Boina Kingdom

The Kingdom of Boina (sometimes known as Iboina) was a traditional state situated in what is now Madagascar.

The Kingdom was founded ca. 1690 by King Andriamandisoarivo. It was centered around Boina Bay in north-west Madagascar. Some time after 1832 it was occupied by Imerina and was annexed by Madagascar in 1840. The last ruler of this Kingdom was Queen Tsiomeko. Boina in the nord west and Menabe in the west were the kingdoms sprong in the eighteen century. The king of Boina was quasi-divine,interceding with god and ancestors.The land belonged to him. In the extreme north of the island the Antankarana kingdom paid tribute to Boina.[1]

In the Kingdom of Boina, the succession passed to a line of queens from about 1780, and this seems to have coincided with increased alien influence centred on the Arab and Indian Muslim traders at the foundation of the port of Majunga. By the end of the eighteenth century Boina Kingdom had been reduced to a town: the port of Fenoarivo. The Sakalava king Andriontosoly of the Boina kingdom in the Majunga area of Madagascar converted to Islam and fled to the Comoros when he lost power in 1825 following the invasion of the Merina. At Majunga the Boina had at their disposal a commercial centre run by islamized traders, the Antalotra, natives of East Africa or the Comoros. Boina was occupied by Merina military posts, especially along the Betsiboka river and on the coast. In 1810 Andrianampoinimerina was succeded by his equally ambitious son Radama I. Radama I developed a highly organised army and set about conquering Boina (the main Sakalava kingdom in the northwestern Madagascar) and the Betsimisaraka peoples to the east. Dissension within Boina were matched by the growing power of its rivals. The Boina kingdom had begun to disintegrate after the death of the great Queen Ravanhiny in 1808.[2]

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Rulers of Boina

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