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Madagascar, also widely known as the Republic of Madagascar, is an island in the Indian Ocean found off the south-eastern coast of Africa. Madagascar boasts to be the fourth largest island in the world and is as well the dwelling place for around 5 percent of the world’s plants and animals. Most of the animal and plant species found in Madagascar are endemic to the island. Animals such as lemur and fossa along with the six different kinds of Baobab trees found in Madagascar give this country its uniqueness.

Millions of years before, when the Earth was still ‘new’, Madagascar formed one with Africa. It’s now been approximately 160 million years since Madagascar got separated from Africa. People started to occupy the island between 200 and 500 AD. These were mainly sea travelers coming mainly from Southeast Asia. Other people named Bantu came to settle in Madagascar after having crossed the Mozambique Channel. People from Somalia as well came to live in Southern Madagascar in the Middle Ages as they established a kingdom for themselves there.

Moreover, in the 7th century, Muslims started to trade along the Northwestern coast of Madagascar. Trading started to become the source of revenue for kings as they engaged themselves in making business with neighbouring countries in the Indian Ocean. Arab and Somali traders among others also linked Madagascar to countries such as India and Africa. As time passed by, numerous kingdoms were born in Madagascar. Most notably these were the Sakalava and the Boina. Madagascar then gradually became a crucial trading port for the East African Coast, which opened up a Silk Trade route for Africa. Madagascar in addition to, served as port for many incoming and outgoing vessels.

Furthermore, trading in Madagascar brought health to the country. A state controlled by authoritative emperors was consequently created in Madagascar. This state was known as the Maroserna. Later on, these rulers adopted the various traditions and cultures. This enabled them to extend their empires onto other parts of Madagascar. Trading remained a top of the list business in Madagascar at that time as it brought a strict amount of money to these emperors. It was not later than the year 1500 when Madagascar started to receive visits from Europe.

So, in the year 1500, Portuguese sea captain, Diogo Dias landed on Madagascar when his ship was separated from the fleet moving towards India. From this day, the Portuguese contact retained and began trading with the natives of Madagascar. They even named the island as St. Lawrence (São Lourenço). During the year 1666, the French East India Company traveled to Madagascar where they could not create a colony. On the other hand, they were successful in building ports on nearby islands namely Mauritius and Reunion. The 17th century then saw the French set up trading placements along the east coast of Madagascar.

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