the torrid zone. Among the various descriptions of palms, the beautiful water-palm is frequently found. In the animal kingdom Madagascar also possesses some peculiar species; for instance, the maquis, or half ape, and the black parrot, besides much horned cattle, many goats, sheep, and beautiful birds. The woods and savannas swarm with wild cattle and pigs, wild dogs and cats; but there are no dangerous animals beyond these. The snakes are innocuous; and there are very few reptiles, none of them being poisonous except the centipede, and the little black spider which lives underground, and whose sting is said to be deadly; but this spider is seldom met with. In metallic substances, too, this island is said to be very wealthy, especially in iron and coal; but its mineral treasures have as yet been very little explored.
The population consists of four distinct races. On the south side dwell the Kaffirs, on the west the negroes, while the Arab race predominates on the east, and the Malay family in the interior. These chief races are subdivided into various tribes, among whom the Hovas, who belong to the Malay race, are the most numerous and most civilized in the whole island. The Hovas occupy the greater part of the interior; and as far back as the period of the first discovery of Madagascar, they formed a powerful empire, of which the capital was Tananariva, situated in an elevated plain in the district of Emir, and consisting of a union of many villages. Least known, or, to speak accurately, quite unknown, is the southwest coast, where the inhabitants are considered the most inhospitable of all, and the most inveterate foes of Europeans.
Like most nations in their infancy, all these various races and tribes are very indolent, superstitious, inquisitive, and unprincipled. As I have stated, the French have been endeavoring, since the year 1642, to establish themselves in Madagascar. They conquered certain strips of land, and erected comptoirs and little forts here and there, but could never maintain their position. All their efforts failed, partly in consequence of the unhealthy climate, partly through the harshness and cruelty with which they treated the natives, and partly because they were never assisted with money and troops from home, when these were required.
Neither the French government nor the “Société de l’Orient” could ever come to a decision respecting this island. At one time they wanted to conquer it entirely, at another to abandon it altogether. Troops and ships were several times dispatched, and then left to their fate, and nothing was accomplished. The last of these undertakings occurred in the year 1733, under the command of the Polish Count Benjowsky, who received beforehand the title of Governor of Madagascar. Count Benjowsky seems to have been a very capable and resolute man, and as he had a larger force under his command than had been engaged in any previous expedition, he would perhaps have succeeded in annexing Madagascar definitely to France, or at least in founding a permanent and important colony on the island, had he not been treated as badly as, or even worse than, his predecessors; for not only did the promised succors fail to arrive, but the Governor of Bourbon, who was to have assisted him, proved a most dangerous enemy. Instead of sending him money and troops, he tried in every way, from jealousy, to weaken the power of his new rival; and so it happened that, in spite of his first successes, Count Benjowsky was soon scarcely able to hold a few unimportant forts and factories. After his death even these were lost, and in the year 1786 the French left Madagascar altogether. Of all their conquests they only retained the little island of St. Maria.
After the beginning of the nineteenth century the English attempted to found settlements in Madagascar, but they too were unsuccessful. They took possession of the harbors of Tamatavé and Foul Point, but only kept them a short time. Meanwhile the empire of the Hovas in the interior had increased considerably. Dianampoiene, the chief of Tananariva, carried on successful wars against the petty chiefs, and annexed their states to his own. He is reported to have been a very active and intelligent man, and to have given good laws to his people; under his rule the use of spirituous liquors and of tobacco was forbidden. Dianampoiene died in the year 1810, and left his kingdom, which had already become powerful, to his son Radama.
This potentate was only eighteen years old when he came to the throne. Like his father, he was intelligent, upright, and very ambitious. He loved the Europeans, and sought to increase his knowledge by consorting with them.
The English very cleverly made use of this disposition of the king’s, and managed to get into high favor with him. Radama was soon so prepossessed by them that he allowed them distinctions of every kind, and sometimes even wore an English uniform. He likewise made a treaty with England, by which he bound himself to give up the export slave-trade. As an indemnity he received money and presents to the amount of about £2000; and the English government farther undertook to send ten young men from Madagascar to England, and ten others to the Mauritius, to be instructed in various handicrafts and trades.
Radama kept the treaty strictly; but not so did the English General Hall, who succeeded Mr. Farquhar as Governor of the Mauritius. General Hall seems to have held the doctrine that savages are not men. He was not ashamed to declare openly that a contract made with a chief of savages was entirely invalid, and accordingly he constantly broke the treaty. A natural consequence of this manner of dealing was, that Radama again licensed the slave-trade, and began to favor the French at the expense of the English, giving his new friends a small strip of land in the Bay of Vanatobé.