Andrianampoinimerina

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Andrianampoinimerina
Andrianampoinimerina, King of Imerina (Madagascar Central Highlands)
Andrianampoinimerina, first King of Madagascar
Idealized portrait painted around 1905 by Ramanankirahina
Reign ca. 1787 – 1810
Born 1745
Birthplace Ambohimanga
Died 1810
Place of death Antananarivo
Buried Ambohimanga
Predecessor Andrianjafy (Mabohimanga) & Andriamiaramanjaka (Ikaloy)
Successor Radama I
Royal House Ambohimanga
Dynasty Merina
Father Andriamiaramanjaka, King of Ikaloy (Zafimamy/ Alahamadintany)
Mother Ranavalonanandriambelomasina, Princess of Ambohimanga (Merina)

Andrianampoinimerina (Andriana-am-Poin-Imerina, "The-King-in-the-Heart-of-Imerina", born as Ramboasalama or Ramboasalamarazaka, nicknamed Nampoina, Imboasalama, or Ny Ombalahibemaso "The-Big-Eyed-Bull"; ca. 1745, Ikaloy – 1810, Ambohimanga), was a Merina (litt. "Highlander") military and political leader of Madagascar island who had a significant impact on Madagascar history. Also a great orator, he is considered by some historians as one of the greatest political rulers and military strategists of all times, in the same vein as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, or Shaka, all proportion respected.[1]

Undefeated in battles, his achievements as conqueror, unificator, diplomat, legislator, and organizer, considering the means in his possession at his time, were quite amazing: At first King of the small principality of Imerina Avaradrano ('Northern Imerina'), a fourth part of Imerina which Capital was Ambohimanga hill, he progressively extended his domain over all the Merinas, the Malagasy people from the central plateau of Madagascar, then over all the highlands territories from the North to the South (absorbing the Betsileo, Sihanaka, Bezanozano, and Bara territories). By the time of his death, after 23 years of reign, he has conquered two third of Madagascar island.[2]

He is widely recognized as one of the three greatest Merinas to rule over Madagascar before the French occupation, along with his son Radama I and the Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony. His reign formed the basis for the unification of Madagascar, almost achieved under his son Radama I.[3]

Contents

[edit] Early life

[edit] Birth

Andrianampoinimerina was Born at Ikaloy in the first quarter of the moon (tsinambolana) of the month Alahamady, the sign of a royal birth according to the popular beliefs. Following the Merina customs at that time, his parents gave him a birth-nickname, Ramboasalama (Ra-amboa-salama, "The-dog-healthy") to ward off the "bad fate". He was later called by his first child name, Ramboasalamarazaka. He grew up within this dark period of Imerina insecurity and poverty, in the principality of Ambohimanga, capital of Imerina Avaradrano.[2]

[edit] Family and lineage

It is Andrianampoinimerina parentage that, most of all, prepared him to a great destiny:

  • By his father, Andriamiaramanjaka, King of Ikaloy and Anjafy, he was a Zafimamy Prince of Alahamadintany, the northern independent Kingdom of Madagascar highlands which was not yet a part of Imerina. Andrianampoinimerina was the third son of Andriamiaramanjaka and his 2nd wife Ranavalonandriambelomasina.[4]
  • By his mother, Ranavalonandriambelomasina, he was a Merina Prince, as he was the grandson of King Andriambelomasina (1730-1770) (the grandson of Andriamasinavalona, and son of Andriantsimitoviaminandriana first King of Ambohimanga principality). He also was the nephew of Andrianjafy, son of Andriambelomasina, who ruled after his father's death (1770 - 1787).[4]

Practicing endogamy, the Zafimamy people of the Alahamadintany Kingdom of the North, The clan of Andrianampoinimerina's father, as direct descendants of the Andriantomara clan members,[5] shared in common an Indian (both Indo-Aryan & Tamil) culture, due to the deep influence of Indian civilization in the whole Southeast Asia since the 2nd century AD (in particular in the Srivijaya Malay Kingdom of Sumatra). Thus, they rarely mixed with the former local peoples, the Vazimbas (also called the Hovas).[6] However, these Vazimbas/ Hovas - from whom Andrianampoinimerina partly descended by his mother, as she was a descendent of Rafohy and Rangita, two Vazimba/ Hova Queens at the sources of the Merina Dynasty - were also natives of Austronesian/ Nusantao of Southeast Asia Islands, since it is them who brought the Malagasy language, a Malayo-Polynesian language belonging to the Barito river subgroup (with the Ma'anjan, Samihin, Dujun Deyah, Dujun Paku of Borneo, and the Tagalog of Philippines),[7] as well as they set up the main current Malagasy ancestral and cultural backgrounds (beliefs,[7] customs,[7] music[8]) though they also integrated a Bantu-Swahili culture,[9] as well as an Arab-Persian culture too.[10] Evidences of the Bantu-Swahili substratum in the Vazimba/ Hova culture can be found in certain common names. For example, they called the cattle omby, which derives from the Swahili ngumbe,[7][9] while the Alahamadintanys called them jomoka (later jamoka) [2], which certainly comes from the Sanskrit gomukha (also gomukh or gaumukh) 'head of cattle'. Gomukha is as well the name of an Himalaya mount, which bear the Gangotri (source of the Ganges) glacier, which looks like a cow head [1].


Indonesian and Indian Legacy: The Zafimamy Cultural Features in Ambohimanga
Ambohimanga Fort: Portal Ambohimanga Palace Court: Ficus Religiosa

[edit] Childhood and education

Andrianampoinimerina spent his early childhood in his father's Zafimamy court at Ikaloy.[2] There, he received a Zafimamy education and culture, which probably included some of the Zafimamy Indonesian and Indo-Aryan knowledge at that time, like mythology and cosmology (for example the Ibonia myth, [2], which carries the Malay-Javanese concept of the Andriambahoaka afovoanitany, litt."A King (must be) on the center of the territory"),[11] astrology, medicine, military strategy (surely including the Fanorona boardgame, a kind of Alquerque mixed with Go rules), weaponry, music (he probably learned to play the valiha, originally an instrument played by the Merina and Zafimamy Princes and noblemen [8]), and probably summary economics. After that, at the age of 12, according to the deal, he was educated by his Merina grandfather, Andriambelomasina, at Amboatany and, at last, in Ambohimanga court, where he received also a Merina education, mainly in leadership (including the Merina oratory arts of kabary and hain-teny), military strategy, and economics.[2]

Fanorona Boardgame

[edit] Outsets as a "Self Made Prince"

Starting from meagre means in his own business, Andrianampoinimerina managed, by intelligence and hard work, to amass a sizeable property, including ricefields and herds of cattle. Thus, he became, at about 30, one of the richest, if not the richest, Prince of Ambohimanga kingdom.[2] Regarded as a "self made man" who didn't rely on his privileges as a Prince, his independence temper, his tenacity, and his sense of justice made him very popular among the commoners and the slaves of Ambohimanga state, contrary to his uncle, the King, whose unpopularity grew up, because of a lot of power abuses.

Ambohimanga: Andrianampoinimerina's Modest House (1810)

[edit] Historical context

During almost a century, from the end of the reign of King Ralambo (1575-1600) to King Andriamasinavalona (1675-1710), the part of the highlands controlled by the Merina was developing and growing economically in a certain civil peace. However, after the reign of Andriamasinavalona, the most famous King of Imerina after Andrianampoinimerina, it broke down into several principalities. The great King, despite the warnings of his wise counselor, Andriamampandry, had the unfortunate idea of dividing his Kingdom into four states after his death, so as to each of his sons could reign. This division of Imerina (the Central Highlands), resulted in a global growing of insecurity and, at last, finished in clan wars and starvations which weakened the Imerina Kingdom.[2][12]

This growing insecurity within Imerina, the menace of both a Sakalava invasion from the West, and of an Alahamadintany/ Zafimamy invasion from the North, lead Andrianampoinimerina's grandfather, Andriambelomasina, King of Imerina Avaradrano, to conclude a strategic alliance with the border Alahamadintany/ Zafimamy Principality of Ikaloy, by marrying his daughter, Ranavalonandriambelomasina, to the King Andriamiaramanjaka of Ikaloy and Anjafy. This deal stipulated, notably, that after the reign of Andriambelomasina's son, Andrianjafy (also Andrianjafinandriamanitra, or Andrianjafinjanahary), the throne of Ambohimanga would be given to one of his daughter's son.[2] This seemed, for the population of Ambohimanga, to be the realisation of a famous prophecy attributed to King Andriamasinavalona, who has said: "One day, Imerina will be unified and ruled by a white man from Alahamadintany".[2] "White", here, simply means "light skin", because of the likely Malay, Bugis, Javanese, and Indo-Aryan origins of the Alahamadintany nobles and the majority of their commoners, though some of the last one were probably also from Tamil origins[10] (cf. Adelaar 2005,[13] 2006[14] for the linguistics evidences of Bugis, Malay, Javanese, and Sanskrit loanwords in Malagasy language). Moreover, according to all official genealogies, most of all Merina and Alahamadintany nobles are known to be descended from a common ancestor, Andriantomara[5][6] [3] who, on the basis of those genealogies, probably arrived in Madagascar, the later, in AD 1300 with his clan and army. Tomara seems to be an Indian Rajput clan name (cf. Tomar/ Tanwar, Rajput clans), and his Malay and Javanese officers and soldiers should probably preceded his name by the Old Javanese nobility title Rahadyan 'Lord', 'Master', which in Malagasy became Rohandryan/Roandriana,[15] then finally Randriana/ Andriana (cf. Adelaar 2006 p.6, for the Old Javanese Rahadyan origin of the Merina and Zafimamy nobility title Andriana[14]).

That way, more a strategic wish than a prophecy, the words of Andriamasinavalona show that, since the early days, the Merina Kings intended to extend their kingdom to the North, by absorbing the great and menacing Zafimamy Kingdom of Alahamadintany. In another hand, the Zafimamy Kings of Alahamadintany had also the ambition to extend their land to the South, by absorbing the Merina Kingdom. Thus, the wedding of Andrianampoinimerina parents seemed to be a fair and peaceful compromise for the two parts: the Prince who will born would, ata last, become the King of the two states: Ambohimanga and Ikaloy, which would unify the two great kingdoms of Imerina and Alahamadintany, without bloodshed.[2]

[edit] Re-uniting the Merina Kingdom

[edit] The coup against King Andrianjafy

In 1787, at 42 years old, Andrianampoinimerina incited a rebellion against Andrianjafy, with the help of the commoners Council of Elders, and those sold into slavery. After the success of the coup, who compelled Andrianjafy to fly away, the new King adopted his now well known ruling name, Andrianampoinimerina.[16] Following his ouster from the town of Ambohimanga, Andrianjafy continued fighting his nephew from his southern headquarters Ilafy. Andrianampoinimerina reached a treaty with the rival Merina town of Antananarivo in 1786, which allowed him to fully concentrate on reuniting Ambohimanga. This conflict was finally concluded in 1790, when Andrianjafy was either killed in Ilafy, or died in exile in Antananarivo. Andrianampoinimerina conquered Antananarivo in 1792,[16][2] and subsequently, the capital of Merina empire was moved to there; however Ambohimanga remained important spiritually.[17]

[edit] The re-unification of Imerina

Continuing his conquests in the 1790s, Andrianampoinimerina began establishing control over a comparatively large part of the highlands of Madagascar. He proclaimed soon his ambition to become the sole King of Madagascar, announcing it for the people of Ambohimanga in a historical speech (kabary) using the Merina hain-teny metaphoric style: "The sea is the limit of my ricefield" ("Ny ranomasina no valam-parihiko").[2] Andrianampoinimerina centralized the power into his own hands and obtained European firearms, realizing these were vastly superior to the traditional weaponry.[18] This allowed him to gradually conquest the Merina, then the Vakinankaratra and the Betsileo principalities.

[edit] Expansion

It is notable, that Andrianampoinimerina mostly accomplished his conquests by relying heavily on shrewd diplomacy and alliance treaties, only resorting to military conquest when it was essential and unavoidable. He liked to repeat to his officers one of his favorite principles: "The force is weaker than the spirit" ("Ny hery tsy mahaleo ny fanahy") [2]. The extension of his rule allowed Andrianampoinimerina to stop paying tribute to the Sakalava kingdom, the western clan who had continuously menaced the Malagasy central highlands by slave hunting [19] [2] [18].

The gradual conquest of surrounding lands by Andrianampoinimerina and his Merina army was opposed by the Sakalava and other clans, who made several attempt to end Andrianampoinimerina's reign [2]. He also faced opposition from some Merina nobles, and from his own family. Early in Andrianampoinimerina's rule, an attempt on King's life by his uncle Andrianjafy was foiled by an informant, who learned about the conspiracy by chance. Later the king rewarded the informant by marrying his daughter to the Crown Prince, future King Radama I [2]. After Radama I's death in 1828, this daughter would rule Madagascar for 33 years as the notorious Ranavalona I, during whose reign hundreds of thousands of Malagasy people were executed, starved or worked to death [19]. Ramavolahy, Andrianampoinimerina's eldest son, was killed by his orders near Imahazoarivo and the appointed Heir Apparent Rakotovahiny was killed for conspiracy against the King in May 1808 [20].

[edit] Organizing the new great highlands Kingdom

[edit] Public works: building the Betsimitatatra canal

[citation needed]

[edit] Laws: Civil, Penal, Fiscal, and Land Codes

[citation needed]

[edit] Economy: Official markets and standardization of the money and the measurement units

[citation needed]

[edit] Military organization

[citation needed]

[edit] Legacy

King Andrianampoinimerina transformed the Merina kingdom of the central highlands from a small group of broken up principalities into the largest, best organised, and the most powerful empire in the history of Madagascar. He was the first Merina King to establish a formal civil and penal codes, the latter ameliorated and written by his son Radama I. He distributed land according to a rigorous land code, established a fiscal code and collected various taxes, of which the hetra corresponded to the production of a square of ricefield one citizen must pay to the Sovereign according to its sanskrit etymology ksetra, 'field'. Andrianampoinimerina regulated the commerce and the economy by creating official markets (tsena) by the standardization of the scales (fandanjana) and all the units of measurement (length, volume). Additionally the use of money (vola) was standardized and regularized. Finally, he was also the first Sovereign in Madagascar who organised the military force by creating a citizen army called the Foloalindahy (the '100 000 soldiers'). [2] One of the well known slogans of Andrianampoinimerina was "Starvation is my unique enemy", [2] and in the fight against it Imerina gained a surplus in rice and cattle production during his reign. This surplus allowed the kingdom to consolidate its economic and military supremacies during Radama I's reign.

Andrianampoinimerina had at least 30 children by his many wives,[20] and was succeeded by his son Radama I. Another son, Ramanetaka, sailed to the Island of Moheli, in Comores, in 1830 running off Ranavalona I's ascension to the throne, and later converted to Islam, ruling the island as Sultan Abderahmane of Moheli.[citation needed]

[edit] Short timeline

[citation needed]

[edit] Primary sources

Almost all of what is known about Andrianampoinimerina comes from the Révérend Père François Callet's book Tantara ny Andriana ("History of the Nobles"). This collection of oral tradition about the history of the Merina Dynasty was originally written in Malagasy and published between 1878 and 1881. Callet summarized and translated it in French under the title Tantara ny Andriana (Histoire des rois) in 1908.[2] Tantara ny Andriana constitutes the core material for the historians studying the Merina history, and has been commented, criticised, and challenged ever since by numerous historians from Madagascar, Europe, and North America (see for example: Rasamimanana 1930;[6] Ravelojaona et al 1937;[21] Ramilison 1951;[5] Kent 1970;[12] Délivré 1974;[3] Berg 1988;[16] Larson 2000[22]). The work is complemented by oral traditions of other tribes collected by Malagasy historians.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Deschamps, Hubert (1977). "Andrianampoinimerina ou la raison d'Etat au service de l'unité malgache". Jeune Afrique Les Africains (II): 73–89. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Callet, F. (1908). Tantara ny Andriana (Histoire des rois),. Imprimerie Catholique, Edition 1878-1881, 1943 p. 
  3. ^ a b Délivré, Alain (1974). L'histoire des rois d'Imerina: interprétation d'une tradition orale. Kliencksiek, Paris, 447 p.. ISBN 0-252-01767-8. 
  4. ^ a b "Genealogy of Andrianampoinimerina" . 
  5. ^ a b c Ramilison, Emmanuel (1951). Ny loharanon'ny andriana nanjaka teto Imerina : Andriantomara-Andriamamilazabe. Imprimerie Ankehitriny. 
  6. ^ a b c Rasamimanana, & Razafindrazaka (1930). Ny Andriantopokoindrindra: Fanasoavana ny tantaran'i Madagasikara. Librairie Mixte. 
  7. ^ a b c d Dahl, O.C. (1991). Migration from Kalimantan to Madagascar. Egede Institute, Oslo. ISBN 82-00-21140-1 (8200211401). 
  8. ^ a b Schmidhoffer, August. "Some Remarks on the Austronesian Background of Malagasy music". Working Paper. 
  9. ^ a b Dahl, Otto Christian (1988). "Bantu Substratum in Malagasy in Linguistique de Madagascar et des Comores". Etudes Ocean Indien 9 (4): 91–132. 
  10. ^ a b Ottino, Paul (1974). "Le Moyen-âge de l'Océan Indien et le peuplement de Madagascar". Annuaire des pays de l'Océan Indien I: 197–221. 
  11. ^ Noiret, Fr. (2008). Le mythe d'Ibonia le grand prince. Karthala, coll. Traditions orales. ISBN 9782845869776. 
  12. ^ a b Kent, Raymond K. (1970). Early Kingdoms in Madagascar, 1500-1700. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 0030841712. 
  13. ^ Adelaar K.A., & Himmelmann N.P. (eds) (2005). The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. Routledge:London. ISBN 0700712860. 
  14. ^ a b Adelaar, K.A (2006). "The Indonesian migrations to Madagascar: Making sense of the multidisciplinary evidence". in Adelaar, Austronesian diaspora and the ethnogenesis of people in Indonesian Archipelago, LIPI PRESS. 
  15. ^ Ottino, Paul (1973). "La hiérarchie sociale et l'alliance dans le royaume de Matacassi". Bulletin de l'Académie Malgache IV (4): 53–89. 
  16. ^ a b c Berg, Gerald M. (1988). "Sacred Acquisition: Andrianampoinimerina at Ambohimanga, 1777-1790". The Journal of African History 29 (2): 191–211. 
  17. ^ Royal Malagasy Hills declared World Heritage
  18. ^ a b Ratsivalaka, R. Gilbert (2001). Les Malgaches et l'abolition de la traite eutopéenne des esclaves (1810 - 1817). Imprimerie Cnapmad. 
  19. ^ a b Keith Laidler, Female Caligula: Ranavalona, the Mad Queen of Madagascar, ISBN 0-470-02223-X, page 2
  20. ^ a b Genealogy of Andrianampoinimerina wives and children. 
  21. ^ Ravelojaona, Randzavola, Rajaonah G. (1937). Firaketana ny Fiteny sy ny Zavatra Malagasy. Antananarivo:Imprimerie Tanananarivienne. 
  22. ^ Larson, Pier M. (2000). History and Memory in the Age of Enslavement. Becoming Merina in Highland Madagascar, 1770-1822. Social History of Africa Series. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 414 p.. ISBN 0-325-00217-7. 


The Merina monarchy

King Andrianampoinimerina | King Radama I | Queen Ranavalona I | King Radama II | Queen Rasoherina | Queen Ranavalona II
Queen Ranavalona III


Persondata
NAME Andrianampoinimerina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ramboasalama; Nampoina; Imboasalama; Ny Ombalahibemaso; Andrianampoinimerinandriantsimitoviaminandriampanjaka
SHORT DESCRIPTION King of Imerina
DATE OF BIRTH ca. 1745
PLACE OF BIRTH Ambohimanga, Madagascar
DATE OF DEATH 1810
PLACE OF DEATH Antananarivo, Madagascar