Editing History of Madagascar (section)

===Omani Arabs (from the 7th century)===
The written history of Madagascar begins in the 7th century when [[Omanis]] established trading posts along the northwest coast and introduced Islam, the Arabic script (used to transcribe the Malagasy language in a form of writing known as the [[sorabe alphabet]]), Arab astrology and other cultural elements.<ref name="LOC">{{cite web |last=Metz |first=Helen Chapin |author-link=Helen Chapin Metz |year=1994 |title=Library of Congress Country Studies: Madagascar (Education) |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+mg0030%29 |access-date=February 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327073937/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+mg0030%29 |archive-date=March 27, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> During this early period, Madagascar served as an important transoceanic trading port for the East African coast that gave Africa a trade route to the [[Silk Road]] and served simultaneously as a port for incoming ships. There is evidence that [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] or [[Swahili people|Swahili]] sailors or traders may have begun sailing to the western shores of Madagascar as early as around the 6th and 7th century.<ref name="Historical Archaeology">{{cite book|last1=Majewski|first1=Teresita|last2=Gaimster|first2=David |author-link2=David Gaimster |title=International Handbook of Historical Archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zRcFQ_gBNI8C&pg=PA571|year=2009|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-0-387-72071-5}}</ref>

According to the traditions of some Malagasy peoples, the first Bantus and Arabs to settle in Madagascar came as [[refugee]]s from the [[Ridda Wars|civil wars]] that followed the death of [[Muhammad]] in 632.<ref name="ReferenceA">Sigmund Edland, Tantaran’ny Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy</ref>
Beginning in the 10th or 11th century, [[Arabic]] and [[Zanzibar]]i [[History of slavery|slavers]] worked their way down the [[Swahili coast]] in their [[dhow]]s and established settlements on the west coast of Madagascar. Notably they included the [[Zafiraminia]], traditional ancestors of the [[Antemoro people|Antemoro]], [[Antanosy people|Antanosy]] and other east coast ethnicities. The last wave of Arab immigrants, the Antalaotra, immigrated from Swahili colonies. They settled the northwest of the island (the [[Mahajanga]] area) and introduced, for the first time, [[Islam in Madagascar|Islam to Madagascar]].<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Arab immigrants, though few in number compared to the native Austronesians and Bantus, nevertheless left a lasting impression. The Malagasy names for seasons, months, days, and coins in certain regions come from Arabic origins,<ref name="HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR">{{Cite web|title=HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR|url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ad26|website=www.historyworld.net|access-date=2020-05-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dahle|first=L.|date=1876|title=THE INFLUENCE OF THE ARABS ON THE MALAGASY LANGUAGE|url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=wFgcAAAAMAAJ&rdid=book-wFgcAAAAMAAJ&rdot=1|journal=The Antananarvio Annual and Madagascar Magazine|volume=1|pages=75–91|via=Google Books}}</ref> as do cultural features such as the practice of [[circumcision]], the communal grain-pool, and different forms of salutation (such as ''[[As-salamu alaykum|salama]]'').