¹ Cf. Webber, R. P., Dictionnaire malgache–français (1853);Google ScholarAbbé, Dalmond, Vocabulaire malgache–français pour les langues sakalave et betsimisara (1844);Google ScholarRichardson, J., A New Malagasy–English dictionary (1885);Google ScholarJully, A., Manuel des dialectes malgaches; hova, betsimisaraka, betsileo, tankarana, taimorona, tanosy, sakalava–mahafaly et du souahely (1901);Google Scholar and Hoffmann, B. H., ‘Vocabulaire français–hova–sakalava–tsimihety’ (c. 1945; unpublished typescript of 218 pp. owned by the University of Madagascar). I am indebted to Professor and Mrs Jean Poirier for the kind permission to photocopy the original.Google Scholar

² This was first noticed by the Norwegian missionary and linguist, Lars, Dahle, in his analysis of ‘The Swaheli element in the new Malagasy–English dictionary’, Antananarivo Annual (1885), 99–115. The Richardson dictionary lists the appropriate words as either Sakalava or ‘provincial’. Also consulted were the unpublished manuscripts of the Académie Malgache entitled Enquêtes sur les dialectes malgaches (1909–12).Google Scholar

³ Van Gennep, A., Tabou et totlmisme à Madagascar (1904), 104–19.Google Scholar

⁴ Ch., Poirier, Notes d'ethnographie et d'histoire malgaches (1939), 13–18. See also his planche II, photo 2, on which nine dady are visible.Google Scholar

⁵ Valette, J. and Raharijaona, S., ‘Les grandes fêtes rituelles des Sakalava du Menabé ou “Fitampoha”,’ Bulletin de Madagascar, IX, no. 155 (1959), 294.Google Scholar

⁶ See ‘Restitution des reliques des rois sakalava à leurs familles’, Journal Officiel de Madagascar (Tananarive), 12 03 1902, p. 7183.Google Scholar

⁷ Cf. Razafimino, G., La Signification religieuse du Fandroana ou de Ia fête du nouvel an en Imerina (1924);Google Scholar and Collins, C., ‘The Fandroana or annual festival of the Taimoro’, Antananarivo Annual (1898), 149–51.Google Scholar

⁸ The standard work on this subject is Henri, Rusillon'sUn Culte dynastique avec évocation des morts chez les Sakalaves de Madagascar: Le ‘Tromba’ (1912).Google Scholar

⁹ For the Maroserana genealogy, see Rusillon, H., ‘Notes explicatives à propos de la généalogie maroserana zafimbolamena’, Bulletin de l'Académie Malgache, nouvelle sèrie, VI (1922–1923), 169–184 and table.Google Scholar

¹⁰ ‘The Sakkalava,’ according to Noel, ‘kings and subjects alike, are ruled by oral traditions,’ often called ‘fitera or customs and n'antoaniraza or ancestral ways… and they include history, mythology and poetry’, in ‘Recherches sur les Sakkalava’, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, XX (1873), 285, 292–293.Google Scholar ‘In every place visited among the Sakalava,’ wrote Guillain, ‘we found events and names recalled by tradition still living in the memory we have heard the Sakalava invoke these names in all important activities of their social life [and] recall with pride these events… and, in the presence of testimony thus given by an entire people, it became difficult to remain completely sceptical’, in his Documents sur l'histoire, la géographie et le commerce de la partie occidentale de Madagascar (1845), 9–10.Google Scholar

¹¹ Noel, , ’Sakkalava’, BSG, XIX (1843), 290.Google Scholar

¹² Guillain, , Documents (1845), 10–11.Google Scholar

¹³ Ibid. (1845), 12 and note 1.

¹⁴ The boundaries of Menabé were never precise. At its peak, the kingdom encompassed all lands south–north from the Fiherenana to the Manambao rivers and from the sea to the massifs of Isalo, Midongy, Lava, Tsara and Bongo. Cf. Thomassin, Lt. ‘Notes sur le royaume de Mahabo’, Notes, reconnaissances et explorations, VI (1900), 397.Google Scholar

¹⁵ But, according to a tradition prevalent in the valley of Fiherenana, which had been a buffer zone between Menabé and Mahafaly, the proto-Maroserana came from the interior of Madagascar as a ‘group of Whites’ led by Andrian-Alim-bé. In a short time, he gained control over south-western lands which became known as Mahafaly, ‘a site sacred, respected, fortunate in allusion to the glorious destiny augured by the arrival of the White Chief’. The name of Maroserana was given to his descendants, from whom the Volamena branched out later in time. This is the only known tradition which holds that the ancestral Maroserana did not come to Madagascar directly by a maritime route.

¹⁶ Abraham, D. P., ‘The early political history of the kingdom of Mwene Mutapa, 850–1589’, in Historians in Tropical Africa (Salisbury, Rhodesia, 1962), mimeographed, 62, 67 and 77, note 13, for works by Posselt, Bullock and Gelfand on the same subject. The Sakalava mediums, known sometimes as vaha (from vahavahana or ‘informed beforehand’ and also famahavahana, ‘manifestation’), do not appear, however, to have had a role in matters of succession, like the Masvikiro.Google Scholar

¹⁷ In the widest sense, H. Baumann and D. Westermann attribute this feature to four ‘culture areas’ (all of them containing Bantu-speaking populations) or Southern Congolese, Interlacustrine, Rhodesian, and Zambezian, (Les Peuples et les civilisations de l'Afrique, (1962), 154, 169, 185, 223, 249–50, and 531–7 for bibliography of older primary accounts).Google Scholar In a more limited way, De, La Croix (Relation universelle de l'Afrique, III (1688), 364–5) saw the taking of hair and nails from the dead as a general custom in Loango kingdom.Google Scholar More specifically, Clement Doke reports that the Lamba even had an official with the title of Nail (Lyala) who kept the teeth, nails and toes of deceased chiefs (The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia (1931), 187–9.) Each type of illustration could be considerably augmented.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Jakobsen, D., ‘Note sur Andriamaro, idole célèbre chez les Mahafaly’, Bulletin de l'Académie Malgache, I (1902), 50–2;Google ScholarCapt., Vacher, ‘Etudes ethnographiques’, Revue de Madagascar, VII (06 1905), 516;Google ScholarGrandidier, A. & G., Ethnographie de Madagascar, IV, no. 3 (1917), The Tanala cranium was known as Andriamarosivy.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Inter alia: enveloping of body in hide of a royal bull and collection of humours into jars (kisingy), human sacrifices involving either royal slaves or maidens of the special caste of Jangoa, occasional strangling of moribund rulers, slaughter of royal cattle, specialized funerary attendants (Sambarivo, Marovavy, Antankoala, Bahary), grave structures, positioning of royal remains, types of regalia buried, time-spans between death and burial, mourning practices for commoners and nobility. For accessible accounts, see: Dandouau, A., ‘Coutumes funéraires dans le nord-ouest de Madagascar’, BAM, IX (1911), 157–72;Google ScholarGuillain, , Documents (1845), 158 (Sakalava–Antankarana);Google ScholarCh., Poirier, Notes d'ethnographie (1939), 91–5, 105–14;Google ScholarA., & Grandidier, G., Ethnographie, IV, no. 3 (1917), 515Google Scholar (Appendix 23, under ‘Sakalava’); and Cagnat, R.-L., ‘Tombeaux royaux et Mahabo du nord-ouest’, Revue de Madagascar, VIII, no. 30 (1941), 83–117.Google Scholar

²⁰ The origin goes back to Grandidier, who held that ‘les nègres d'Afrique…ne sont nullement marins, [ils] n'ont pas de bateaux capable de tenir la haute mer, [et ils] n'ont jamais colonisé volontairement des pays d'outre–mer. La traversée’, moreover, ‘de la côte Sud-Est d'Afrique aux îles Comores et à Madagascar est difficile à cause des courants qui sont contraires; elle est facile dans l'autre sens’ (Ethnographie, IV, no. 1 (1908), 170 and note 3).Google Scholar The pattern of currents in the Moçambique Channel is infinitely less monolithic, a factor known in some detail at least since 1859, when Captain Ch., P. de Kerhallet published his Considerations générales sur l'Océan Indien (see pp. 86–7, 104–8). The Vezo type outrigger existed in East Africa at least since the time of the Periplus.Google Scholar

²¹ Guillain, , Documents, (1845), map at end of volume.Google Scholar

²² Ethnographie, IV, no. 1 (1908), 196–8, 213–28.Google Scholar

²³ Among them: the Andrevola, Andrabala, Tohitohy, Antamby, Zazaboto, Andrasivy, Vongovato, Zafinitsara, Tsiboka, Sangoro, Andrasily, Anaivo, Iritsy, Tsitompa, Andraramaiva, Andratsoka, Vatobé and Manendy, Ethographie, IV, no. I (1908), 217–27.Google Scholar

²⁴ Ethnographie, IV, no. 1 (1908), 168, 194, 278, and 228 (note).Google Scholar This has been perpetuated recently by Fagering, E., ‘Etude sur les immigrations anciennes à Madagascar et sur l'origine des principales dynasties du sud et de l'ouest de l'île’, BAM, nouvelle sèrie, XXV (1942–1943), 265–74;Google Scholar and by Raymond, Decary and Guillaume, Grandidier, Histoire politique et coloniale: populations autres que les Merina, V/T III, fasc. I (1958), 181.Google Scholar

²⁵ Grandidier compiled some twenty manuscript Cahiers de notes sur l'histoire et les mœurs des Sakalava, (1868–1870), 1278 pages), now in possession of a private party who will show them to no one.Google Scholar

²⁶ Birkeli, E., Marques de bœufs et traditions de race: documents sur l'ethnographie de la côte occidentale de Madagascar (1926), 1–7.Google Scholar

²⁷ Birkeli, , Marques (1926), 9–48.Google Scholar

²⁸ Ibid. 7–8, for listing.

²⁹ Drury, R., Madagascar or Robert Drury's Journal (ed. of 1890), 271. First edition was published in 1729. No student, of Madagascar could take seriously the many attempts to dispute the account of Drury as ‘forgery’.Google Scholar

³⁰ Birkeli, , Marques (1926), 11–12.Google Scholar

³¹ Ibid. 12. The names are given as Darikipetuali and Faidabé.

³² Birkeli, , Marques (1926), 14. Birkeli translates Ongodza as ‘Zanzibar’. (Swahili: Unguja). Ngazidja, one of the Comoro Islands, might be another choice.Google Scholar

³³ Birkeli, , Marques (1926), 25. It is not impossible, as will be seen, to relate Kasomby to Kazembe Lunda.Google Scholar

³⁴ Birkeli, , Marques (1926), 15–16.Google Scholar

³⁵ Drury, , Madagascar (1890), 280, 265.Google Scholar

³⁶ Ibid. 34.

³⁷ Callet, F., Tantaran'ny Andriana, (1873–1902),Google Scholar translated into French by Chapus, G. S. and Ratsimba, E. as Histoire des rois, (1953–1958, in four volumes), I (1953), 7–29, 442–56 passim.Google Scholar

³⁸ Notably by Captain Avelot, R., ‘Les Grands Mouvements de peuples en Afrique: Jaga et Zimba’, Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive, XXVII (1912), 75–216;Google Scholar and Alfred, Grandidier, ‘Notes sur les Vazimba de Madagascar’, Mémoires de la Société Philomatique, (Special Issue, 1888), 155–62,Google Scholar translated into English by James, Sibree as ‘The Vazimba’, Antananarivo Annual (1894), 129–35.Google Scholar

³⁹ Cf. Santos, , dos, Fr. João, Ethiopia Oriental, II (1981), 1st ed. (1609);Google Scholar and Tantara, I (1953), 89–28,Google Scholar and Savaron's, ‘Contribution à l'histoire de l'Imerina’, BAM, nouvelle sèrie, XI (1928), 61–81.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Drury, , Madagascar (1890), 280.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Abinal, and Malzac, , Dictionnaire malgache–français (1888), 417–18 and 808–9 (Merina);Google ScholarTantara, I (1953), 129. The Tantara state that no one can recall the origins of pottery as the ‘Vazimba had it’.Google Scholar

⁴² Birkeli, E., Les Vazimba de la côte ouest de Madagascar: notes d'ethnographie (1936), 7.Google Scholar

⁴³ Birkeli, , Vazimba (1936), 63, 66. The tronzba (pron. trumb') according to him has the Bisa equivalent of ntembo (prayer to spirits).Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Birkeli, , Vazimba (1936), 63–5.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Dahle, , ‘Swaheli Element’, AA (1885), 99–115;Google ScholarFerrand, G., ‘L'élément arabe et souahili en malgache ancien et moderne’, Journal Asiatique, 10th ser., II, no. 3 (1903), 451–85;Google Scholar‘L'origine africaine des Malgaches’, JA, 10th ser., XI, no. 3 (1908), 353–500;Google ScholarDahl, O. Chr., ‘Le substrat bantou en Malgache’, Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, XVII (1953), 325–62.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ The Collection des ouvrages anciens concernant Madagascar (1903–1920) in 10 volumes, compiled and translated by Grandidier, A. and G., Delhorbe, C. and Froidevaux, H., contains most of the published accounts and secondary materials in major European languages for the period before 1800. The unpublished sources are rarer in this collection. The widest gap concerns the sixteenth-century Portuguese documents. The editors canvassed only two private libraries in Portugal. The National Archives and those of Goa, both secular and religious, remain to be researched.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Fernan, d'Albuquerque, ‘“Commentarios do Grande Alfonso d'Albuquerque” (1557)’, in COACM, I (1903), 22. The event related took place in 1506.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ COACM (1903), 15, 20–2, 26–31, 36–7.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Do, Couto, Da Asia (Decade VII, 1616), in COACM, I (1903), 99.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Do, Douto (1616), in COACM, I (1903), 99.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Do, Couto (1616), in COACM, I (1903), 100 (for the states); and 155–9 (revolt) which are based on three sources:Google ScholarFaria, y Sousa, Da Asia (1675); João dos Santos (1684 French translation by Charpy);Google Scholar and Cardoso, G., Agiologio Lusitano (1666).Google Scholar

⁵² Cf. COACM, II (1904), 16–30; and COACM, III (1905), 642–74.Google Scholar

⁵³ At Sada, 6 06–6 07 1614;Google Scholar at Bay of Boina, 15–25 04 1613, 18–24 05 1614; 4–18 06 1619, and two weeks approximately in 1620;Google Scholar at Sadia, 15–17 06 1613, and 10 06 1616 to 17 06 1617.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Mariano, , ‘Relation du voyage de découverte fait à l'Ile Saint-Laurent, 1613–1614’, COACM, II (1904), 14–15;Google ScholarLetter of 17 September 1616 in COACM, II (1904), 213; Letter of 24 August 1619 in COACM, II (1904), 305, 312, 317.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Mariano, , ‘Relation, 1613–1614’, COACM, II (1904), 66–7.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ D'Azevedo, to Superior at Goa, Letter (from Sadia), of 23 August 1617, in COACM, II (1905), 249.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Mariano, to Medeiros, , Letter of 24 August 1619, in COACM, II (1904), 315, for definition of the Bambala coast.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ For Cassane and Sampiliha see Mariano, , ‘Relation, 1613–1614’, COACM, II (1904), 17 III (1905), 659–61.Google Scholar For Diacomena, see II (1904), 30–36.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Mariano, , ‘Relation, 1613–1614’, COACM, II (1904). 20–1, first Visit.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Mariano, , Letter of July 1616, in COACM, II (1904), 217–18.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Mariano, , Letter of July 1616, in COACM, II (1904), 218–21;Google Scholar and Letter of 22 October 1616 (population decline), in COACM, II (1904), 239.Google Scholar

⁶² Mariano, , Letter of 22 October 1616, in COACM, II (1904), 225;Google Scholar and Letter of 20 August 1617, in COACM, II (1904), 252 (in small print). In several passages, Mariano refers to Azevedo's superior linguistic knowledge. There is little doubt that Father d'Azevedo had written many letters to the Superior of the Order of Jesus at Goa but only one has been found so far. Internal evidence suggests that other Jesuit missionaries visited the west coast of Madagascar from about 1580 to 1630.Google Scholar

⁶³ Mariano, , Letter of 20 August 1617, in COACM, II (1904), 256 (small print). Elsewhere, Mariano states that the language of the Bambala coast, taken as a whole, is ‘analogous with those…of Moçambique and Malindi’.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Mariano, , Letter of 22 October 1616 in COACM, II (1904), 226–9 and 232–3 (tromba and dady).Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Mariano, , Letter of 22 October 1616, in COACM, II (1904), 230.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Mariano, , Letter of 24 August 1619, in COACM, II (1904), 307. The most common Malagasy term for blood-covenant is fatidra.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Mariano, , Letter of 22 October 1616, in COACM, II (1904), 235. He reiterates this several times, noting, however, that while in most other parts of Madagascar the language spoken is Ubuque (Malagasy), the Ubuques and the Cafres of Bambala coast seem to share many of the same customs.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ This bull authorized, in the name of the king, Luis Mariano and other Jesuit Fathers to reside at Mazelagem. It was dated in the month of Fungalo, sixth day of the moon, in the year juma atano molongo antini peti nerufi, computed as 4 November 1619. It terminates: ‘I, Dadade, wrote [these words] on the order of Simamo and also by [permission of] Jombe Baqueli, Mandeishe Sabunda, Sangansa Hassani, Sangansa Malimu, Jombe Sabanda and by all the people of the land’: signed; Simamo; witness; Agilcouta (COACM, II (1904), 325–6). Jumbe has been the title of rulers on the Swahili Coast and Comoro Islands.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ On this two-vessel shipwreck, cf. the accounts of Gaspar, Correa, Diogo, do Couto and João, de Barros, in COACM, I (1903), 58–9, 63–76.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Barros, , Da Asia (Decade IV, 1613), in COACM, I (1903), 66–7.Google Scholar

⁷¹ ‘Premier Atterrissage des Hollandais à Madagascar’, in COACM, I (1903), 179, 182–96.Google Scholar This Dutch account was reprinted from another compilation of voyages by De, Constantin, Recueil des Voyages, I (1725), 286–341.Google Scholar

⁷² ‘Troisième voyage des Hollandais aux Indes, â bord du navire Le Middleburg’, in COACM, I (1903), 255.Google Scholar

⁷³ Payrard, de Laval, ‘De la Baie de Saint-Augustin’, in COACM, I (1903), 294, 299–300.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ ‘Troisième voyage de la Compagnie Anglaise des Indes: relâche à Saint-Augustin’ (COACM, I (1903), 402–6).Google Scholar

⁷⁵ COACM, I (1903), 415.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Hamond, W., A Paradox Proving that the Inhabitants of Madagascar are the Happiest People in the World (1640), and Madagascar, the Richest and Most Fruitful Island in the World (1643);Google ScholarBoothby, R., A Briefe Discovery or Description of the Most Famous Island of Madagascar, in Asia, Near the East Indies (1640);Google Scholar and Mandeislo, J. A., ‘Relâche…dans la Baie de Saint-Augustin’, all four translated and reproduced in volumes II and III of the COACM.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Of the English colony of 140, under John Smart, 128 died at St Augustine Bay in 1644. One of the twelve survivors, Powle Waldegrave, answered Boothby five years too late (cf. An Answer to Mr Boothby's Book of Description of Madagascar (1649), in COACM, III (1905), 221–58).Google Scholar

⁷⁸ COACM, II (1904), 434–5. Boothby was at the Bay in 1630.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ There is evidence that the Anteimoro did not begin to set their own history down on paper before the 1630s and that the earlier Sora-bé contained almost entirely their cabalistic formulas and symbols. This will be discussed in the last of three articles for the JAH.

⁸⁰ COACM, II (1904), 490. Mandelslo's visit was in 1639.Google Scholar

⁸¹ COACM, II (1904), 491.Google Scholar

⁸² From Antaylaot (Malay for ‘oversea people’) but restricted in Madagascar to Muslim settlers, a mixture of ‘Moors’ and Malagasy.

⁸³ Loquexa: nearest equivalent Lukwesa (Lunda Kazembe kings' name, repeated for several generations),Google Scholar cf. Gamitto, A. C. Pedroso, O Muata Kazembe, transl. Cunnison, I. (1962, 2 vols.), passim.;Google Scholar and Vansina, J., Kingdoms of the Savanna (1966), 370–2, 229–30, 231–2. Suculambes: Shukulombwe (Mashukulombwe of the Ila),Google Scholar cf.Ferrand, O., ‘Origine africaine’, JA, XL, no. 3 (1908), 429. Bambala (ba- locative prefix): Mbala (Ambala, Bambala), peoples found in Kwango, Kasai and among the Ila of Middle Zambezi river,Google Scholar cf. Murdock, G. P, Africa (1959), 292–3, 365. Capitapa/Kapitapa, Cassane/Kassane, Quisaju/Kisaju, Ajungones/Azungunes mean nothing in Malagasy. While all appear to belong to the Bantu linguistic family, I have not been able to identify them.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ Tantara, I (1953), 278.Google Scholar

⁸⁵ Ibid.

⁸⁶ Mariano, , Letter of 21 October, 1616, in COACM, II (1904), 220.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ Conformity to this custom caused the Maroserana considerable trouble, from the lands of Mahafaly in the south-west to Iboina in the north, where the formation of Tsimihety (those who do not cut their hair) took place as a result of refusal to submit to the Maroserana. The Mahafaly oral traditions state that their ruling clan of Tsileliki intermarried with the Maroserana and hence did not have to shave their heads following a Maroserana death. Reported by Mamelomana, E., Les Mahafaly (78-page unpublished typescript based on oral texts, s.d., owned by University of Madagascar).Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Kent, R. K., ‘The Bara, “Africans” of Madagascar’, JAN, IX, no. 3 (1968), 387–408.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ Abraham, , ‘Mwene Mutapa, 850–1589’, HTA (1962), 68, 86 (note 60).Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Ch., Sacleux, Dictionnaire swahili–français, I (1939), 307.Google Scholar

⁹¹ Many of the sikidy formulas, in various parts of Madagascar, mention Misara or Andriamisara, according to Raphael, F., ‘Ny Famohazan'ny Sikily’ (‘The awakenings of Sikidy’), unnumbered MSS of Académie Malgache, pp. 1–5. This could not obtain if he had been a single king.Google Scholar

⁹² Michel, L., Mœurs et coutumes des Bara (1957), 21. Michel was surprised that the Ndriamisara had a status of nobility in Ibara since all Bara nobles were created by Raikitroka and he ‘never gave such a rank to the Ndriamisara’.Google Scholar The Misara, wrote Birkeli, ‘are to be found at Maharivo, Tsiribihina and Manambolo. They are considered the equals of the Andrevola (Fiherenana nobles)’. Their cattle-mark was miranidroe (Birkeli, , Marque (1926), 35).Google Scholar

⁹³ Gautier, E.-F. and Froidevaux, H., Un Manuscrit arabico-malgache sur les campagnes de La Case dans l'Imoro, 1659–1663 (1907), 5.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ According to an administrator named Dreyer, see Dreyer to Analalava Province Chief, Letter of December 1915, appended to document no. 620 of the Ch. Poirier Library (owned by the University of Madagascar); see also note 102 below.

⁹⁵ Tovonkery was the elder of all the mpanjaka (chiefs) of Maromandia and principal guardian of oral tradition, entrusted with the key to the royal family tomb at Kapany, according to Dreyer, Letter of 9 Dec. 1915.

⁹⁶ Tovonkery, , ‘Ory Mpanjaka Voalohany izay Fantatra Tantara araka ny Lovantsofina dia: Andriamandisoarivo’ (‘The first of kings whose history is known according to the heritage of the ears was Andriamandisoarivo’), in his ‘Lovantsofina Milaza ny Tantara Nihavian'ny Mpanjaka Sakalava Samy Hofa Eto Amin'ny Faritany Maromandia’ (‘Oral traditions of the Sakalava kings submitted by the District Head of Maromandia’), 1915, p. 7, document no. 620 of the Ch. Poirier Library, U.M.Google Scholar

⁹⁷ Sgt., Firinga, ‘La Dynastie des Maroserana’, Revue de Madagascar, III (1901), 658–72. Prud'homme was in charge of Sakalava land.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ Firinga, , ‘Maroserana’, RJW, III (1901), 662–3.Google Scholar

⁹⁹ , Prud'homme, ‘Considerations sur lea Sakalava’, NRE, VI (1900), 9.Google Scholar The oldest source to advance this hypothesis I know of is Carpeau, du Saussay, Voyage de Madagascar (1722 but written actually in 1663), 246. He saw the ‘Blacks of Madagascar’ as its original population but the ‘Whites came some time ago from Mazambique…having been expelled by the tyrant of Quiloe’.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ Cited by De La Motte Saint-Pierre, R., ‘Nossi-bé 13° latitude south’ (1949, unpublished typescript of the Académie Malgache),53–4. This would place the Maroserana formation roughly at ± 1550.Google Scholar

¹⁰¹ G. Grandidier, ‘Essai d'histoire des Malgaches de la région occidentale: lea Sakalava’ (s.d., unfinished typescript of 78 pp. with extensive notes, used by kind permission of Professor Hubert Deschamps), 1–3 and notes 8–9. Based on the Cahiers of his father, written among the Sakalava (1868–70), it cites them extensively; Abdallah, , ‘Généalogie des Maroserana’ (s.d. document no. 629 of the Poirier Library, U.M.), pp. 1–2;Google ScholarCh., Betoto, ‘Histoire de la royauté Sakalava’ (1950), typescript, pp. 3–4, by kind permission of the author.Google Scholar

¹⁰² Oral Traditions Taped/Reel I (1965), at Mirinarivo-Majunga (Iboina). Informants: mpanjaka Nintsy, Mamory-bé and Tsimanohitra Tombo. Mirinarivo-Majunga is the site of Doany which contains the royal Sakalava enclave (Zomba) and the tombs. Mamory-bé and Tombo are ampitatara (historians) and tomb-guardians.Google Scholar

¹⁰³ Litt. ‘king wronged by thousands’. The fitahina alludes to a dynastic dispute between the sons of Andriandahifotsy and was given to the younger one Tsimanatona (see text below), founder of Sakalava-Iboina. In the old days, former kings could never by mentioned by their life-time names but only by the fitahina.

¹⁰⁴ OTT/I (1965); informant: Nintsy.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ OTT/I (1965); informant: Tombo.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ Ibid.

¹⁰⁷ OTT/I (1965); informant: Mamory-bé.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ OTT/Reel III (1965), taped near Morondava, Menabé. Informant does not wish to be identified by name.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁹ OTT/I (1965);Google Scholar informant: Tombo. Father Webber, who spent some time toward the middle of the nineteenth century among the Sakalava, defines Mososa as ‘one in contact with the demon, one who carries the ody (amulets) and flags in expeditions’; Dictionnaire (1853), 482.Google Scholar In the East African dialects of Gi-kunya and Ki-tikuu, mwosa applies to those who attend the dead, cf. Sacleux, , Dictionnaire, II (1945), 653. Osa is also found in the Hosana priests in Mwene Mutapa.Google Scholar

¹¹⁰ de. Flacourt, E., ‘Relation de ce qui s'est passé en l'Ile de Madagascar, 1642–1660’ (1661), COACM, IX (1920), 139.Google Scholar

¹¹¹ COACM, ii (1904), 488.Google Scholar

¹¹² Kent, , ‘Bara’, JAH, IX, no. 3 (1968).Google Scholar

¹¹³ Ibid.

¹¹⁴ Abraham, , ‘Mwene Mutapa, 850–1589’ (1962), 68.Google Scholar

¹¹⁵ Guillain, , Documents (1845), 11, note 1, who asked for the etymons of Maroserana could not obtain ‘an adequate explanation’. It was a title meaning lit. ‘many paths’ or ‘many traces’.Google Scholar

¹¹⁶ Grandidier, A., first in his ‘Un voyage scientifique à Madagascar’, Revue Scientifique, I, no. 46 (05 1872), 1086, and subsequently in almost every passage dealing with the origins of the Sakalava and south-eastern Anteisaka. He has been followed by numerous writers.Google Scholar

¹¹⁷ Cf. Marchand, , ‘Les habitants de la province de Farafangana’, Revue de Madagascar, III (1901), 485–6;Google Scholar and Deschamps, H., Les Antaisaka, (1936), 162–4 and passim. Grandidier's ‘Anteisaka–Sakalava’ hypothesis and his ‘Indian theory’ are still widely accepted and adhered to in Madagascar. They will be reviewed in some detail shortly in the Bulletin de Madagascar.Google Scholar

¹¹⁸ Deschamps, , Antaisaka (1936), 163–4.Google Scholar

¹¹⁹ ‘Niandohan'ny Fivavahan'ny Sakalava’ (‘Origins of the Sakalava Religion’), MS notebook, document no. 2238/2 of the Académie Malgache, pp. 1–7. Set down on paper by an anonymous writer ca. 1908.

¹²⁰ Ndramboay appears in numerous traditions and is associated either with Andriamandazoala or Andriamandresi, with a human sacrifice of a royal wife, or with the creation of another symbol of Sakalava royalty, the vy lava, long ceremonial knife. The vy lava is discussed by administrator Bernard in ‘Notice sur le Vy Lava’ (MS s.d. document no. 623 of the Poirier Library, U.M.), pp. 1–3.

¹²¹ For example, Henri, Rusillon, ‘Généalogie Maroserana Zafimbolamena’, BAM, VI (1922–1923), 172. There were two Andriamisara in this genealogy according to him.Google Scholar

¹²² Birkeli, , Marques (1926), 32–3. This was actually true in 1926, but the remains of Andriamisara have since been taken to Majunga.Google Scholar

¹²³ Reported by Captain Holm, of Soldaat, in COACM, III (1905), 381–2.Google Scholar

¹²⁴ ‘Voyage de Ia flüte Waaterhoen’, COACM, III (1905), 307–9.Google Scholar

¹²⁵ ‘Description de la Baie de Saint-Augustin’, COACM, III (1905), 334.Google Scholar

¹²⁶ Martin, F., Mémoire concernant l'Ile de Madagascar, 11 Aoýt 1665–19 Octobre 1668, COACM, IX (1920), 514.Google Scholar

¹²⁷ Ibid. 479, 515–16.

¹²⁸ Ibid. 605–6.

¹²⁹ The 1668 document to which Guillain had referred is actually dated 22 February 1670, ‘Relation des Remarques qui ont estes faites sur les principalles Bayes, Ances & Havres de l'Isle Duaphine & Isles Adiaçantes’ (Paris, Archives Nationales, Section Outre-Mer, Correspondence Madagascar, new doc. no. C 5A1/32. I am grateful to M. Laroche, the Director, for permission to use the Archival materials). It was prepared by the captains, pilots and merchants of the vessel Petit St Jan. On folio 4 of the text, it is stated that chiefs of the St Augustine Bay area came to Fort-Dauphin early in February 1669 to ask the governor ‘for protection against La Heye Fouchy’.

¹³⁰ In Du, Bois, Les Voyages faites… aux Isles Dauphine ou Madagascar, & Bourbon, ou Mascarenne, es années 1669–1672 (1674), 108.Google Scholar

¹³¹ Du, Bois, Voyages (1674), 305–8.Google Scholar

¹³² For example, the Antetsetsake, Tsimanavadraza, Tentembola and Andrevola (both tsi mate manota, or exempt from capital punishment), Tambahy, Antamby, Andrabé, Tsongoro, among others.

¹³³ Drury, , Madagascar (1890), 280, wrote that he ‘could not find that ever they formed themselves into regular kingdoms… each town being a distinct and independent common-wealth’. This was in contrast to their ‘superior ingenuity’ in crafts and medicine (the Vazimba cured Drury's venereal disease).Google Scholar

¹³⁴ Grandidier, G., ‘Essai’ (typescript), p. 3 bis, note 7.’ To the Maroserana and Sakalava chiefs they paid as tribute the réré or large river turtles, excellent food, along with sweetwater fish and bananas.’Google Scholar

¹³⁵ Birkeli, , Marques (1926), 33. According to Eric Axelson, Portuguese in South-East Africa, 1600–1700 (1964), 5, 37 Dos Santos reported the kingdom of Sacumbe, upstream from Tete', on a fortified hill honeycombed with copper-workings. Tete itself was ruled by Chief Nhampanza. The Malagasy term for chief ruler, king is mpanjaka (pron. mpanzaka).Google Scholar

¹³⁶ Grandidier, G., ‘Essai’ (typescript), note 3 pp. 4–5Google Scholar his, cited from Grandidier's, A. ‘Notes de Voyage’, MS (1870), and his father found two at Mahabo and eight in Belo (Tsiribihina).Google Scholar

¹³⁷ Grandidier, G., ‘Essai’ (typescript), p. 4–5Google Scholar bis, note 2, from Grandidier's, A. ‘Notes de Voyage’, MS (1869), p. 688.Google Scholar

¹³⁸ First reported by Guillain, , Documents (1845), 12–13.Google Scholar

¹³⁹ Pirate, Cornelius, ‘Account’ (1703), COACM, III (1905), 616–17. This is the first mention in print of both Antalaotra and Vazimba.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁰ Drury, . Madagascar (1890). 274.Google Scholar

¹⁴¹ De, la Merveille, ‘Récit’ (7 August 1708), COACM, III (1905), 620Google Scholar (small print), reprinted from La, Roque, Voyage de l'Arabie heureuse en 1708–1710 (1715).Google Scholar

¹⁴² Drury, , Madagascar (1890), 261–2. Drury estimated Tsimanongarivo's age at around 80.Google Scholar

¹⁴³ For a brief outline of Sakalava kingdoms in the eighteenth century, see Hubert, DeschampsHistoire de Madagascar (2nd ed. 1961), 103–4.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁴ ‘Relâche du navire Le Barneveld’ (1719), COACM, v (1907), 22, 24.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁵ ‘Le Barneveld’, COACM, v (1907), 35.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁶ Its very nature turned Ambongo into a refuge for dissident elements both from Menabé and Boina. Both the Sakalava and the Merina armies raided Ambongo several times in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Cf. Mayeur, Nicolas, Journal de voyage au pays des Sédaves (1774), in BAM, X (1913), 64;Google ScholarGuillain, , Documents (1845), 271–3;Google ScholarL'Iraka, no. 91 (15 03 1901), 735–6.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁷ See Grandidier, A., Histoire de la géographie de Madagascar (2nd ed., 1892), 191–5.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁸ On 19 June 1869 Alfred Grandidier saw at Manambolo, on a sand-bar, the last of the Vazimba conic huts, quite unique in the island. They had a base-diameter of about 2 m. and their height varied from 1·50 to 1·80 cm. (Ethnographie de Madagascar, IV, no. 3 (1917), 522).Google Scholar

¹⁴⁹ Oliver, R., ‘The problem of the Bantu expansion’, JAH, VII, no. 3 (1966), 361–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁵⁰ This will be plotted through linguistic and ethnographic data in the forthcoming Early Kingdoms of Madagascar. It is possible to suggest that data for Madagascar will force a reassessment of the Lunda expansions along much earlier dates.