When it comes to Africa, the vast majority of people think of vast grasslands, imposing animal migration, humid and hot weather, and the vast majority of black Africans. But when you walk the streets of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, the yellow skin and oriental face everywhere will make you instantly feel that you have come to the wrong place.
Madagascar is located in the western part of the Indian Ocean, across the sea from the African continent, is the largest island in Africa and the fourth largest island in the world, known as the "Noah's Ark" of the Indian Ocean. This famous island country has rich tourism resources and attracts a large number of tourists every year.
Unlike other countries on the continent, Madagascar has the highest proportion of yellow people in Africa, and even the current president, Andrei Rajolina, has a Face That Resembles Chinese. Where the Malagasy people came from in history, scientists have done a lot of analysis, and today we will take a look at it.
Are the Malagasy really descendants of Zheng He?
In the third year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, entrusted by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, the three treasure eunuch Zheng He led more than 200 sea ships and more than 27,000 people to anchor from Taicang Liujiagang and began his sailing journey, known as "Zheng He's Voyage to the West".
As the largest sea voyage in ancient China, the largest number of ships and seafarers, and the longest voyage, Zheng He's fleet reached the east coast of Africa and the waters of Madagascar as far as possible, and many people believe that the reason why Madagascar has so many natives who look like Chinese is that they are the descendants of local sailors left behind when Zheng He went to the West, they are all Chinese descendants.
In fact, whether Zheng He's fleet has ever been to Madagascar is still somewhat controversial in academic circles, but the Asian genes of Madagascars have long continued for thousands of years. Today Madagascar is mainly composed of 18 ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Merina.
The Merina people are basically yellow people, a small number of black and yellow mixed races, are the main ethnic group that constitutes Madagascar, and have long occupied the dominant position in the country (the last three presidents of Madagascar are All Merina people) and are local nobles. The study of the origins of the Malagasy nation is naturally inseparable from the study of the Merina people.
Compared with the indigenous people of the African continent, the Merina people do not have much African characteristics, and most of the people here are petite, with thin lips, curly hair, and a small nose, quite like Southeast Asians. The locals grow rice, coffee, cotton and sugar cane, cultivate terraces, and even live in houses that closely resemble those of the various ethnic groups in Southeast Asia.
In 2016, Indonesian scientist Herewith Sudoyo organized an international team of researchers to study and compare the genes of ethnic groups in hundreds of countries, and found that the Asian genes of The Malagasy people are mainly from the Banjar people of Kalimantan, and the Banjar people are mixed descendants of the Malays and the indigenous Dayas of Kalimantan. The Indonesian scientist speculated that the Banjar people must have arrived in Madagascar around the tenth century AD with the caravans of Srivijaya's death, and then merged with the Bantu blacks from South Africa.
The Chinese origins of the Malagasy people's ancestors
Although it cannot be denied that since ancient times, there have indeed been some Chinese who have crossed the ocean to arrive in Madagascar, but from a genetic point of view, it should be said that malagasy people are distant relatives of Indonesians, it should be a real hammer, and the relationship between the native people of Madagascar and Zheng He is indeed not very big. But when we go back 5,000 years, back to the distant Neolithic age, something more interesting happens.
Linguistically, Madagascar belongs to the Austronesian language family, which is not related to the mainland of Africa. Austronesian language family is currently the only major language family in the world that is mainly distributed on the island, from Madagascar to Taiwan to Hawaii and New Zealand, including more than 1200 languages, covering a population of nearly 400 million, constituting a large population and a vast geographical area of the "Austronesian language family".
The ancestors of the "Austronesian language family" can be traced back to 10,000 years ago, long before europeans traveled around the world, they had successfully discovered and conquered one large and small island after another in the Pacific and Indian Oceans with their amazing navigational skills.
It was not until the 16th century that Western explorers began their exploration of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. When these navigators arrived at the islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans with advanced compasses, they were surprised to find that although the inhabitants of these islands were thousands of miles away, they were similar in size and living habits, and the names of sharks, squid, shrimps and other animals were pronounced the same, even the ships they built were the same.
With great curiosity, historians began to trace the ancestors of the Austronesian languages. In the 1930s, some scholars speculated that China was the birthplace of the "Stone Gong" in the Pacific region based on the type of stone hammer, and then believed that the ancestors of the "Austronesian language family" should be on the coast of the East China Sea.
In the 1980s, as more research results emerged, the academic community generally recognized that the language spoken by the aborigines of Taiwan was the oldest language group in the Austronesian language family, which meant that Taiwan was the birthplace of the Austronesian language family, or at least part of the origin.
The historical evolution of 2000, especially due to the influence of many migrations from the north to the south in history, there is no population in the coastal areas of Fujian that speak the Austronesian language, and for a long time, the linguistic community has not assigned the distribution circle of the Austronesian language family to the southeast coast of Fujian. However, in recent years, a large number of Neolithic sites found in Pingtan and other places in Fujian Province have supported the view from different directions: the southeast coast of China is the real origin and departure place of the Austronesian language family.
In 2020, in the world's authoritative academic journal "Science", Chinese scientists successfully extracted DNA from the prehistoric bones of the Xitou site in Fujian Province, and through the study and comparison of DNA samples, it was further proved that the Neolithic population in Fujian was the ancestor of the Austronesian language family on the islands in the western Pacific region. Pingtan was then considered by archaeologists to be a key area for studying the origins of the Austronesian language family.
The existing research results tell us that as early as about 12000 to 7500 years ago, the Austronesian language family originated in the southeast coast of Fujian, China, and around 8000 to 7000 years ago, it was a critical period for the formation of the Austronesian language family on Taiwan Island; around 6000 to 5000 years ago, the earliest batch of Austronesian language immigrants across the Taiwan Strait appeared, that is, from this time, the ancestors of the Austronesian language family migrated to the Pacific Islands for the first time.
How did the ancients, 6,000 years ago, rely on rudimentary ships, conquer the seas of stars without food supplies, complete ocean voyages, and even the spread of ethnic groups, a difficult task that contemporary people simply cannot accomplish? It's incredible to think about it, but they did.
Judging from the existing archaeological remains, generations of Austronesian immigrants, driving double canoes, through the change of ocean currents and the stars, sailed back and forth in the vast sea without modern navigation devices, conquering one island after another, which should be the great feat of maritime migration in human history, and under their relay, the blood of civilization penetrated step by step from the southeast coast of China to the southernmost point of Africa - Madagascar.
Strange folklore of Madagascar
No matter how deep the ancestors of the Malagasy people are with the indigenous people of Taiwan, after thousands of years of integration and evolution, many strange customs are preserved here. The Malagasy people have had a peculiar "cow worship" for generations, and they have an extraordinary affection for cattle, and are even jokingly called "the country on the back of the cow".
In Madagascar, where cattle are more expensive than people, it is the only country in the world that gives cattle a holiday, and every cow is given a day off every week, on which no one can force cattle to work. Pedestrians and vehicles on the road must take the initiative to give way if they encounter cattle, and even signs on both sides of the road are decorated with bull heads.
As one of the least developed countries in the world, Madagascar averages less than 400 yuan a month, while an adult bull has a market price of more than 3,200 yuan. The number of cattle has become an important indicator of the wealth accumulation and status of local families. In local paintings and sculptures, cattle inevitably become "heavyweight" totems symbolizing Malagasy culture, and horns and bones are made into various jewelry, toys, ornaments, etc., becoming special souvenirs that visitors to Madagascar must purchase.
The most shocking thing about Madagascar is the annual festival of the Year, the Turning of the Body. "Turning over the corpse" as the name suggests is to take out the body of one's own relatives and turn it over. This traditional festival was originally promoted to celebrate the harvest, but in the minds of the local indigenous people, the joy of the harvest can not only be enjoyed by the living, but also by the deceased, and under the guidance of this special emotion, the "Carover Festival" was born.
The Carover festival is a traditional form of sacrifice of the Merina people, the highest caste in Madagascar. Not all Malagasy people are entitled to the courtesy of being "turned over" after death, and if a living Merina person thinks he is rich enough, he will buy a tomb on the hill that resembles a hanging coffin. The coffin in the tomb is like a drawer, ready to be opened at any time, and if the descendants of the deceased want to thank the ancestor for his kindness, they will spend a lot of money to invite the respected elders of the clan to preside over the ceremony.
The timing of the annual Carover is uncertain, but it must be sunny. On this day, the chief of the sacrifice himself opened the coffin, took out the bones of the deceased, cleaned each piece and placed it on the lap of the 14-year-old girl, exposed to the sun. After noon, under the command of the patriarch, the people put the skeletons on wooden planks one by one, covered with clean white cloth, and began to march to the streets with songs and dances until dark.
At this time of year, the procession of turning over the corpses can not make way for the noble cattle, and can even slaughter the cattle for sacrifice. After the procession, the skeletons are placed together, and people gather around and sing and dance, and the louder the song, the more respect for the deceased. Finally, in the song, the patriarch himself arranged the skeletons one by one, wrapped in white cloth, and put them back into the hanging coffin.
The Festival of The Fall of the Dead carries the respect of the Merina people for the dead, the customs and habits of each country are different, and we should learn to respect the historical traditions of each country. With the progress of the times, there are fewer and fewer people in Madagascar who hold corpse-turning sacrifices, and there are many reasons for this, the most important of which is the change of people's concepts. It's time to get rid of these bad habits.
Made in China in Madagascar
Although the biography of Ming Shi Zheng He does not mention Madagascar, which is far away in the southernmost part of Africa, in 1997, the Malagasy people issued a commemorative stamp to commemorate Zheng He.
For nearly a hundred years, China and the Indian Ocean island nation have maintained close exchanges despite being thousands of miles apart. There is a well-documented record that 150 years ago, some Chinese from the Qing Dynasty were employed by British and French enterprises and traveled far and wide to engage in planting, portering, mining and other occupations, and some of them took root in the local area.
In 1972, China and Madagascar formally established diplomatic relations. At present, China is Madagascar's largest trading partner. Since 2015, China has implemented zero tariff treatment for 97% of its exports to China, with direct investment of more than US$400 million, creating 17,000 local jobs.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently nearly 100,000 Chinese expatriates living in Madagascar. In recent years, China has actively participated in helping Malaysia's domestic construction, providing assistance to the local area within its capacity, and more than 20 infrastructure construction projects have been built for China, covering hospitals, schools, sports centers, etc. Relations between China and Malaysia have steadily improved.
As relations between the two countries gradually warmed up, "Chinatown" also arose. Located in North Orique, the heart of the Antananari Stupa in Malaysia's capital, this "Chinatown" is lined with Chinese shops selling a variety of Chinese-made goods, from clothing, shoes and socks to all kinds of electronic products.
As a country with agriculture as the pillar of the economy, Madagascar's industrial base is extremely weak, made in China at a good price, quite popular with local residents, unceremoniously, in Madagascar's Chinese, by stalls can make a lot of money, and the bottom line behind this is the strong competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing.
With the continuous advancement of the "Belt and Road", more and more Chinese to travel or develop in Madagascar. As Noah's Ark in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar is rich in flora and fauna, more than 70% of which are unique to the island. Tourism resources are extremely rich, and some experts call it the most underrated island in Africa.
In Madagascar, you can admire the local copatrious treasure of The Lemur in Lanumafana National Park, you can also enjoy the beautiful sunset and the vast starry sky on baobab Boulevard, and experience the most beautiful beaches in South Africa on Nosibe Island, where the Chinese traveling to the country each year increased at a rate of 20% before the outbreak.
This is Madagascar, an "atypical" African country full of yellow people on the streets, a country on the back of an ox, and a beautiful country that many people don't want to go when they come. Looking forward to the early end of the epidemic, open the door of the country, let us have a walk-and-go tour!