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| Title: | The history of sovereigns in Madagascar: new light from old sources |
| Author: | Ellis, Stephen |
| Book title: | Madagascar revisitée: en voyage avec Françoise Raison-Jourde |
| Year: | 2009 |
| Pages: | 405-431 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Madagascar |
| Subjects: | traditional rulers slave trade historical sources |
| Abstract: | 'Les souverains de Madagascar', a collection of essays edited by Françoise Raison-Jourde (1983), remains the most reliable guide to the history of sovereigns and sovereignty in Madagascar. Raison-Jourde considered the slave trade to have had a major effect on the history of royalty in Madagascar only towards the end of the 18th century, when, in combination with the ideological elements relayed by ritual experts of southeastern origin, a new, more powerful style of royal authority emerged. This essay suggests some insights that may be gleaned from the repositories of documents relevant to the early history of sovereigns and State formation in Madagascar that have been exploited inadequately or not at all. It concerns in particular material held in Portuguese, British, Dutch and Danish archives. The essay discusses Madagascar's early slave trade, the slave-trader kings, royalty, old and new, the 'kings of Madagascar', and the diffusion of models of royalty. The author concludes that the fact that historical research over the last 25 years has shown the slave trade to have taken place on a larger scale than was previously realized during the 17th century, and even before, may require us to re-examine the relationship of long-distance commerce to power over a longer period. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |