Introduction

The relationship between indebtedness and bondage is complex. Debt – social, political and economic – is widespread in all societies, plunging the debtor into a position of obligation towards the creditor concomitant with his or her degree of indebtedness. The rules governing these obligations and their relationship to the debt may be oral rather than written, but when formally witnessed and agreed to, they have the sanction of customary law, even where this differs from statutory law. This was the case in Imerina, in central highland Madagascar, where regulations governing debt became codified in the imperial Merina era (c. 1785–1895). However, the creditor–debtor relationship became increasingly more complex as a result of the adoption of autarky from the mid-1820s, and the policies intrinsic to it, such as military expansionism and the growth of fanompoana – unremunerated forced labour for the state. This contribution first sets the historical context, then discusses the causes and consequences of the main changes in the creditor–debtor relationship in Imperial Madagascar, and subsequently compares and contrasts debt servitude to other forms of bondage.

Background

In the 1790s, Andrianampoinimerina (r. c. 1787–1810) emerged triumphant from a period of internecine wars to claim sovereignty over the four provinces of Ankova (the core region of the area that in expanded form became known as Imerina).