1. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda.

2. On the development of hasina ideology see Gerald M. Berg, “The Sacred Bonaparte: Ideology and Royal Power in the Merina Empire under Radama I, 1816-1828,” forthcoming.

3. For historical ethnographies of hasina see Delivré, Alain, L'histoire des rois d'Imerina. Interprétation d'une tradition orale (Paris, 1974), 140–62Google Scholar; Bloch, Maurice, “The Disconnection between Power and Rank as a Process.” Archives européennes de sociologie, 28 (1977), 124–29Google Scholar; and Berg, , “Royal Authority and the Protector System in Early Nineteenth Century Imerina” in Kent, R. K., ed., Madagascar in History (Albany, Ca., 1979), 102–22.Google Scholar

4. Callet, François, ed., Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagascar (Antananarivo, 1873–1902)Google Scholar, reference edition (Antananarivo, 1908) [henceforth TA], 425-26.

5. Berg, Gerald M., “The Sacred Musket: Tactics, Technology, and Power in Eighteenth-century Imerina,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 27 (1985), 273CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sibree to Mullens (21 October 1870), Archives of the London Missionary Society, Letters-Incoming [henceforth LMS-LI], IX/2/C; Lars Vig, Manuscript Notebooks, I-X and Ha [ca. 1875-1889?], Archives of the Norske Misjonsskolen [Stavanger], Madagassisk Afguder, RUM.C. Avd. VIII-1, Nos. 10,275-10,284, ed. and trans, Domenichini, Jean-Pierre, Histoire de Paladium d'Imerina. Text bilingue, Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie [Antananarivo], Travaux et Documents 8 (1971), 52, ¶ 123Google Scholar; and 44, ¶ 89; and “Kelimalaza” in Firaketana ny flteny sy ny zavatra malagasy(Antananarivo), 186(1957), 62–67.Google Scholar

6. I follow Vansina's attempt to describe the Bantu organization in terms of the anthropological discourse on the “big man.” See Vansina, Jan, Paths in the Rainforests. Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa (Madison, 1990), 73–83.Google Scholar At the same time I have reservations about his view of kinship terminology as a pretense (ibid., 97, 236).

7. See Berg, “Ideology and Innovation in Radama's Army,” forthcoming.

8. Sahlins, Marshall D., Islands of History (Chicago, 1985), xiii.Google Scholar Similarly, Vansina (Paths, 258), describes the relation of ideology and practice as a tension between “cognitive” and “physical” reality which produces “discrepancies” that lead to “permanent change.” I follow both Sahlins and Vansina in emphasizing the empirical quality of ideology, as opposed to Thompson, John B. in Studies in the Theory of Ideology (Berkeley, 1984)Google Scholar and Bloch, Maurice in From blessings to violence. History and ideology in the circumcision ritual of the Merina of Madagascar (Cambridge, 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, who construct a high wall between ideology and experience. Thompson, (Studies, 56, 131)Google Scholar maintains that ideology expressed through symbols entails a “collective deception without a deceiver” in which, according to Bloch, (Blessings, 191–92)Google Scholar, the reality of domination is “hidden” by “ambiguity” in symbolic language.

9. Sahlins, , Islands, ix.Google Scholar

10. On the creation of rank and the role of tantara see Delivré, , Histoire, 163–65Google Scholar; Bloch, “Disconnection;”; Berg, Gerald M., “Some Words about Merina Historical Texts” in Miller, Joseph C., ed., The African Past Speaks (Folkestone, 1980), 228–30Google Scholar; Berg, , “Sacred Acquisition: Andrianampoinimerina at Ambohimanga,” JAH, 29 (1988), 197–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For comparative studies on the creation of history as a function of social and political hierarchy see Trompf, “Macro-history…”; Edwards, “Mad Mullahs…”; and Brown, “Narrative Form…”; all in Comparative Studies in Society and History, 31/4 (1989), 621–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The image of Vazimba in Merina historiography is a good example of reification. See Berg, , “Some words,” 222–27Google Scholar; and Berg, , The Myth of Racial Strife and Merina Kinglists,' HA, 4 (1977), 1–30.Google Scholar The persistent attempts to forbid marriages between members of status groups often noted by early European visitors were intended to preserve distinctions in status. See for example, Hilsenberg, Charles Theodore, and Bojer, Wenceslaus, “A Sketch of the Province of Emerina [1823],” Hooker's Botanical Miscellany, 3(1832/1833), 246–75Google Scholar, ed. Valette, Jean in Bulletin de Madagascar, no. 227(1965), 317.Google Scholar

11. Hilsenberg, /Bojer, , “Sketch,” 324.Google Scholar

12. Ranavalona, letter (2 Alakaosy 1839), Archives de la République malagasy [henceforth ARM], BB6, fol. 9r-9v. Other successful appeals to Radama's rulings appear in Ranavalona, letter (4 Adizaoza 1832), ARM, BB2, fol. 67r; and Ranavalona, letter (10 Adizaoza 1832), ARM, BB2, fol. 68r. For a more complete treatment of writing as a tool of administrative efficiency see Berg, Gerald M., “Writing Ideology. Ranavalona, the Ancestral Bureaucrat,” HA, 22 (1995).Google Scholar

13. For the development of Andrianampoinimerina's administration see Berg, “The Tithe that Binds. The Ideology of Taxation in Early Imerina,” forthcoming.

14. See, for example, the cases of Andriamambavola, Rainimahay, and Rainitsimindrano in TA, 1094, 1098-99.

15. Rainigory, for example, was almost removed from his post for alleged cowardice (TA, 1098). For continuity between Andrianampoinimerina's administration and that of Radama see Ayache, Simon, Raombana l'historien (Fianarantsoa, 1976), 58.Google Scholar

16. Jones (28 April 1823), LMS-LI, I/5/A.

17. See Gerald M. Berg, “Ideology and Innovation in Radama's Army,” forthcoming.

18. The new structures of civil and military administration are described in TA, 1062-63, 1076, 1080, 1111, 1113.

19. TA, 1076: “Raha matazo ny ahitra, dia mihintsana ny voniny.”

20. Hastie, Journal [1822], Montgomery, James, ed. Journal of Voyages by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet (2 vols.: London, 1831), 2:507–14Google Scholar, ed. Pierre Vérin, “Le voyage des Reverends Tyerman et Bennet à Madagascar, 1828,” Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, 43(1965), 57.Google Scholar

21. One notable case involved Raombana, whose father, as noted below, was shot on Radama's orders and then burned alive for incompetent leadership in battle.

22. TA, 1111: “hizahako ny lehilahy mamono tena.”

23. See Berg, “Ideology.”

24. TA, 1102; and Anon [ca. 1823] in de Lacombe, B.-F. Leguével, Voyage à Madagascar et awe Iles Comores, 1823-1839 (2 vols.: Paris, 1846), 2: 54.Google ScholarSmith, Robert S., Warfare and Diplomacy in Precolonial West Africa (London, 1976), 80–88Google Scholar, notes the leading role of a royal bodyguard in the development of professional armies in precolonial West Africa.

25. See Oliver, S. P., Madagascar and the Malagasy (London, 1862), 46, 54, 60Google Scholar; Robin, , “Copie exacte de la relation de la guerre faite contre Ramitra chef des Séclaves par Sa Majesté Radama et envoyée par liu à son frère Jean-René, Commandant en chef à Tamatave” [1820], Public Record Office, London, C.O. 167/61Google Scholar, ed. Chapus, G. S., “Le journal d'une compagne de Radama I,” Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, 22 (1939), 42Google Scholar; Gouhot, , Mémoire historique (1843), Archives rationales de France, Centre des Archives d'Outre-mer, Madagascar géographique [henceforth CAOM-MG], 145/202, p. 83Google Scholar; Hastie, Journal [1824], Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, n.s.4(1918/19), 174; and the discussion on the Voromahery in Radama's military campaigns in Berg, “Ideology.”

26. TA, 1075.

27. Griffiths to Arundel (20 December 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/D; Anon [ca. 1823], in de Lacombe, Leguével, Voyage, 57Google Scholar; Freeman, J. J. and Johns, D., A Narrative of the Persecution of the Christians in Madagascar (London, 1840), 47.Google Scholar

28. TA, 1078, 1107-1108, 1117-18; Freeman, /Jones, , Narrative, 156nGoogle Scholar; and Campbell, Gwyn, “Slavery and fanompoana: the Structure of Forced Labour in Imerina, 1790-1861,” JAH, 29 (1988), 471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29. N. Leminier, Notes sur une excursion faite dans l'intérieur de l'île de Madagascar en 1825, CAOM-MG, 150/207.

30. Jeffreys to Board (26 May 1823), LMS-LI, I/5/B; and Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/A.

31. Jeffreys to Board (26 May 1823), LMS-LI, I/B/B; Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/A; Radama, , “Cahier d'ecriture” [?1819–1826]Google Scholar, ed. and trans. Berthier, H., Mémoires de l'Academie Malgache, 16 (1934), 23–24Google Scholar; Coppalle, André, “Voyage dans l'intérieur de Madagascar et à la capitale du roi Radama pendant les années 1825 et 1826” [1827]Google Scholar, copy made in 1909 from a signed manuscript from Coppalle's papers by de Froberville, E. in Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, 7 (1909), 7–46Google Scholar, 8 (1910), 25-67, reprinted as Voyage à la capitale du roi Radama, 1825-1826. (Journal de A. Coppalle), Association malgache d'archéologie, Documents anciens sur Madagascar, 1 (Antananarivo, 1970), 64Google Scholar; Rainandriamampandry [ca. 1870], quoted in Nogue, L., “Etude sur l'école professionnelle de Tananarive: industries sur la soie de la tannerie, de la céramique, de la métallurgie, et de l'horlogerie,” Notes, Reconnaissances, et Explorations [Antananarivo], 6 (1900), 419.Google Scholar

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33. Campbell, , “Slavery,” 471–72.Google Scholar

34. Jones (28 April 1823), LMS-LI, I/5/A; and Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1823), LMS-LI, II/2/A.

35. Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, I/5/A; and Gouhot, , Mémoire, 119.Google Scholar

36. Jones to Burder (30 July 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/B. See also Valette, Jean, “Aux origines de l'administration malgache. La naissance des bureaux sous Radama 1^er (1825),” Bulletin de l'Academie malgache, 54 (1978), 34.Google Scholar

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38. Griffiths to Arundel (20 December 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/D.

39. Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/A; and Griffiths to Arundel (20 December 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/D. See also Campbell, , “Slavery,” 468–69.Google Scholar

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42. Freeman, /Jones, , Narrative, 41.Google Scholar See also Ellis, William, History of Madagascar (2 vols.: London, 1838), 1:316Google Scholar; Vazaha, , “Slavery and Fanampoana in Madagascar,” Fortnightly Review[London], n.s. 290(1 November 1891), 708–14Google Scholar; and Coppalle, , “Voyage,” 54.Google Scholar

43. See, for example, Patterson, Orlando, Slavery and Social Death (Cambridge, MA, 1982)Google Scholar; and Miller, Joseph C., The Way of Death (Madison, 1988).Google Scholar

44. Feeley-Harnik, Gillian, “The Political Economy of Death,” American Ethnologist, 11 (1984), 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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46. Hilsenberg/Bojer, 317; anonymous in Leguével de Lacombe, 55; and Piolet, J.-B., “De l'esclavage à Madagascar,” Le Correspondent, 182(10 février 1896), 449–52.Google Scholar

47. Compare Article II for freemen with Article XV for Tsirondahy in Ranavalona, Codes [1828], ed. Julien, Gustave, Institutions politiques et sociales de Madagascar (2 vols.: Paris, 1908–1909), 1:436, 441–42.Google Scholar

48. For fanompoana and slavery, see Campbell, Gwyn, “Madagascar and the Slave Trade, 1820-1895,” JAH, 22 (1981), 209–10Google Scholar; Larson, Pier, “Slavery in Central Madagascar: Imerina during the nineteenth century,” (MA thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987), 7–8Google Scholar; Raison-Jourde, François, “Le travail et l'échange dans les discours d'Andrianampoinimerina” in Cartier, Michel, ed., Le travail et ses représentations (Paris, 1984), 232, 237–38Google Scholar; and François Raison-Jourde, “Du service sacré à corvée de travail. Réflexions sur le Fanompoana à Madagascar. XVIIe-XIXe siècles,” paper presented at the Centre for African Studies, University of London, and Museum of Mankind Symposium on precolonial Madagascar, London, 1986, 7-8. For the flexibility of terms such as “slave” and “servants of the king” in West Africa, see Fage, J. D., “Slaves and society in Western Africa, c. 1445-c. 1700,” JAH, 21 (1980), 296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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50. Radama, , “Cahier” in Berthier, , “Usage,” 4–45.Google Scholar

51. I am indebted to Jan Vansina for these points.

52. Griffiths, Journal (1823), LMS-J, I/5a, p. 44.

53. Ellis, William, Three Visits to Madagascar During the Years 1853, 1854, 1856 (Philadelphia, 1859), 112Google Scholar; and Ayache, , Raombana, 121.Google Scholar

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55. See Berg, “Writing Ideology.”

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57. Hastie, Journal [1822] in Tyerman/Bennett, 57; and Jones (28 April 1823), LMS-LI, I/5/A.

58. Ayache, , Raombana, 91Google Scholar; Romain-Desfossés (10 février 1846), CAOM-MG, 151/208; and Ayache, , “La découverte de l'Europe par les Malgaches au XIX^e siècle,” Revue française d'histoire d'Outremer, 73(1986), 15.Google Scholar

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60. Anon. (ca. 1818), BL add. Ms. 18135, p. 268; Hastie to Griffiths (18 February 1821), LMS-LI, I/2/B; Griffiths to Arundel (20 December 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/D; Freeman, /Johns, , Narrative, 110, noteGoogle Scholar; Valette, Jean, “La mission de Lesage auprès de Radama I^er (1816-1817),” Bulletin de Madagascar, no.275(1969), 321–22Google Scholar; Munthe, , et al., “Radama,” 48n90Google Scholar; and Ayache, , Raombana, 107.Google Scholar

61. TA, 1081-82, 1097 (where the two brothers appear as Ratsimiova and Ramarotafika); Hastie to Griffiths (18 February 1821), LMS-LI, I/2/B; Gouhot, , Mémoire, 79–81Google Scholar; Ellis, , History, 2:155–59Google Scholar; Munthe, , et al., “Radama,” 29-31, 38Google Scholar; and Valette, , “Mission,” 315n2.Google Scholar

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63. Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/A.

64. Griffiths and Jones, Report (29 December 1829), LMS-LI, III/2/C.

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66. Rainandriamampandry citing Rabetrano, in Nogue, , “Etude,” 418.Google Scholar

67. Ayache, , “Pouvoir central et provinces sous la monarchic Merina au XIXe. siècle,” Revue française d'histoire d'Outremer, Spec. no. (1979/1981), 851.Google Scholar

68. Gouhot, , Mémoire, 186–87Google Scholar, maintains an opposing view that the “new class of young officers” trained by missionaries opposed the “traditional elite” based on sampy. The case of Raombana, however, belies this thesis. While being one of the “new class of young officers,” he served diligently under Ranavalona who strengthened the power of sampy officials.

69. TA, 1078, 1103, 1111-12, 1123; Radama, , “Cahier,” 29–30Google Scholar; Freeman, /Johns, , Narrative, 41–43Google Scholar, Richardson, J., A New Malagasy-English Dictionary (Antananarivo, 1885), 103Google Scholar; Piolet, , “Esclavage,” 449–51Google Scholar; Molet, Louis, “Le vocabulaire concernant l'esclavage dans l'ancien Madagascar” in Perspectives nouvelles sur le passé de l'Afrique noire et de Madagascar (Paris, 1974), 57Google Scholar; Ratoandro, Gabriel, “Contribution à l'étude d'un groupe social peu connu du XIXe siècle: les maromita” Omaly sy Anio, no. 16(1982), 47–52Google Scholar; Campbell, Gwyn, “Labor and the Transport Problem in Imperial Madagascar, 1819-1895,” JAH, 21 (1980), 341–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Campbell, , “Slavery,” 468Google Scholar; Esoavelomandroso, , “A propos,” 29Google Scholar; and Ayache, , “Pouvoir,” 851.Google Scholar

70. Wilks, Ivor, “What Manner of Persons Were There? Some Reflections on Asante officialdom” in Schildkrout, Enid, ed., The Golden Stool (New York, 1987), 129.Google Scholar

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72. John Tosh writes that “it can be argued, though, it is not very fashionable to do so, that ‘history from above’ is just as important a perspective for Marxist historians” as “history from below.” See his Pursuit of History (London, 1984), 145–46.Google Scholar

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75. See Berg, “Sacred Bonaparte,” on the significance of the haircut controversy.

76. Louis Amand (20 July 1826), CAOM-MG, 11/25.

77. On Ratefy's death, see Valette, , “Etude,” 11-12, 19–24Google Scholar; Freeman, /Johns, , Narrative, 12–14Google Scholar; Gouhot, , Mémoire, 122Google Scholar; and Romain-Desfossés, Notes…(10 February 1846), CAOM-MG, 151/208.

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79. It was during his stay in Mauritius that Rafaralahy had his portrait painted by Lemaire (Valette, “Voyage”), and the picture so moved Radama that the king asked Farquhar to send Lemaire to Antananarivo to do a royal portrait. The artist, however, became ill, and Coppalle was sent in his place. Although Coppalle's artistic talents did not impress Radama, the artist's keen observations reported in his journal of 1825 and 1826 provide one of the most important sources on the ethnography of Imerina in the 1820s. Lemaire's portrait of Rafaralahy appears as the frontispiece of Ellis' History, and is reproduced in Mack, John, Madagascar. Island of the Ancestors (London, 1986), between pp. 48 and 49.Google Scholar

80. On the role of private tax collecting in the development of the modem French state see Braudel, Fernand, The Wheels of Commerce(XX, 1982), 537–41Google Scholar, on the ferme-générale. As in the case of Imerina, members of the ferme-générale came from the highest stratum of nobility and royal service.

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84. Gouhot, , Mémoire, 152Google Scholar; and Capt.Jourdain, J. P. P., “Notice sur les Ovas” [1830], Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 3/4 (1839), 13–14.Google Scholar

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103. Ibid., 81.

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107. Ibid., 118-24. The descent of the third is not given.

108. Ibid., 115, 116.

109. Ibid., 115.

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