MADAGASCAR

Untitled Slide

• 500 km Off the coast of Africa
• Indian Ocean

ORGIN

• The history of Madagascar is distinguished clearly by the early isolation of the landmass from the ancient supercontinents containing Africa and India, and by the island's late colonization by human settlers arriving in outrigger canoes from the Sunda islands between 200 BC and 500 AD

TRADITIONS

• The culture of Madagascar reflects the origins of the Malagasy people in Southeast Asia and East Africa. The influence of Arabs, Indians, British, French and Chinese settlers is also evident. The most emblematic instrument of Madagascar, the valiha, is a bamboo tube zither carried to the island by early settlers from southern Borneo, and is very similar in form to those found in Indonesia and the Philippines today

EDUCATION

• 93% of children attend 6 years of education usually between the ages of 6 and 13
• Only 54% of adults in Madagascar can read and write

RELIGION IN MADAGASCAR

• 55% of the population abides by the traditional beliefs, which is called Cult of the Dead, 40% are Christians and the remaining 5% of the population are Muslims. Thus majority of the Malagasy are the followers of Christianity and they are sub-divided into Roman Catholic and Protestants

POPULATION

• 22.9 million
• The Malagasy people are the result of the intermingling of immigrants. The original immigrants are believed to have been members of an Afro-Malagasy race that lived on the East African littoral. Later arrivals were Africans, Arabs, and, much more recently, immigrants from Europe, China, and India.

FOOD

• Romazava is considered the national dish of Madagascar, and each family makes their own version. It is a one-pot dish, usually eaten with rice for lunch or dinner. The basic ingredients are beef, pork and chicken cut into equal-size cubes, chopped onions, tomatoes, spinach and crushed garlic.