Tom and Toakafo: The Betsimisaraka Kingdom and State Formation in Madagascar, 1715-1750

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Periodical article

Title:	Tom and Toakafo: The Betsimisaraka Kingdom and State Formation in Madagascar, 1715-1750
Author:	Ellis, Stephen
Year:	2007
Periodical:	The Journal of African History (ISSN 0021-8537)
Volume:	48
Issue:	3
Period:	November
Pages:	439-455
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Madagascar
Subjects:	traditional polities traditional rulers State formation 1700-1799 Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration
About person:	Ratsimilaho
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/40206589
Abstract:	The monarchies and other polities of precolonial Madagascar exerted a strong influence on each other. For this reason, in recent years it has become more interesting to trace their interrelationship than to emphasize their autonomy. The Betsimisaraka kingdom, which flourished on Madagascar's east coast in the early eighteenth century, has generally been regarded as a polity standing rather outside the mainstream of State formation in Madagascar, not least because of the identity of its founder, Ratsimilaho, the son of an English pirate. Research in European and South African archives demonstrates the close connection between the Betsimisaraka kingdom and the Sakalava kingdom of Boina. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]