books
madagascar a short history
two thousand years ago the island of madagascar was likely uninhabited . its unique flora and fauna had gone totally undisturbed by human contact until the first navigators landed on its shores . no one knows where those first inhabitants hailed from but over the centuries madagascar developed its own distinctive language and cultural systems . the only recent history of its kind in english madagascar traces two millennia of human activity in one of the worlds most fascinating yet least known societies . in graceful prose solofo randrianja and stephen ellis both leading historians of madagascar elucidate the three main phases of its history the earliest settlements the age of kingdoms and the islands entry into intercontinental systems of commerce and exchange including over sixty years under french rule . through the course of this colorful and turbulent history randrianja and ellis explore the tensions between the development of a unique culture and the absorption of immigrants the development of strong social hierarchies and the long lasting effects of slavery and the slave trade .
hardcover university of chicago press 2009 isbn13 9780226704180 isbn10 0226704181
abridged n isbn 13 9780226704180 number in series 1 number of pages 316 publisher univ of chicago pr release date 62135769600000