Geography : Wildlife, the amazing Baobabs

The Baobab trees are unique to the southern part of Africa and mainly Madagascar. They can reach amazing heights but are mostly remembered for their giant and tubular trunks. They only have branches on the very top. Lemurs are sometimes found in their branches eating the fruit but only if the trees are in a jungle so the Lemurs can hide from predators. Their fruit is edible but tastes awful to humans. You may have seen them in the movie Madagascar!

Climate:The Forests of Madagascar!

Most of the vegetation on Madagascar is forests. This is where most of the animals live in the dense canopy of the trees. The forests remain green throughout the year because of the constant warm rain that falls on the forests during the rainy season of May to July. The other two seasons that influence the forests the most are the misty and dry seasons. At very high elevations the forests turns into plains of shrubs and grass that a rich because of the volcanic soil. In the western coast there are some deciduous forests.

Geography: Island Fever! National Parks

Most of Madagascar's landforms are islands. They include the Europa island, names after the country that colonized it, the Glorioso island the Île aux Nattes named for its french heritage, Tsarabanjina, Île Sainte-Marie and the Nosy Be. Nosy Be is the largest island off the coast of Madagascar. It is the most visited tourist location. In the language of the ancient Malagasy tribe "Nosy Be" means "Big Island." On the island there is the Lokobe Reserve where the rare black lemurs live. There are many permanent settlements on this island. The last island is callled Nosy Mangabe. It does not have settlements on it because the entire island is the Masoala National Park. It is only two km from the shore of Madagascar. It was made a national park because of the endangered species of the aye-aye. the aye-aye is a small monkey that eats like a woodpecker and has nests in the trunks of banana trees.

History: The Mini Civil War

Ratsiraka was up against Marc Ravalomanana, the mayor of Antananarivo, the capital. The first election was inconclusive but Ravalomanana said that the election was rigged and in 2002 he declared that he was president. Ratsiraka was so angry at this that he set up his own capital called Toamasina, and declared that he was president also. Now Madagascar was going through its own civil war with two presidents and two capitals, until the high constitutional court counted up the votes and said that Ravalomanana was the winner. After hearing this Ratsiraka ran away to France. The president, Marc Ravalomanana, resigned in 2009 and gave his power to the military leader to mayor Rajoelina. But Rajoelina staged protests on the radio every week that talked about how bad a president Ravalomanana was and so Ravalomana fired him. Rajoelinas supporters were so angry that they staged a rebellion in the streets and 28 people were shot. Most of the people were on Rajoelinas side so Ravalomana surrendered. And the rest is yet to be history!

History: The First Socialist President

The French won against the British and made Madagascar one of their protectorates in 1885. A protectorate is a small territory or state that is owned by a stronger state like France. In 1958 a republican group under the French control rebelled and in 1960 Madagascar became independent. The people were not happy under the strict rule of their president Philibert Tsiranana and so they decided to rebel again. Led by General Gabriel Ramanantsoa the kicked him out of office and elected Didier Ratsiraka as president on June 15, 1975. He was the first president to support socialism. He nationalized banks and he also nationalized Madagascar’s trading. He was reelected in 198 but people were suspicious of the voting methods used to make him president again. To stop more riots and rebellion he allowed the other democratic candidate Albert Zafy to share his power. Zafy was elected in 1993 but misused the government’s power during an economic crisis and Ratsiraka was elected again in 1997.

Geography: Climate

Madagascar is very small compared to most African countries, but its geography is very diverse. Along the coast of Madagascar there is mostly rain forests and jungles which grow very well in the warm wet climate. About 110 inches of rain fall on the forests per year. Located just to the east of the coast of Mozambique is a channel that is 250 miles long and on the other side is Madagascar. The inland climate is temperate and to the south of the island it is very arid and dry.

The Early History

Madagascar is a small island located in the Indian Ocean in Southern Africa. It is the world’s fourth largest island. In the 7^th century the Arabs established trading posts on the coast of Madagascar. The first man to rule the island was king Andrianampoinimerina, of the Malagasy tribe. His name means The-King-in-the-Heart-of-the-Imerina, the Imerina stood for the highlands of Madagascar. He ruled from 1787 to 1810. He and his son Ramada unified most of the island until the Europeans discovered it. The Europeans discovered it during the Age of Discovery in the 15^th century. During the Age of Discovery Europeans traveled to different lands in search of trading goods like gold, silver, and spices. The British and the French were competing in against each other in the Scramble for Africa because they both wanted the trade products and the territory.