Madagascar
Wiki, Facts

 Madagascar facts

• The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (the fourth-largest island in the world), and numerous smaller peripheral islands
• Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from the Indian peninsula around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation
• Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth
• The island's diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the rapidly growing human population and other environmental threats
• The first archaeological evidence for human foraging on Madagascar dates to 2000 BC
• Human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BC and AD 550 by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo
• These were joined around AD 1000 by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel from East Africa
• Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life
• The Malagasy ethnic group is often divided into 18 or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands
• Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting sociopolitical alliances