Editing History of Madagascar (section)

===Merina monarchy===
[[File:Madagascar—Gathering of The People for The Making of Laws (LMS, 1869, pp. 52).jpg|thumb|right|280px|Madagascar—Gathering of The People for The Making of Laws (LMS, 1869, p.52)<ref name="Fruits-LMS">{{cite book|editor1-last=London Missionary Society|title=Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society|date=1869|publisher=John Snow & Co.|location=London|page=525|url=https://archive.org/details/fruitsoftoilinth17115gut|access-date=September 12, 2016}}</ref>]]
King [[Andrianampoinimerina]] (1785–1810) and his son, [[Radama I]] (1810–1828) succeeded in uniting nearly all of Madagascar under [[Merina]] rule.  These kings and their successors descended from a line of [[List of Malagasy monarchs|ancient Merina royalty]] who ruled the lands of [[Imerina]] in the central Highlands of Madagascar since at least the 16th century. Even prior to their eventual domination and unification of the entire island, the political and cultural activities of Merina royalty were to leave an indelible mark on contemporary Malagasy identity.

With the establishment of dominion over the greater part of the Highlands, Andrianampoinimerina became the first [[List of Malagasy monarchs|Merina monarch]] to be considered a king of Madagascar.  The island continued to be ruled by a succession of Merina monarchs until the last of them, [[Ranavalona III]], was deposed and exiled to Algeria by French forces who conquered and colonized the island in 1895.

====King Andrianampoinimerina====
{{main|Andrianampoinimerina}}
Andrianampoinimerina, grandson of King [[Andriambelomasina]] and successor to his uncle King [[Andrianjafy]], successfully reunited the fragmented Merina kingdom through a combination of diplomacy, strategic political marriages and successful military campaigns against rival princes.  Andrianampoinimerina distinguished himself from other kings by codifying laws and supervising the building of dikes and trenches to increase the amount of arable land around his capital at Antananarivo in a successful bid to end the famines that had wracked Imerina for decades. The king ambitiously proclaimed: ''Ny ranomasina no valapariako'' (“the sea is the boundary of my rice-field”), and by the time of his death in 1810 he had conquered the Bara and Betsileo highland tribes, laying the groundwork for expansion of his kingdom to the shores of the island.

====King Radama I (1810–1828)====
{{main|Radama I}}
Andrianampoinimerina's son [[Radama I]] (Radama the Great) assumed the throne during a turning-point in European history that had repercussions for Madagascar. With the defeat of [[Napoleon I of France|Napoléon]] in 1814/1815, the balance of power in Europe and overseas shifted in [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]]'s favor. The British, eager to exert control over the trade routes of the Indian Ocean, had captured the islands of [[Réunion]] and [[Mauritius]] from the French in 1810. Although they returned Réunion to France, they kept Mauritius as a naval base which would maintain trade links throughout the [[British Empire]]. Mauritius's governor, in a bid to woo Madagascar from French control, recognized Radama I as King of Madagascar, a diplomatic maneuver meant to underscore the idea of the sovereignty of the island and thus to preclude claims by any European powers.

Radama I signed treaties with the United Kingdom outlawing the slave trade and admitting Protestant missionaries into Madagascar. As a result of these treaties Protestant missionaries from Britain would spread British influence in Madagascar; while outlawing the [[Slavery in Africa|slave trade]] would weaken Réunion's economy by depriving the island of slave laborers for France's [[sugar]] [[plantation]]s. In return for outlawing the slave trade, Madagascar received what the treaty called "The Equivalent": an annual sum of a thousand dollars in gold, another thousand in silver, stated amounts of gunpowder, flints, and muskets, plus 400 surplus [[British Army]] [[uniform]]s. The governor of Mauritius also sent military advisers who accompanied and sometimes led Merina soldiers in their battles against the Sakalava and Betsimisaraka. In 1824, having defeated the Betsimisaraka, Radama I declared, "Today, the whole island is mine! Madagascar has but one master." The king died in 1828 while leading his army on a punitive expedition against the Betsimisaraka.

====Queen Ranavalona I (1828–1861)====
{{main|Ranavalona I}}
[[File:Christian martyrs burned at the stake in Madagascar.jpg|thumb|180px|Christians burned at the stake by Ranavalona I]]
The 33-year reign of Queen [[Ranavalona I]], the widow of Radama I, was characterized by an increase in the size of the Kingdom of Madagascar as it conquered neighboring states as well as an effort to maintain the cultural and political sovereignty of Madagascar in the face of increasing foreign influence. The queen repudiated the treaties that Radama I had signed with Britain and, in 1835 after issuing a royal edict prohibiting the practice of Christianity in Madagascar, she expelled British missionaries from the island and began persecuting Christian converts who would not renounce their religion. Malagasy Christians would remember this period as ''ny tany maizina'', or "the time when the land was dark".

During her reign, constant warfare, disease, slave labor, and harsh measures of justice resulted in a high mortality rate among the Malagasy population; the population of the island is estimated to have declined by half from 5&nbsp;million to 2.5&nbsp;million between 1833 and 1839.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Campbell |first = Gwyn |date = October 1991 |title = The state and pre-colonial demographic history: the case of nineteenth century Madagascar |journal = Journal of African History |volume = 23 |issue = 3 |pages = 415–445|doi = 10.1017/S0021853700031534 }}</ref>

Unbeknownst to the queen, her son and heir, the crown-prince (the future [[Radama II of Madagascar|Radama II]]), attended Roman Catholic masses in secret.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} The young man grew up under the influence of French nationals in Antananarivo. In 1854, he wrote a letter to [[Napoleon III of France|Napoléon III]] inviting France to invade and uplift Madagascar.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} On 28 June 1855 he signed the [[Lambert Charter]]. This document gave Joseph-François Lambert, an enterprising French businessman who had arrived in Madagascar only three weeks before, the exclusive right to develop all minerals, forests, and unoccupied land in Madagascar in exchange for a 10-percent royalty payable to the Merina monarchy. In years to come, the French would show the Lambert Charter and the prince's letter to Napoléon III to explain the Franco-Hova Wars and the annexation of Madagascar as a colony. In 1857, the queen uncovered a plot by her son (the future Radama II) and French nationals in the capital to remove her from power. She immediately expelled all foreigners from Madagascar, sparing her son. Ranavalona died in 1861.

==== King Radama II (1861–1863) ====
{{main|Radama II}}
In his brief two years on the throne, King [[Radama II of Madagascar|Radama II]] re-opened trade with Mauritius and Réunion, invited Christian missionaries<ref name="CathEncy|wstitle=Madagascar" /> and foreigners to return to Madagascar, and re-instated most of Radama I's reforms. His liberal policies angered the aristocracy, however, and [[Rainivoninahitriniony]], the prime minister, engineered a coup d'état in which Radama II was strangled to death.

====Queen Rasoherina (1863–1868)====
{{main|Rasoherina of Madagascar}}
[[File:Malagasi Embassy to Europe 1863 Rainifiringa Ralahimaholy with Rev John Duffus and Rasatranabo na Rainandrianandraina.jpg|thumb|Malagasy Embassy to Europe in 1863. Left to right: Rainifiringa Ralaimaholy, Rev. John Duffus and Rasatranabo aka Rainandrianandraina.]] A council of princes headed by [[Rainilaiarivony]] approached Rabodo, the widow of [[Radama II]], the day after the death of her husband.  They gave her the conditions under which she could succeed to the throne.  These conditions included the suppression of [[trial by ordeal]] as well as the monarchy's defense of [[freedom of religion]]. Rabodo, crowned queen on 13 May 1863 under the throne name of [[Rasoherina of Madagascar|Rasoherina]], reigned until her death on 1 April 1868.<ref>Frédéric Randriamamonjy, ''Tantaran'i Madagasikara Isam-Paritra'' (The history of Madagascar by Region), pages 529–534.</ref>

The Malagasy people remember Queen Rasoherina for sending ambassadors to London and Paris and for prohibiting [[Sunday market]]s. On 30 June 1865, she signed a treaty with the United Kingdom giving British citizens the right to rent land and property on the island and to have a resident ambassador. With the United States of America she signed a trade agreement that also limited the importation of weapons and the export of cattle.  Finally, with France the queen signed a peace between her descendants and the descendants of the ''Emperor of France''.<ref>Frédéric Randriamamonjy, ''Tantaran'i Madagasikara Isam-Paritra'' (''The history of Madagascar by Region''), pages 529–534.</ref> Rasoherina married her prime minister, [[Rainivoninahitriniony]], but public outcry against his involvement in the murder of [[Radama II]] soon forced his resignation and exile to [[Betsileo]] country south of [[Imerina]].  She then married his brother, [[Rainilaiarivony]], head of the army at the time of Radama II's murder who was promoted to the post of Prime Minister upon the resignation and exile of his older brother.  Rainilaiarivony would rule Madagascar from behind the scenes for the remaining 32 years of the Merina monarchy, marrying each of the final three queens of Madagascar in succession.

====Queen Ranavalona II (1868–1883)====
{{main|Ranavalona II}}
In 1869, Queen [[Ranavalona II of Madagascar|Ranavalona II]], previously educated by the [[London Missionary Society]], underwent baptism into the [[Church of England]] and subsequently made the [[Anglican]] faith the official [[state religion]] of Madagascar.<ref>Madagascar now has three dioceses in the autonomous [[Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean]], part of the [[Anglican Communion]]. [http://www.anglicancommunion.org/mission/companion/diocese/2004toamasina.cfm]. Retrieved September 14, 2006.</ref>
The queen had all the ''[[sampy]]'' (traditional royal idols) burned in a public display. Catholic and Protestant [[missionaries]] arrived in numbers to build churches and schools. The reign of Queen Ranavalona II proved the high water mark of British influence in Madagascar.  British goods and weapons arrived on the island by way of [[Cape Colony|South Africa]].

====Queen Ranavalona III (1883–1897)====
{{main|Ranavalona III}}
Her public coronation as queen took place on 22 November 1883 and she took the name [[Ranavalona III]].  As her first order of business she confirmed the nomination of [[Rainilaiarivony]] and his entourage in their positions.  She also promised to do away with the French threat.<ref>Frédéric Randriamamonjy, ''Tantaran'i Madagasikara Isam-Paritra'' (History of Madagascar by Region), pg 546.</ref>

====End of the monarchy====
{{main|Franco-Hova Wars|First Madagascar expedition|Second Madagascar expedition}}
[[File:FrenchTroopsMadagasgar.jpg|thumb|Landing of the ''40th Bataillon de Chasseur à Pieds'' in [[Majunga]], between 5 May and 24 May 1895.]]
Angry at the cancellation of the [[Lambert Charter]] and seeking to restore property seized from French citizens, France invaded Madagascar in 1883 in what became known as the first [[Franco-Hova War]] (''Hova'' as a name referring to the Merina aristocrats). At the war's end, Madagascar ceded [[Antsiranana]] (Diégo Suarez) on the northern coast to France and paid 560,000 [[gold franc]]s to the heirs of Joseph-François Lambert. In Europe, meanwhile, European diplomats had worked out an agreement whereby Britain, in order to establish control over the [[Sultanate of Zanzibar]], ceded its rights over the island of [[Heligoland]] to [[German Empire|Germany]] and renounced all claims of influence in Madagascar in favor of France. The agreement spelled the end of the Madagascan political independence. [[Rainilaiarivony]] had succeeded in playing the various European powers against one another, but now France could act without fear of British support towards the Madagascans.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

In 1895, a French [[flying column]] landed in [[Mahajanga]] (Majunga) and marched by way of the [[Betsiboka River]] to the capital, [[Antananarivo]], taking the city's defenders by surprise (they had expected an attack from the much closer east coast). Twenty French soldiers died fighting and 6,000 died of [[malaria]] and other diseases before the second Franco-Hova War ended. In 1896 the [[French Parliament]] voted to [[annexation|annex]] Madagascar. The 103-year-old Merina monarchy ended with the royal family sent into exile in [[Algeria]].