Distribution of Malagasy ethnic groups.
The Tsimihety are a Malagasy ethnic group located near the north-central coast of Madagascar. Their name means "those who do not cut their hair," in reference to their refusal to adhere to the customs imposed by the rule of Merina King Radama I.[1], numbering around one million (approx. 989,000 or 1.200.000) in population.
Tsimihety society and economy, as in much of Madagascar, is agricultural in focus. The Tsimihety speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages, spoken in southern Borneo. Their particular dialect has Arabic and French elements as well.
According to anthropologist David Graeber, the Tsimihety exist almost entirely independently of the contemporary Madagascar nation-state, maintaining their own extremely egalitarian, non-hierarchical society. Their history of autonomy extends all the way back to the Maroansetra dynasty in the sixteenth century, up through French colonial rule and today.
