Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island. Ringed by
golden beaches and
palm trees, it has an interior that is resplendent in its variety, from
grassy plateaus to
volcanoes and
opaque forests and
natural reserves. Since it split from the mainland 165 million years ago, many species that are unique to the island have evolved, including 3,000 indigenous species of butterfly.
The Hauts Plateaux divides the country geographically, climatically and culturally. The
coastal strip east of this chain of
high mountains is heavily forested, while the west is mainly
savannah.
According to
local legend, the island was first inhabited by the Vazimba, a race of white
pygmies. These people, if they existed, were displaced by successive waves of Polynesian migrants from the Malayo-Indonesian archipelago, from as early as the sixth century. In the ninth century, Madagascar was a major trading power in the western Indian Ocean. Moreover,
ancient ruins indicate an extensive
Arab presence on the island around that time. Bantu
tribes from mainland Africa later settled on the west coast. The first Europeans arrived in the mid-17th century.
The levels of poverty and the enormous gap between rich and poor may deter some but Madagascar still dazzles with its
rich wildlife, much of which can be found nowhere else on Earth.
GeographyMadagascar, the fourth-largest island in the world, lies in the Indian Ocean 500km (300 miles) off the coast of Mozambique. It includes several much smaller islands. A central chain of high mountains, the Hauts Plateaux, occupies more than half of the main island and is responsible for the marked differences (ethnically, climatically and scenically) between the east and west coasts. The narrow strip of lowlands on the east coast, settled from the sixth century by Polynesian seafarers, is largely covered by dense rainforests, whereas the broader west-coast landscape, once covered by dry deciduous forests, is now mostly savannah. The east coast receives the monsoon and, on both coasts, the climate is wetter towards the north. The southern tip of the island is semi-desert, with great forests of cactus-like plants. The capital, Antananarivo, is high up in the Hauts Plateaux near the island’s center. Much of Madagascar’s flora and fauna is unique to the island. There are 3,000 endemic species of butterfly; the many endemic species of lemurs fill the niches occupied elsewhere by animals as varied as racoons, monkeys, marmots, bushbabies and sloths. There is a similar diversity of reptiles, amphibians and birds (especially ducks), and also all levels of plant life.
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