Editing History of Madagascar (section)

===Rise of the great kingdoms===
Those new immigrants of the Middle Ages were a minority in numbers, yet their cultural contributions, political and technological to the neo-Vazimba and neo-Vezo world substantially altered their society and is the cause of the major upheavals of the sixteenth century that led to the Malagasy feudal era.

On the coasts, the integration of the East Asians, Middle Easterns, Bantus and Portuguese led to the establishment of the kingdoms of the [[Antakarana]], [[Boina Kingdom|Boina]], [[Menabe]] and [[Vezo]] on the west coast, the [[Mahafaly]] and [[Antandroy]] in the south, and the [[Antesaka]], [[Antambahoaka]], [[Antemoro]], [[Tanala|Antanala]] and [[Betsimisaraka people|Betsimisaraka]] on the east coast.

In the interior, the struggle for hegemony between the different Neo-Vazimba clans of central highlands, called the ''Hova'' by the coastal Neo-Vezo clans, led to the creation of the [[Merina]], [[Betsileo]], [[Bezanozano]], [[Sihanaka]], [[Tsimihety]] and [[Bara people|Bara]] kingdoms.

The birth of these kingdoms/tribes essentially altered the political structure of the ancient world of the Vahoaka Ntaolo, but for the most part the common language, customs, traditions, religion and economy was preserved.

Among the Central Kingdoms, the most important were the [[Betsileo]] kingdoms (Fandriana, Fisakana, Manandriana, Isandra) to the south, and the [[Merina]] kingdoms to the north. These were definitively unified in the early 19th century by [[Andrianampoinimerina]]. His son and successor [[Radama I]] (reigning 1810–1828) opened his country to foreign influence. With the support of the British, he extended its authority over much of the island. From 1817, the central Merina kingdoms, Betsileo, Bezanozano, and Sihanaka, unified by Radama I were known to the outside world as the [[Kingdom of Madagascar]].