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Located about 440 kilometers from the African continent and covering an area of more than 580,000 square kilometers, Madagascar is the largest island in Africa. How Madagascar became a French colony, and how it broke away from French colonial rule, the captain will tell you in detail.
First, Britain and France competed for Madagascar
Radama I
At the beginning of the 19th century, King Ladama I of the Kingdom of Emerina successfully unified most of the island of Madagascar and established the Kingdom of Madagascar. At that time, European colonists had colonized Africa for more than three hundred years, but because the colonists mainly carried out the black slave trade, they only controlled the coastal areas of Africa and did not go deep inland.
Madagascar
Although European colonists had not yet invaded Madagascar, they had taken control of the islands surrounding the island and the coast of the African continent, encircling it. In 1810, the British seized Mauritius from the French and then began infiltration into Madagascar. In 1817, Robert Townsend Farqual, Governor of British Mauritius, signed a treaty abolishing the slave trade with Radama I, intensifying political and cultural aggression against Madagascar in the name of providing military and financial assistance.
Ranawalona I
In 1828, Radama I died and his wife Ranawarona I became Queen of Madagascar. Ranawalona I, knowing that Britain and the European countries had great ambitions for Madagascar, worked to reduce the economic and political dependence on the European colonists and greatly increase their economic and power. But Ranawalona I's son, Radama II, was heavily influenced by European colonists and not only opposed his mother's policies, but also had secret dealings with European colonists.
Radama II
In 1855, Crown Prince Rodama II of Madagascar signed the Lambert Charter with the French colonist Joseph François Lambert. The agreement gave France the power to mine minerals and forests in Madagascar, laying the groundwork for France to invade Madagascar under the pretext of future use. In 1861, Radama II ascended to the throne after the death of Ranawalona I, immediately abolished his mother's anti-Western policy, and signed trade treaties with Britain, France and other countries, facilitating the invasion of European colonists.
Second, france invaded Madagascar
La Sukhlina
In 1863, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Madagascar, Rainivoni Nahitrignoni, assassinated Radama II because he was too close to the West, and installed Queen Rasukhlina as queen. La Sukhlina then remarried to Reinivona Hitrignoni and co-governed Madagascar. However, due to the uneven distribution of power between the two, conflicts soon arose, and finally in 1864 La Sukhlina deposed Reinivini Nahitrignoni and let her brother Reinilea Rivoni succeed him as prime minister, and remarried him.
Reinilea Rivoni
After Lenilea Rivoni became prime minister, he soon learned the lessons of his brother Reinivona Hitrinini and firmly controlled the kingdom of Madagascar. During his tenure, Reinilea Rivoni followed the example of the British in carrying out reforms, improving the organizational structure of the army, raising the cultural level of the population, and adopting the British legal system to prevent Madagascar from becoming a colony of European powers.
French-occupied Madagascar
In 1882, France declared Madagascar its protectorate, and in 1883 launched the First Madagascar War on the pretext that Madagascar had not complied with the Lambert Charter. In the end, the French army defeated Madagascar with great strength, forcing it to cede Ancilanana, paying 560,000 francs. France later claimed that the Kingdom of Madagascar had become a protectorate of the country, but Rainilea Rivoni did not really submit to France and refused to recognize the French claim. The British recognized Zanzibar as a British sphere of influence and the French colonization of Madagascar.
Third, French Madagascar
Ranawalona III
In 1894, in order to force the Kingdom of Madagascar to completely submit, France launched the Second Madagascar War. In 1895, France forced The Queen of Madagascar, Ranawalona III (Wife of Rainilea Rivoni), to surrender and deposed Prime Minister Renelle Rivoni. Since then, France has not only won the war, but also reduced Madagascar to its colony.
French Madagascar
In 1897, France deposed Ravarona III and merged Madagascar with its many French island colonies in the Indian Ocean into a malagasy colony and territory, French Madagascar. Subsequently, France vigorously developed plantations on the island of Madagascar, built railways and ports, and stepped up the plundering of resources in the area. The Malagasy were not willing to be colonized by the French, so a large-scale uprising was set off, and the French army brutally suppressed them.
Fourth, Madagascar became independent
World war ii
When World War I broke out in 1914, France forcibly recruited Madagascars into the army and made them serve France. After the end of World War I, the Malagasy launched a new movement of resistance, demanding equal rights as the French. When France surrendered to Germany in 1940, the French forces in Madagascar pledged allegiance to Vichy France. In 1942 the British launched the Battle of Madagascar, which successfully seized control of the island and handed it over to de Gaulle's French government-in-exile.
In 1944, the Allies launched the Battle of Normandy, Vichy France was overthrown, and de Gaulle took control of France. Madagascar's rise in independence forced France to grant them more and more autonomy. In 1947, the Malagasy people set off a large-scale Malagasy uprising, which was bloodily suppressed by the French army, but Madagascar's independence was unstoppable, and French rule over the local area was also in jeopardy.
Madagascar
In 1958, France established the French Community in order to avoid the complete independence of the French colonies. French Madagascar was thus transformed into the Republic of Madagascar and became a member of the French Community. In 1960, the Republic of Madagascar declared its independence from France, ending French colonial rule.
In general, the kingdom of Madagascar was weak and backward in weapons, so it was easily conquered by the French. However, the French colonial rule of Madagascar was very bloody and brutal, which caused fierce resistance among the local population. During World War II, France suffered heavy losses from Germany and greatly weakened its control over the colonies, and Madagascar took the opportunity to break away from French rule and regain its independence after the war.