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About 165 million years ago, during a cataclysmic earthquake, Madagascar broke free from Africa, drifting approximately 250 mi. to the northeast and its present position.
Insects the size of animals, giant tortoises and ten-foot elephant birds, big enough to kick a human to death, roamed the island. They cavorted beneath 1000-yr-old Boababs, comical-looking trees with very fat trunks, crowned by tops disproportionately small. There’s no lions, tigers or wolves. These animals evolved long after the land split away. Her forests were tangled masses of dense vegetation. The first humans arrived on Madagascar a mere 2000 years ago and most likely came in outrigger canoes from India and Africa and Arabia.
Madagascar was always one of the world’s poorest countries. Corruption, in-fighting and decades of mismanagement by French Marxist regimes have left her isolated, and discouraged outside investments. Jungles have been reduced to 15% of their original size, scores of species are on the brink of extinction and topsoil is eroding rapidly. Her future is uncertain. Of the good old days, Marco Polo wrote, ”Pirates contributed booty, buried treasure and genes to Madagascar’s population. At one time more than 1000 English, French, Portuguese, Dutch and other pirates were based on Madagascar’s east coast. They used it as a convenient base to attack ships rounding the Cape of Good Hope.” Captain Kidd was sent by England to capture pirates but instead he became a pirate himself. Later the island became a haven for slave traders before it fell to France in 1896. She became self-governing 1958 as the Malagasy Republic, and in 1993, she gained complete freedom as the Republic of Madagascar. Currently 13 million Malagasy are adrift on this island in the Indian Ocean, a synthesis of Malayo-Indonesian, African/Arabic and European/French ancestry. These Malagasy are a complex mix of hundreds of years of tradition, religion, language and genetics creating a society uniform in its language, beliefs and handsome in physical beauty. As immigrants, they brought along seeds for the crops they grew, consequently the extensive rice paddies of Madagascar make the island look as if it belongs in Asia rather a chip off of nearby Africa. Conrad Phillip Kottak, noted Anthropologist, has written about agricultural innovation for their staple crop, also gender roles in their farming culture. In his Cultural Anthropology, Second Edition, he points out, “The Malagasy keep humped zebu cattle. When the rice fields have been flooded and tilled, they let the cattle into them. By yelling at them and switching them, young men drive the cattle into a frenzy so that they trample the fields, breaking up clumps of earth and thoroughly mixing it with water. [It] forms a smooth mud in which women can transport rice seedlings.” To fend off the large bird population, guards are posted 24 hours per day to drive off birds during the last two months before harvesting the rice. From Mexico came the vanilla the Malagasy grow. It is harvested from climbing orchids. Today, two-thirds of the world’s vanilla is produced in Madagascar. Similarly, peppercorns, native to India, grow on the island, in all colors -- black, white, red and green. Many of the famed Indonesian Moluccan Islands’ spices are raised here, as well. More than 75% of the labor force is engaged in agricultural activities, however only about 5% of the land is farmed. Subsistence crops are rice, cassava, beans, bananas, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes and taro. Cash crops include coffee, sisal, spices, tobacco and much of the world’s supply of vanilla. They also raise cattle, goats and pigs, with shrimp being their most important commercial product. LEGACY RECIPES:
RECIPE: AKOHO sy VOANIO One chicken Two tomatoes Two onions Two cloves of garlic One can coconut milk (Unsweetened) Two tablespoons ginger Oil, salt, pepper Cooking Instructions: Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Slice the tomatoes into small cubes. Set aside. Add a small amount of oil to a frypan. Saute chicken until almost done over medium heat. Add onions to the pan. Continue stirring over medium heat until the onions are brown. Add ginger, tomatoes, and garlic to the pan. Saute together briefly over medium heat. Add coconut milk. Mix well. Reduce heat. Simmer over low heat for thirty minutes. Serve with rice and salad. Serves four. (Recipe courtesy University of Pennsylvania, simplified.) © Marty Martindale, 2002, Largo FL |
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