Editing Madagascar (section)

===French colonization===
{{Main|Malagasy Protectorate|French Madagascar}} {{See also|Madagascar in World War II}}

[[File:LaGuerreAMadagascar.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A French poster about the Second [[Franco-Hova Wars|Franco-Hova War]]]]
Primarily on the basis that the Lambert Charter had not been respected, France invaded Madagascar in 1883 in what became known as the first [[Franco-Hova War]].<ref name="Boogaerde p7">Van Den Boogaerde (2008), p. 7</ref> At the end of the war, Madagascar ceded the northern port town of [[Antsiranana]] (Diego Suarez) to France and paid 560,000 francs to Lambert's heirs.<ref name="Randier p400">Randier (2006), p. 400</ref> In 1890, the British accepted the full formal imposition of a French [[protectorate]] on the island, but French authority was not acknowledged by the government of Madagascar. To force capitulation, the French bombarded and occupied the harbor of [[Toamasina]] on the east coast, and [[Mahajanga]] on the west coast, in December 1894 and January 1895 respectively.<ref name=Disease>Curtin (1998), p. 186</ref>

A French military [[flying column]] then marched toward Antananarivo, losing many men to malaria and other diseases. Reinforcements came from [[Algeria]] and [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]. Upon reaching the city in September 1895, the column bombarded the royal palace with heavy artillery, causing heavy casualties and leading Queen Ranavalona III to surrender.<ref>Oliver, Fage & Sanderson (1985), p. 529</ref> Popular resistance to the French capture of [[Antananarivo]]—known as the [[Menalamba rebellion]]—broke out in December 1895, and was not suppressed until the end of 1897.<ref>Oliver, Fage & Sanderson (1985), p. 532</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Gwyn |date=1991 |title=The Menalamba Revolt and Brigandry in Imperial Madagascar, 1820-1897 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/219791 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=259–291 |doi=10.2307/219791 |jstor=219791 |issn=0361-7882 |access-date=6 June 2024 |archive-date=1 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001210237/https://www.jstor.org/stable/219791 |url-status=live }}</ref> France annexed Madagascar in 1896 and declared the island a colony the following year, dissolving the Merina monarchy and sending the royal family into exile on [[Réunion|Réunion Island]] and to Algeria. 

The conquest was followed by ten years of civil war, due to the Menalamba insurrection. The "pacification" carried out by the French administration lasted more than fifteen years, in response to the rural guerrillas scattered throughout the country. In total, the repression of this resistance to colonial conquest caused several tens of thousands of Malagasy victims.<ref>Jacques Tronchon. L'insurrection malgache de 1947. Essai d'interprétation historique, p 35–45</ref>

Under colonial rule, plantations were established for the production of a variety of export crops.<ref>Campbell (2005), p. 107</ref> [[Slavery]] was abolished in 1896 and approximately 500,000 slaves were freed; many remained in their former masters' homes as servants<ref>Shillington (2005), p. 878</ref> or as sharecroppers; in many parts of the island strong discriminatory views against slave descendants are still held today.<ref>Regnier (2015), pp. 152–154</ref> Wide paved boulevards and gathering places were constructed in the capital city of Antananarivo<ref>Fournet-Guérin (2007), pp. 45–54</ref> and the Rova palace compound was turned into a museum.<ref name="Frémigacci">Frémigacci (1999), pp. 421–444</ref> Additional schools were built, particularly in rural and coastal areas where the schools of the Merina had not reached. Education became mandatory between the ages of 6 and 13 and focused primarily on the French language and practical skills.<ref>Gallieni (1908), pp. 341–343</ref>
[[File:29 Mars 1947 Monument.jpg|thumb|National monument in [[Moramanga]] commemorating the beginning of the [[Malagasy Uprising]] on 29 March 1947. Between 11,000 and 90,000 Malagasy died during the uprising which lasted nearly two years.<ref>{{cite book |first=Travis |last=Hannibal |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NbWdlRL8WzMC&pg=PA138 |title=Genocide, Ethnonationalism, and the United Nations: Exploring the Causes of Mass Killing Since 1945 |publisher=Routledge |page=138 |isbn=9780415531252 |access-date=23 June 2021 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624212928/https://books.google.com/books?id=NbWdlRL8WzMC&pg=PA138 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

Huge mining and forestry concessions were granted to large companies. Native chiefs loyal to the French administration were also granted part of the land. Forced labor was introduced in favor of the French companies and peasants were encouraged, through taxation, to work for wages (especially in the colonial concessions) to the detriment of small individual farms. However, the colonial period was accompanied by movements fighting for independence: the Menalamba, the Vy Vato Sakelika, the Democratic Movement for Malagasy Renovation (MDRM). In 1927, major demonstrations were organized in Antananarivo, notably on the initiative of the communist activist François Vittori, who was imprisoned as a result. The 1930s saw the Malagasy anti-colonial movement gain further momentum. Malagasy trade unionism began to appear underground and the Communist Party of the Madagascar region was formed. But in 1939, all the organizations were dissolved by the administration of the colony, which opted for the Vichy regime. The MDRM was accused by the colonial regime of being at the origin of the 1947 insurrection and was pursued by violent repression.<ref>Jacques Tronchon. L'insurrection malgache de 1947. Essai d'interprétation historique, p 35-45</ref>

The Merina royal tradition of [[Corvée|taxes paid in the form of labor]] was continued under the French and used to construct a railway and roads linking key coastal cities to Antananarivo.<ref>Reinsch (1905), p. 377</ref> Malagasy troops fought for France in [[World War I]].<ref name=BGNote/> In the 1930s, [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] political thinkers developed the [[Madagascar Plan]] that had identified the island as a potential site for the deportation of Europe's Jews.<ref name="contemplation">Browning (2004), pp. 81–89</ref> During the [[Second World War]], the island was the site of the [[Battle of Madagascar]] between the [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] and an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] expeditionary force.<ref>Kennedy (2007), pp. 511–512</ref>

The occupation of France during the Second World War tarnished the prestige of the colonial administration in Madagascar and galvanized the growing independence movement, leading to the [[Malagasy Uprising]] of 1947.<ref>Lehoullier (2010), p. 107</ref> This movement led the French to establish reformed institutions in 1956 under the ''[[Loi Cadre]]'' (Overseas Reform Act), and Madagascar moved peacefully towards independence.<ref name="Kitchen 1962, p. 256">Kitchen (1962), p. 256</ref> The [[Malagasy Republic]] was proclaimed on 14 October 1958, as an [[autonomous entity|autonomous]] state within the [[French Community]]. A period of provisional government ended with the adoption of a constitution in 1959 and full independence on 26 June 1960.<ref>Pryor (1990), pp. 209–210</ref>