Jump to content

Sakalava people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sakalava
Sakalava people near Morondava
Total population
2,079,000[1][better source needed]
Regions with significant populations
Madagascar
Languages
Southern Sakalava, Northern Sakalava
Religion
Christianity (Catholicism, commoners), Fomba Gasy (traditional religion), Islam (royalty)[2]
Related ethnic groups
Other Malagasy groups, Bantu peoples, Austronesian peoples

The Sakalava are an ethnic group primarily found on the western edge of Madagascar, ranging from Toliara in the south to the Sambirano River in the north.[3] They constitute about 6.2 percent of the total population of Madagascar,[4] or about 2,079,000 in 2018.[5] [better source needed]

The origin of the word Sakalava is not fully known. The most common explanation is that their name means "people of the long valleys", or a similar modern Malagasy translation of long ravines, which denotes the relatively flat nature of the land in western Madagascar. Another theory is that the word is possibly from the Arabic saqaliba (which is in turn derived from Late Latin sclavus), meaning slave.[3][6]

History

[edit]
Further information: Sakalava empire
Sakalava ruler Andriantsoly (1820–1824).

The Sakalava are considered to be a mix of Austronesian and Bantu people.[7] Austronesian people from various southeast Asian and Oceanian groups started sailing and settling in Madagascar between 400 and 900 CE. The earliest confirmed settlements were on Nosy Mangabe and in the Mananara Valley, and date back to the eighth century. Bantu-speaking farmers, moving from Central and East Africa, arrived in Madagascar in the ninth century. According to Gwyn Campbell, "the most accurate genetic data to date indicates that the founding settlement, on the northwest coast, comprised a maximum of 20 households, totalling around 500 people, either genetically mixed, or half Austronesian and half African."[8]

Portuguese traders were the first Europeans to arrive in the 15th century, followed by other European powers.[9] Later, Swahilis, Arabs, Indian, and Tamil traders came to the island's northern regions.[10] Enslaved people from mainland Africa were brought to the island in increasing numbers between the 15th and the 18th centuries, particularly to the region where Sakalava people now live. This influx of diverse peoples led to the formation of various Malagasy sub-ethnicities in the mid-2nd millennium.

The founder of Sakalava legacy was Andriamisara.[11] After 1610, his descendant Andriandahifotsy ("the White Prince") extended his authority northwards past the Mangoky River, aided by weapons obtained through the slave trade.[11] His two sons, Andriamanetiarivo and Andriamandisoarivo (also known as Tsimanatona[11]) extended gains further up to the Tsongay region (now Mahajanga).

The chiefs of the different coastal settlements on the island began extending their power to control trade. The first significant Sakalava kingdoms were formed around the 1650s.[12] They dominated the western region of Madagascar during the 1700s.[11] The Sakalava chiefdoms of Menabe, centered in what was then known as Andakabe (now the town of Morondava), were principal among them.[11] The influence of the Sakalava extended across what are now the provinces of Antsiranana, Mahajanga and Toliara. The Sakalava kingdom reached its peak geographic spread between 1730 and 1760, under King Andrianinevenarivo.[11]

According to local tradition, the founders of the Sakalava kingdom were the Maroseraña (or Maroseranana, "those who owned many ports") princes, from Fiherenana (now Toliara).[13] They may also be descended from the Zafiraminia (sons of Ramini) clans from the southwestern part of the island.[citation needed] The demand for slaves by Omani Arabs who controlled the Zanzibar slave trade and, later, European slave-traders led to Sakalava slave raiding operations and control over the major ports of the north and northwest region of Madagascar.[14][15][16] Initially, the Arabs exclusively supplied weapons to the Sakalava in exchange for slaves. These slaves were obtained from slave raids to Comoros and other coastal settlements of Madagascar, as well as from merchant ships from the Swahili coast.[14][11] The Sakalava kingdom quickly subjugated the neighbouring territories of the Mahafaly people, starting with the southern ones.

Door with a carved crocodile, exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900.

Merina oral histories and documents in Comoros mention a series of annual expeditions by Sakalava slave raiders against their villages through the end of the 18th century. These expeditions were aided by guns obtained from the Arabs, a weapon that both Comoros and the Merina lacked.[14] The largest and one of the most favored ports for the slave trade on Madagascar was the Sakalava coastal town of Mahajanga.[15] The Sakalava had a monopoly over the slave trade in Madagascar till the end of the 18th century.[14][11] Although smaller by population, their weapons permitted them wide reach and power, allowing them to force other, more populous ethnic groups to pay tribute to them in the eighteenth century.[11]

The Merina king Radama I bought guns in late 18th century and launched a war against the Sakalava Kingdom, which ended its hegemony and slave raids.[14] The Merina Kingdom then reversed the historical enslavement their people had faced, becoming suppliers for the slave trade.[17] Though the Merina were never to annex the two last Sakalava strongholds of Menabe and Boina (Mahajanga), the Sakalava never again posed a threat to the central highlands, which remained under Merina control until the French conquest of the island, a century later, in 1896.

Kings and queens

[edit]

The dynasty Zafimbolamena Belihisafra.[18][better source needed]

After the reign of Andriantonkafo the kingdom was split into two entities:

Andramahatindriarivo was succeeded by

In 1841 the islands of Nosy Be and Nosy Komba became a French Protectorate.

Demographics

[edit]
Distribution of Malagasy ethnic groups

The Sakalava consist of multiple smaller ethnic groups that once lived under the same empire and are unified under the same name. They have great diversity among its constituents, who continue to perpetuate distinct regional customs, both culturally and linguistically. The Sakalava are divided in two distinct groups:

The Sakalava people are widely distributed over about 128,000 square kilometers (ranging from the coast from Onilahy River in the southwest, to Nosy Be in the north). These people also raise the zebu cattle herds similar to those found in Africa, which are less common in other regions and interior of the island.[12]


Society and culture

[edit]
A couple carved on top of a "hazomanga", which is a wooden pole placed in honor of elders, made by a Sakalava artist (17th-18th century) [21]

Religion

[edit]

About 60% of the Sakalava follows Fomba Gasy, a traditional religion centered around royal ancestor worship aided by the noble dady lineage who preserved the remains of the deceased rulers.[22][23] The dady priests conduct a ceremony called Tromba, where they divine the spirits of the dead ancestors and communicate their words back to the Sakalava people.[11][24] The Sakalava will frequently visit memorial sites of royal ancestors to clean and maintain them. It's believed that the act of maintaining these sites keeps the memory of their ancestors alive, and also communicates to the ancestral spirits that the memory of them hasn't been lost. The spirits will get a devoted toñy, which is a tree or stone assigned to them in their honor. [25]

A doany is a place of worship and contains shrines dedicated to royal ancestors. Located in the Tsararano quarter of the town of Mahajanga lies a sacred place called "the Doany of Mahajanga" (It's also referred to as "Doany Miarinarivo", "Doany Andriamisara", or "Donay Andriamisara Efadahy Manankasina"). It acts as a gravesite and doany for a group of royal ancestors called "The Blessed Four Brothers Andriamisara", who were well known members of the west coast dynasty. Here, visitors wait outside until they are guided to the shrines inside the doany by someone titled a guardian. The guardian will join the visitors in prayer, helping them summon the spirits of ancestors and communicating to them the visitors reasons for visiting. Often visitors will offer a sum of money along with their prayer, and in exchange, the guardian will present a small piece of limestone called a tanifoty; this is seen as a physical manifestation of the ancestor's blessing. To show that a blessing has been given, visitors will be marked by a white dot on their chest and then they're guided back outside the doany. [26]

Tromba has been a historic feature of the Sakalava people, and has centered around ceremonies and processions for the spirits of their deceased royalty.[27] The procession is more than a religious event: it has historically been a form of community celebration and identity affirmation. Tromba is also found among other ethnic groups in other parts of Madagascar, but it has had a long association with and support from the Sakalava royal dynasties, which mutually perpetuated the practice and associated importance.[27]

Tromba is also practiced in other cultures outside of Madagascar. Andriantsoly, after he was exiled to Comoros, spread the practice of Tromba to the people of Mayotte. Andriantsoly (also called Andriamanavakarivo after his death) led Tromba in Mayotte, and his burial site was used as the main place for the practice. Tromba also spread farther to Tanzania when people from Comoros immigrated to Zanzibar, and it still plays a main role in the Comorian community there.[28]

Sunni Islam arrived among the Sakalava from Arab traders.[29] It was adopted by the rulers of the Sakalava people in the eighteenth century in order to gain the military support of the Omani and Zanzibar Sultanates as the influence of the Merina and European traders increased.[11] A significant percentage of the Sakalava converted to Islam during the reign of Andriantsoly, while continuing traditional religious practices such as spirit worship.[29]

Tromba gathering in Madagascar.

Christianity is followed by about 35% of Sakalava, and arrived with European traders.[22][better source needed] In early 19th century, the Sakalava sought military support from European colonial powers in order to contain the reach of the Merina kingdom. The French, led by Captain Passot, arrived in Sakalava ports with Jesuit and other Catholic Christian missionaries. The island town of Nosy Be became their mission post, and by early 20th century numerous Catholic churches had been built in the Sakalava regions.[30] Protestant missionaries have attempted to convert the Sakalava, but the animosity of Muslim Sakalava royalty towards the Protestant Merina nobility and the refusal of Sakalava to abandon their traditional practices (particularly royal spirit worship and Tromba) has ensured a low rate of conversion.[31] Protestant missionaries view ancestral possession as "demonic" and associated with Satan. Exorcists called fihohazana (also called mpiandry) undergo special training and will help remove spirits from the possessed. [32]

A group of Sakalava children
A Malagasy woman wearing masonjoany, a cosmetic paste ubiquitous among Sakalava women.

Social stratification

[edit]

The Sakalava society became socially stratified, like many other ethnic groups, with the start of the slave trade. The Sakalava stratification system was hierarchical, based on the presumed purity of each stratum. In the Sakalava Kingdom, the strata included the Ampanzaka, or the royal caste, and the Makoa, or the descendants of African slaves.[33][34][35]

The king is deemed as a sacred individual in Sakalava kingdoms. The king has to learn to harness a force called hasina in order to keep their position as ruler. Hasina is believed to be a very helpful force, but can be harmful if handled wrong; it's also used to maintain soil fertility. After a king passes, their spirit will become an ancestor and can possess mediums known as the saha during Tromba. [36]

Livelihood

[edit]

The Sakalava have been pastoralists with large zebu cattle herds, traditionally allowed to graze freely over the grasslands in their northwest region. Unlike the Merina and Betsileo people of the interior who became highly productive rice farmers, the coastal and valley regions of the Sakalava have historically had limited agriculture. However, in contemporary Madagascar, migrants have expanded farms and agriculture into the northwestern provinces.[37]

Notable Sakalava

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Sakalava in Madagascar".
  2. ^ Lesley A. Sharp (1994). The Possessed and the Dispossessed: Spirits, Identity, and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town. University of California Press. pp. 38, 61–62. ISBN 978-0-520-91845-0.
  3. ^ a b Bradt & Austin 2007.
  4. ^ Benoit Thierry; Andrianiainasoa Rakotondratsima; et al. (2010). Nourishing the Land, Nourishing the People: Madagascar. CABI, Oxfordshire. pp. 28, 31. ISBN 978-1-84593-739-3.
  5. ^ Joshuaproject
  6. ^ Ogot 1992.
  7. ^ Pierron, Denis; Razafindrazaka, Harilanto; Pagani, Luca; Ricaut, François-Xavier; Antao, Tiago; Capredon, Mélanie; Sambo, Clément; Radimilahy, Chantal; Rakotoarisoa, Jean-Aimé; Blench, Roger M.; Letellier, Thierry; Kivisild, Toomas (21 January 2014). "Genome-wide evidence of Austronesian–Bantu admixture and cultural reversion in a hunter-gatherer group of Madagascar". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (3): 936–941. Bibcode:2014PNAS..111..936P. doi:10.1073/pnas.1321860111. PMC 3903192. PMID 24395773.
  8. ^ Campbell, Gwyn (2019). Africa and the Indian Ocean World from Early Times to Circa 1900. pp. 128–129. doi:10.1017/9781139028769. ISBN 978-1-139-02876-9. S2CID 201530379.
  9. ^ John A. Shoup (2011). Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 180–181. ISBN 978-1-59884-362-0.
  10. ^ Gwyn Campbell (2005). An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750–1895: The Rise and Fall of an Island Empire. Cambridge University Press. pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-0-521-83935-8.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k John Middleton (2015). World Monarchies and Dynasties. Routledge. p. 818. ISBN 978-1-317-45158-7.
  12. ^ a b Benoit Thierry; Andrianiainasoa Rakotondratsima; et al. (2010). Nourishing the Land, Nourishing the People: Madagascar. CABI, Oxfordshire. pp. 28, 31. ISBN 978-1-84593-739-3.
  13. ^ Bethwell A. Ogot (1992). Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. University of California Press. pp. 856–859. ISBN 978-0-435-94811-5.
  14. ^ a b c d e Gill Shepherd (1980). James L. Watson (ed.). Asian and African Systems of Slavery. University of California Press. pp. 75–76. ISBN 978-0-520-04031-1.
  15. ^ a b Gwyn Campbell (2013). William Gervase Clarence-Smith (ed.). The Economics of the Indian Ocean Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century. Routledge. pp. 166–174. ISBN 978-1-135-18214-4.
  16. ^ Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2005). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press. pp. 294–295. ISBN 978-0-19-517055-9.
  17. ^ Gill Shepherd (1980). James L. Watson (ed.). Asian and African Systems of Slavery. University of California Press. pp. 74–76, 103–107. ISBN 978-0-520-04031-1.
  18. ^ Genealogie des Rois Sakalava
  19. ^ Ballarin, Marie-Pierre (2007). "How spirits travel along the western Indian Ocean rims : the example of the Sakalava tromba from north-western Madagascar". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 42 (1): 55. doi:10.1080/00672700709480450. ISSN 0067-270X – via ILLiad.
  20. ^ Deces du Prince Sakalava Bemihisatra à Nosy Be
  21. ^ "Sakalava artist - Hazomanga finial - Sakalava - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  22. ^ a b Joshuaproject
  23. ^ Lesley A. Sharp (1994). The Possessed and the Dispossessed: Spirits, Identity, and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town. University of California Press. pp. 75–76. ISBN 978-0-520-91845-0.
  24. ^ Diagram Group 2013, p. 140.
  25. ^ La Rossa, Maurizio Esposito (2023). "Breaking the ground, breaking the sky: Plants, human spirits, and the work of memory for royal ancestors among the Sakalava of Madagascar". RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics. 79–80. The University of Chicago Press: 133–134. doi:10.1086/728213.
  26. ^ Kneitz, Peter (April 2018). ""The Sakalava Pilgrimage as a Royal Service (Western Madagascar)"". In Luig, Ute (ed.). Approaching the Sacred; Pilgrimage in historical and intercultural perspective. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World. Vol. 49. Berlin: Edition Topoi. pp. 240–243. doi:10.17171/3-49. ISBN 978-3-9818369-3-6.
  27. ^ a b Hilde Nielssen (2011). Ritual Imagination: A Study of Tromba Possession Among the Betsimisaraka in Eastern Madagascar. BRILL Academic. pp. 123–124, 234–239. ISBN 978-90-04-21524-5.
  28. ^ Ballarin, Marie-Pierre (2007). "How spirits travel along the Western Indian Ocean rims: the example of the Sakalava tromba from north-western Madagascar". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 42 (1): 54, 59–60. doi:10.1080/00672700709480450. ISSN 0067-270X – via ILLiad.
  29. ^ a b David J. Parkin (2000). Islamic Prayer Across the Indian Ocean: Inside and Outside the Mosque. Routledge. pp. 64–66, 70–75. ISBN 978-0-7007-1234-2.
  30. ^ Sharp, Lesley A. (1994). The Possessed and the Dispossessed: Spirits, Identity, and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town. University of California Press. pp. 73–75. ISBN 978-0-520-91845-0.
  31. ^ Sharp, Lesley A. (1994). The Possessed and the Dispossessed: Spirits, Identity, and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town. University of California Press. pp. 74–77. ISBN 978-0-520-91845-0.
  32. ^ Sharp, Lesley A. (January 1994). The Possessed and the Dispossessed; Spirits, Identity, and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town. Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care. University of California Press. pp. 253, 255. ISBN 978-0-520-08001-0.
  33. ^ Melvin Ember; Carol R. Ember (2001). Countries and Their Cultures: Laos to Rwanda. Macmillan Reference. p. 1347. ISBN 978-0-02-864949-8.
  34. ^ David Levinson (1995). Encyclopedia of World Cultures: Africa and the Middle East. G.K. Hall. pp. 294–296. ISBN 978-0-8161-1815-1.
  35. ^ Gwyn Campbell (14 March 2005). An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750-1895: The Rise and Fall of an Island Empire. Cambridge University Press. pp. 43–44, 121. ISBN 978-0-521-83935-8.
  36. ^ Ballarin, Marie-Pierre (2007). "How spirits travel along the Western Indian Ocean rims: the example of the Sakalava tromba from north-western Madagascar". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 42 (1): 58. doi:10.1080/00672700709480450. ISSN 0067-270X – via ILLaid.
  37. ^ Sakalava people, Encyclopædia Britannica

Bibliography

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sakalava people.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sakalava_people&oldid=1326281324"