Queen Ranavalona, III

Birth: Nov. 22, 1861

Death: May 23, 1917

Madagascan Monarch. A native of Amparibe, Madagascar, she ruled Madagasgar from 1883 until 1897. She was the last reigning monarch of her country. She was forced into exile by the French following the First Franco-Malagasy War, and she died in Algeria in 1917.

During the initial rush in the 1600s for Far East markets, France established a temporary settlement at Fort Dauphin on Madagascar, off Africa’s eastern coast. It failed to maintain itself, and for a time France settled for posts on the smaller islands of He de France (Mauritius) and Bourbon. By the 1800s, France had secured treaty rights for protection of French nationals on Madagascar, but the dominant Hova government leaned more toward British than French interests. In 1883, French warships bombarded the towns of Majunga and Tamatave and landed troops, forcing the acceptance of a French protectorate. The locals resisted the French presence, sometimes under the direction of British officers. The resistance provoked another bombardment of Tamatave in 1894, followed by an invasion the following year. French General Jacques Duchesne landed 15,000 men on the island and began a methodical invasion against violent resistance. By 1896 the island was declared a French colony. A military government deposed the queen and continued to fight the revolts, finally suppressing the locals by 1905.

In December 1904, the Russian Baltic Fleet docked at Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) for coal and provisions before sailing on to its doomed encounter with the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Tsushima. Before leaving port the Russian sailors were required to put ashore the animals they had acquired, including monkeys, boa constrictors and one crocodile.

During World War II, Malagasy troops fought in France, Morocco, and Syria. Immediately preceding the fall of France, Germany initiated planning to forcibly deport all of Europe’s Jews to Madagascar in what was known as the Madagascar Plan. Action on the plan was never begun. After France fell to Germany, the Vichy government administered Madagascar. During the Battle of Madagascar, British troops occupied the strategic island in 1942 to preclude its seizure by the Japanese, after which the Free French took over.

In 1947, with French prestige at low ebb, a nationalist uprising was suppressed after several months of bitter fighting with 8,000 persons killed. The French subsequently established reformed institutions in 1956 under the Loi Cadre (Overseas Reform Act), and Madagascar moved peacefully toward independence. The Malagasy Republic was proclaimed on October 14, 1958, as an autonomous state within the French Community. A period of provisional government ended with the adoption of a constitution in 1959 and full independence on June 26, 1960.