Editing Madagascar (section)

===Early period===
[[File:Malagasy girls Madagascar Merina.jpg|thumb|[[Malagasy people|Malagasy]] ancestry reflects a blend of Southeast Asian, Oceanian and Bantu (Southeast African) roots.]]
Traditionally, archaeologists have estimated that the earliest settlers arrived in successive waves in [[outrigger canoe]]s from [[South Kalimantan|South Borneo]], possibly throughout the period between 350&nbsp;BC and 550&nbsp;AD, while others are cautious about dates earlier than AD 250. In either case, these dates make Madagascar one of the most recent major landmasses on Earth to be settled by humans, predating the settlement of [[Iceland]] and [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{cite journal |last = Crowley |first = B.E. |title = A refined chronology of prehistoric Madagascar and the demise of the megafauna |journal = Quaternary Science Reviews |volume = 29 |issue = 19–20 |pages = 2591–2603 |year = 2010
|doi = 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.06.030|bibcode = 2010QSRv...29.2591C}}</ref> It is proposed that [[Ma'anyan people]] were brought as laborers and slaves by [[Java]]n and [[Sumatra]]n-[[Malay (ethnic group)|Malays]] in their trading fleets to Madagascar.<ref name="Dewar19932">{{cite journal|last1=Dewar|first1=Robert E.|last2=Wright|first2=Henry T.|date=1993|title=The culture history of Madagascar|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|volume=7|issue=4|pages=417–466|doi=10.1007/bf00997802|hdl-access=free|hdl=2027.42/45256|s2cid=21753825}}</ref><ref name="Burney20042">{{cite journal|vauthors=Burney DA, Burney LP, Godfrey LR, Jungers WL, Goodman SM, Wright HT, Jull AJ|date=August 2004|title=A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|volume=47|issue=1–2|pages=25–63|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.05.005|pmid=15288523|bibcode=2004JHumE..47...25B }}</ref><ref>Kumar, Ann (2012). 'Dominion Over Palm and Pine: Early Indonesia's Maritime Reach', in Geoff Wade (ed.), ''Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past'' (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), 101–122.</ref><ref name="Cox"/> Dates of settlement of the island earlier than the mid-first millennium AD are not strongly supported.<ref name=":4"/> However, there is scattered evidence for much earlier human visits and presence. (See [[History_of_Madagascar#First_inhabitants_and_settlements_(500_BCE–700_CE)|History of Madagascar]]).<ref>{{cite news|date=September 10, 2018|title=Ancient bird bones redate human activity in Madagascar by 6,000 years|url=https://www.zsl.org/science/news/ancient-bird-bones-redate-human-activity-in-madagascar-by-6000-years|newspaper=Zoological Society of London (ZSL)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=September 12, 2018|title=Ancient bird bones redate human activity in Madagascar by 6,000 years|url=https://phys.org/news/2018-09-ancient-bird-bones-redate-human.html|website=Phys.org}}</ref> [[Archaeology|Archaeological]] finds such as cut marks on bones found in the northwest and stone tools in the northeast indicate that Madagascar was visited by foragers around 2000 BCE.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gommery | first1 = D. | last2 = Ramanivosoa | first2 = B. | last3 = Faure | first3 = M. | last4 = Guérin | first4 = C. | last5 = Kerloc'h | first5 = P. | last6 = Sénégas | first6 = F. | last7 = Randrianantenaina | first7 = H. | title = Oldest evidence of human activities in Madagascar on subfossil hippopotamus bones from Anjohibe (Mahajanga Province) | journal = Comptes Rendus Palevol | volume = 10 | issue = 4 | year = 2011 | pages = 271–278 | doi = 10.1016/j.crpv.2011.01.006}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Dewar | first1 = R. E. | last2 = Radimilahy | first2 = C. | last3 = Wright | first3 = H. T. | last4 = Jacobs | first4 = Z. | last5 = Kelly | first5 = G. O. | last6 = Berna | first6 = F. | title = Stone tools and foraging in northern Madagascar challenge Holocene extinction models | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 110 | issue = 31 | year = 2013 | pages = 12583–12588 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1306100110 | pmid=23858456 | pmc=3732966| bibcode = 2013PNAS..11012583D | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>Peter Forster, Shuichi Matsumutra, Matthieu Vizuete-Forster, Petya Belinda Blumbach & Robert Dewar (2008) "The Genetic Prehistory of Madagascar's Female Asian Lineages", In: {{cite book|last1=Matsumura|first1=Shūichi|last2=Forster|first2=Peter|last3=Renfrew|first3=Colin|author-link3=Colin Renfrew|title=Simulations, Genetics and Human Prehistory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IR3bAAAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research|isbn=978-1-902937-45-8}}, pp71-72</ref> 

Upon arrival, early settlers practiced [[slash-and-burn]] agriculture to clear the coastal rainforests for cultivation. The first settlers encountered Madagascar's abundance of [[Pleistocene megafauna|megafauna]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Human expansion 1,000 years ago linked to Madagascar's loss of large vertebrates |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221104113440.htm |work=ScienceDaily |date=4 November 2022 |access-date=6 November 2022 |archive-date=6 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106001734/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221104113440.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> including 17 species of [[Subfossil lemur|giant lemurs]], the large flightless [[elephant bird]]s (including possibly the largest bird to ever exist, ''[[Aepyornis maximus]]''), the [[Cryptoprocta spelea|giant fossa]], and several species of [[Malagasy hippopotamus]], which have since become extinct because of hunting and habitat destruction.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Virah-Sawmy |first = M. |author2 = Willis, K. J.|author3=Gillson, L. |title = Evidence for drought and forest declines during the recent megafaunal extinctions in Madagascar |journal = Journal of Biogeography |volume = 37 |pages = 506–519 |year = 2010 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2699.2009.02203.x |issue = 3|bibcode = 2010JBiog..37..506V |s2cid = 84382916 }}</ref> By 600&nbsp;AD, groups of these early settlers had begun clearing the forests of the central highlands.<ref name=Camp93>{{cite journal |last = Campbell |first = Gwyn |title = The Structure of Trade in Madagascar, 1750–1810 |journal = The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume = 26 |issue = 1 |pages = 111–148 |year = 1993 |doi = 10.2307/219188 |jstor = 219188 }}</ref>

Arab traders first reached the island between the 7th and 9th centuries.<ref name=Wink>Wink (2004), p. 185</ref> A wave of [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]-speaking migrants from southeastern Africa arrived around the year 1000.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pierron|first1=Denis|last2=Heiske|first2=Margit|last3=Razafindrazaka|first3=Harilanto|last4=Rakoto|first4=Ignace|last5=Rabetokotany|first5=Nelly|last6=Ravololomanga|first6=Bodo|last7=Rakotozafy|first7=Lucien M.-A.|last8=Rakotomalala|first8=Mireille Mialy|last9=Razafiarivony|first9=Michel|last10=Rasoarifetra|first10=Bako|last11=Raharijesy|first11=Miakabola Andriamampianina|date=8 August 2017|title=Genomic landscape of human diversity across Madagascar|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=114|issue=32|pages=E6498–E6506|doi=10.1073/pnas.1704906114|issn=0027-8424|pmc=5559028|pmid=28716916|bibcode=2017PNAS..114E6498P |doi-access=free}}</ref> Around this time, [[zebu]] from [[South India]] were first brought, intermingling with [[Sanga cattle|sanga]] found in East Africa.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Magnier |first=Jessica |year=2022 |title=The genetic history of Mayotte and Madagascar cattle breeds mirrors the complex pattern of human exchanges in Western Indian Ocean |url=https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/article/12/4/jkac029/6523972?login=false |journal=G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics |volume=12 |issue=4|doi=10.1093/g3journal/jkac029 |pmid=35137043 |pmc=8982424 }}</ref> [[File:Omby soavaly.jpg|thumb|right|A Malagasy man riding an ''omby soavaly'' (zebu) in central Madagascar in the 19th century.]]Irrigated paddy fields were developed in the central highland [[Betsileo]] Kingdom and were extended with terraced paddies throughout the neighboring Kingdom of [[Imerina]] a century later.<ref name=Camp93/> The rising intensity of land cultivation and the ever-increasing demand for zebu pasturage had largely transformed the central highlands from a forest ecosystem to grassland by the 17th century.<ref name="Gade 1996">{{cite journal |last=Gade |first=Daniel W. |year=1996 |title=Deforestation and its effects in Highland Madagascar |journal=Mountain Research and Development |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=101–116 |doi=10.2307/3674005 |jstor=3674005}}</ref>

The oral histories of the Merina people, who arrived in the central highlands between 600 and 1,000 years ago, describe encountering an established population they called the [[Vazimba]]. Probably the descendants of an earlier and less technologically advanced Austronesian settlement wave, the Vazimba were assimilated or expelled from the highlands by the Merina kings [[Andriamanelo]], [[Ralambo]], and [[Andrianjaka]] in the 16th and early 17th centuries.<ref name=vazimbadjp>{{cite web |last = Domenichini |first = J.P. |title = Antehiroka et Royauté Vazimba |work = Express de Madagascar |publisher = Madatana.com |url = http://www.madatana.com/article-antehiroka-et-royaute-vazimba.php |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110714013559/http://www.madatana.com/article-antehiroka-et-royaute-vazimba.php |archive-date = 14 July 2011 |url-status=live |access-date =5 November 2010|language=fr}}</ref> Today, the spirits of the Vazimba are revered as ''tompontany'' (ancestral masters of the land) by many traditional Malagasy communities.<ref name="Mythe">{{cite web |last = Razafimahazo |first = S. |title = Vazimba: Mythe ou Realité? |work = Revue de l'Océan Indien |publisher = Madatana.com |year = 2011 |url = http://www.madatana.com/article-vazimba-mythe-ou-realite.php |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110714013401/http://www.madatana.com/article-vazimba-mythe-ou-realite.php |archive-date = 14 July 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date = 8 November 2010 |language = fr }}</ref>