Tôlanaro

Tôlanaro
Map of former Toliara Province showing the location of Tôlanaro (red).
Country	Madagascar
Region	Anosy

Tôlanaro or Tolagnaro (Malagasy: Tôlan̈aro [tolaˈŋarʷ]) is a city (commune urbaine) in Madagascar. It is the capital of Anosy Region and of Tôlanaro District. It has a port of local importance, and a new port has been built at Ehoala. Formerly Fort Dauphin, it was the most durable French settlement in Madagascar.

Contents 1 Location 2 Climate 3 History 4 Modern era 5 Ecology 6 See also 7 Gallery 8 References 9 External links 10 Timeline

Location

The city is situated next to and on a short, narrow peninsula on the southeastern edge of Madagascar. (Additional information on the Archeology, Climatology, Geology, Hydrology & Mineral Resources of this region can be found at Anosy.)

Climate

History

Fort Dauphin was founded in 1643 by the French East India Company who built a fort there, named in honor of the crown prince of France, the future Louis XIV. It was settled by around a hundred colonists, who found themselves involved in the local politics. The poor trade results (some ebony and little more was obtained) hardly justified the difficulties of the settlers, who suffered from tropical illnesses and other problems. After a conflict with the Antanosy people, the survivors were evacuated in 1674.

One Governor of this colony, Etienne de Flacourt, published the History of the Great Isle of Madagascar and Relations,^[2] which was the main source of information on the island for Europeans until the late 19th century. (For additional information on the early history of Tolagnaro (then called Fort Dauphin), see ^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} For an early picture of a grave site at Libanona, looking towards Bezavona, see http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b77024292/f1.planchecontact.swf Early picture of an Antanosy grave site at Libanona, looking towards Bezavona]</ref>.

After World War II and until Didier Ratsiraka took the presidency in 1975, Fort Dauphin had a thriving community of Malagasy, French, Chinese and Pakistani merchants with adequate roads connecting the city to Tulear to the west and Fianarantsoa to the west and then north. The port provided a means of exporting cattle to Mauritius and importing various goods from France and elsewhere. During the time Philibert Tsiranana was President of Madagascar, he enjoyed flying down to Fort Dauphin to stay in a villa above Libanona beach.

In 1975, the French businesses were nationalized, French citizen's assets were frozen and several were briefly imprisoned.

Fort Dauphin was the headquarters of American Lutheran missionaries American Lutheran Church who worked in southern Madagascar (see Malagasy Lutheran Church) starting in 1888 for almost 100 years. They were engaged in community development, education, evangelism and medical work and also operated what was known as the "American School" and the "Missionary Children's Home" (MCH). The school is now a Maternelle and the MCH is the Mahavoky Hotel. In 1959 about 25 American Lutheran missionary families and quite a few single missionaries were living in over 20 towns in an area that ran roughly from Fort Dauphin northeast to Manantenina, west to Ranomafana, northwest to Tsivory, north to Betroka southwest to Betioky and southwest to St. Augustine. When the number of students seeking a US education in Madagascar on the island declined rapidly in the late 1970s, the school briefly moved to operate alongside an NMS school in Antsirabe in the mid-1980s until finally the very few remaining students began attending the American School in Antananarivo in the 1990s. American missionary families and other English-speaking families in Madagascar (including kids from other missionary organizations, NASA, and US Embassy employees living in Antananarivo) and for a time, even East Africa, sent their children to this boarding school. While most of the students were from the US, there were also Malagasy, Canadian and Norwegian students who went to this school, which from the 1960s to the end of the 1970s averaged 50 to 60 students per year in grades 1-12. Notable alumni include Dr. Carl Braaten, a noted Lutheran Theologian and co-founder of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology and the theological journal Pro Ecclesia, Arndt Braaten, a pastor and professor at Luther College, David Brancaccio of the PBS NOW program, Dr. Peter Dyrud, Minneapolis Cardiologist, Dr. Pier Larson, Professor of African History, Johns Hopkins^[9] and Dr. Stan Quanbeck, medical missionary to Madagascar for 40 years.

The Lutheran missionaries also traded land above the original Fort Dauphin harbor for what was then a sand dune, which became Libanona where the cottages on top of the hill were built as a place for R&R and to live while they were visiting their children at the school. There is also a section of the town's cemetery where quite a few American Lutheran missionaries and several others are buried. (For a history of the early work of these Lutheran missionaries see ^[10][11][12])

Modern era

Since the early 1970s, Fort Dauphin suffered an economic decline due to lack of good road connections to the rest of the country, rendering its port of local importance only. This in spite of significant foreign exchange earned from the export of live lobster (250 to over 350 tonnes per year from 1990 to 2005),^[13] sapphires^[14] and, up until the hotels in town were all filled by those working on QMM's mining project in 2007, tourism. Tourists have not yet returned in any significant numbers.

The Anosy area around Tolagnaro is currently undergoing a massive transformation associated with the development of a new ilmenite mine by the QIT Madagascar Minerals company (a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group) in the area.^[15] A new port at Ehoala, just west of Tolagnaro^[16] as well as new roads and a variety of mining facilities and housing have been built at the cost of almost US$1 billion. These are the first major investments in the region's infrastructure for many decades. (For a history of this project as well as its social and environmental concepts, see ^[17]). The mine is controversial however due to anticipated social upheaval and adverse environmental impacts. some of which have begun to manifest.^[18] Health officials also fear HIV/Aids, which to date has been almost unknown in Madagascar, could spread to the island via foreigners working on the mine.^[19] Rio Tinto Alcan is also interested in mining an estimated 100 million tons of bauxite located near Manantenina which is approximately 100 km. northeast of Tolagnaro.^[20]

Today there are a variety of international non-governmental organizations with offices in Tolagnaro including Andrew Lees Trust,^[21] Anosy Community Development Trust,^[22] AVIA,^[23] Azafady,^[24] CARE,^[25] the Libanona Ecology Centre,^[26] and World Wildlife Fund.^[27]

Ecology

• Andohahela National Park is within driving distance of Tôlanaro, 40 km to the North West.
• Berenty Reserve

(For more information on the region's ecology, see Anosy and Ganzorn et al. (2007).^[28])

See also

• French Wikipedia site for Tolagnaro fr:Tôlanaro
• Port d'Ehoala
• Rio Tinto's QIT Madagascar Minerals
• Tôlanaro Airport
• Abraham Samuel

Gallery

References

External links

• Antanosy people
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Global Mission Bibliography
• Site officiel de l'office du tourisme de Fort-Dauphin
• Site amateur sur Fort-Dauphin
• Madagascar mineral sands project official website
• Fort-Dauphin sur WikiMapia
• Early picture of Fort Dauphin
• Kotoko. Fort Dauphin

Timeline

16th century

• 1508 - Diego Lopez de Sequiera of Portugal anchors in first Ranofotsy, then Tolagnaro bay, finding metis Indians already living there and also at Manafiafy.

17th century

• 1642-43 - First French colonial settlement in Anosy established by the French East India Company at Manafiafy, 40 km. northeast of Tolagnaro, but after 26 of the 40 settlers died within the first several months there, settlement was moved to what became Fort Dauphin.
• 1643-73 - Several different French Governors of Fort Dauphin colony sought to conquer Anosy, pillaging and then burning hundreds of villages, killing thousands of Malagasy, enslaving others and stealing tens of thousands of cattle. During this time French living there also fought for several of the Antanosy kings. Fort Dauphin was a rough place to live. According to one source:

With the exception of some officers who feared God, there was neither order nor justice in the quarter of the Europeans. The most atrocious robberies were committed with impunity. The cattle of the natives was taken by force: they were massacred without mercy, when they did not give it cheerfully: they treated as an outrage upon temporals, the representations and complaints of a conduct so contrary to justice and humanity.

• 1646 - 12 Frenchmen who had mutinied against Governor Pronis exiled with several Malagsy women are sent to Reunion, becoming the first residents of that island.
• 1650 - For what Fort Dauphin looked like per Flacourt at this point in time, see the map above under "History."
• 1655 - Most of Fort Dauphin burned down during festivities for the arrival of Governor Ponis.
• 1658 - Flacourt's Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar is published in Paris, but then Flacourt dies when his ship is sunk by Corsairs on his return to Fort Dauphin.

• 1672 - In October the Dunkuerquoise anchors in harbor, carrying amongst other things ?? teenage French girls, who were being sent to Reunion to become wives of the settlers there. They jumped ship, however, and were soon all married to Frenchmen, who in turn divorced their Malagasy wives. This soured relationships with the Antanosy to the point that at midnight of Christmas that year, over half the French colony was massacred. The rest of the colony was either already in or fled to the fort where they stayed awaiting a ship to rescue them.
• 1674 - In September the White Pigeon, a company ship, came and evacuated all the surviving settlers to Reunion.
• 1675 - A ship stopped at Fort Dauphin to find the settlement in ashes. French King Louis XIV decided to abandon the colony which cost shareholders 10 millions livres (over 1/7 the cost of what it took to build the Versailles Palace).

18th century

• 1697-1705 - Abraham Samuel, Indian Ocean Pirate, a runaway mulatto slave from Martinique, whose pirate ship washed ashore in Fort Dauphin bay, occupies the abandoned fort and is identified by a local princess as the child she had borne to a Frenchman during the occupancy of the colony. Thus he is declared heir to the vacant throne of the kingdom and, together with at least 45 other pirates, some who served as his bodyguards, as "King" Samuel, he conducts both piracy of ships stopping in the harbor and engages in warfare with a neighboring Antanosy kingdom after claiming rule over the old heartland of the Zafiraminy. This settlement rivaled St. Mary for some time.
• 1705 - Samuel's kingdom ends with his death.
• 1706 - A Dutch captain is unable to find out what happened to Abraham Samuel from the local Antanosy king.

• 1730 - Pirate Olivier Levasseur was captured near Fort Dauphin, taken to Reunion and hanged.

• 1745-61 - Fort Dauphin a Compagnie des Indes outpost.

• 1766-70 - A French naval officer reestablished a colony at Fort Dauphin, including an attempted agricultural concession at Fenoarivo???. In 1769 he introduced prickly pear cactus from Mexico to Fort Dauphin to protect the seaward side of the Fort from pirates and strong storms. In the next century it spread across southern Madagascar, as it became very popular as a way to enclose and protect both cattle and villages.

19th century

• 1804 - French colony again at Fort Dauphin???

• 1818-25 - French post at Fort Dauphin until Anosy was conquered by 4,000 Imerina. This included the French garrison at Fort Dauphin where the Imerina soldiers tore down the French flag and raised King Radama I's instead. They sent the 5 French soldiers and 1 officer there to Isle St. Marie and begin to extract taxes from the Antanosy. Fort has 800 Hova and some Sakalava troops for some time. This resulted in some of the Antanosy people moving west to the Onilahy valley near Bezaha.

• 1852 - Six month siege of Fort Dauphin by the Antanosy was finally broken by Imerina reinforcements sent by Lambert who broke through to the town.

• 1869 - Ranovalona II, Queen of the Imerina, became a Christian, requiring her representatives around the country to build churches. Some time after this a church was built in Fort Dauphin by the Imerina living there, who eventually made attendance mandatory for those living in Fort Dauphin.

• 1880 - Two Malagasy Christian evangelists were sent by the London Mission Society to Anosy and began to work with the church there, eventually taking over leadership of it.
• 1888 - Having spent over 6 weeks walking down from Antananarivo, American Rev. John and Lena Hogstad arrived in Fort Dauphin, accompanied by the Rev. Nilsen-Lund of the Norwegian Mission Society, for whom Hogstads worked, who helped them with their journey and to settle there. Rev. Hogstad and his wife began work on establishing a Lutheran church in Anosy, work which eventually expanded to encompass all of Anosy, Androy and the Mahafaly regions, with significant numbers of American Lutheran pastors, evangelists, educators and medical staff working in southern Madagascar for the next 100 years. However, having been sent with the blessing of the Queen of Imerina, they were asked to start working with an existing Imerina congregation located just outside the Fort in the midst of where the Imerina lived. While they were supported by the Imerina Governor in these efforts, this support meant they were viewed as collaborators with the hated Imerina by the Antanosy.[27]
• 1889 - First 7 Antanosy youth baptized by Rev. Hogstad. Shortly thereafter the Hogstads began a Lutheran primary school, purchasing the liberation of Rabenjamina, a young local slave who'd been taught how to read and write in Antananarivo, who became the first teacher. Before long Hogstad had also started an evangelist training school, though 8of the 10 first students were either Betsileo or Imerina. In the next 10 years Lutheran Boarding Schools were established in Fort Dauphin for girls (1895, moved to Manafiafy in 1902, with another girls school established in Behara) and boys (1897, moved to Manantantely in 1921, where there also was a mission printing press).

• 1892 - London Mission Society ended their work in Fort Dauphin, having handed over leadership of the their congregation to Rev. Hogstad.
• 1890s - Over 1,500 tonnes of caoutchouc (rubber) collected in Anosy region exported to Europe from Fort Dauphin. Some of it is used in the first tires made by Michelin.
• 1896 - Apostolic Vicariate of Madagascar established Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Madagascar, with its headquarters in Fort Dauphin (see Roman Catholic Diocese of Tôlagnaro for more information on the work of the Roman Catholic Church in Anosy.)

20th century

• early-1900s - Jenny (Swiss-German) family is one of the first Europeans to settle in Fort Dauphin, by 1901 having established a Swiss "house of business," initially exporting 4-5 million French francs per year of caoutchouc from Fort Dauphin for several years. Pierre de Bellier de Villentroy (Frenchman living on Reunion, an uncle of Alain and Henri de Heaulme), began mining mica near Tsivory, which he exported through Fort Dauphin.
• 1901 - The English "Union" and "Castle" lines were running ships from Cape Town to Tamatave, with a stopover in Fort Dauphin.
• 1902 - First government hospital built in Fort Dauphin.
• 1904-05 - Rebellion by Taisaka spread to Antanosy, led by king Befanatrika, against French rule in Esira, Isaka, Mahampoana, Manafiafy, Manambaro, Manantenina and Ranomafana results in many of the expatriates living in the Anosy region along with many Malagasy Christians retreating to the rundown fort in Fort Dauphin. This lasted for 5 months, eventually put down by French with aid from their Senagalese soldiers. The region also suffered from smallpox and locusts.
• 1909 - Lutheran school for Evangelists and a Seminary opened in Fort Dauphin.

• 1911 - First American Lutheran Missionary John Hogstad, by this time working in Mananteniana, became very ill with malaria and was carried down to Fort Dauphin for medical care, but died and is buried there in the Lutheran Missionary part of the city's cemetary.
• 1915 - Miss Clara Dysland arrived in Fort Dauphin to open the American School for Lutheran Missionary children, with the old American School building (now a maternelle) and the Trano Vato (now the Hotel Mahavoky) built specifically for this in 1923. High school courses were added in 1930.

• 1920? - Marthe de Heaulme arrives in Fort Dauphin as a Catholic novitiate, becoming Sister Gabrielle of the Daughters of Charity, eventually founding and heading 3 different religious communities in southern Madagascar. Alain and Henri de Heaulme moved south to work on Pierre de Bellier de Villentroy's mica mine near Tsivory, where Alain became manager.
• 1926 - Cyclone which severely damaged the government hospital.
• 1928 - Henry de Heaulme arrived in Fort Dauphin, having driven down from Tananarive in a Harley Davidson motorcycle with his wife and son in the side car. He established an office in Fort Dauphin with the intent to export mica and sisal from western Anosy (and eventually eastern Androy as well) through Fort Dauphin.

• 1940 - Vichy France takes over control of Madagascar. Mica continued to be exported from Fort Dauphin to both Axis and Allied countries.
• 1942 - In the Battle of Madagascar British forces replace Vichy France's control of Madagascar with that of the Free French, which included landing British soldiers in Fort Dauphin. With Free French in control of Madagascar, the Swiss Jenny family is imprisoned in Fort Dauphin and M. Seyrig, an Alsatian who was the Fort Dauphin harbormaster at that time, was arrested, tortured and died in prison in Tananarive.
• 1947 - Short-lived attack in Fort Dauphin at the start of the Malagasy rebellion against the French. MDRM members living in Fort Dauphin were arrested and tortured by French authorities during the rebellion. While many of the foreigners in Fort Dauphin slept either in the heavily guarded Jenny house or at the fort, due to fear of attack from rebels, this never happened. de Heaulme, Jenny and Silva funded flying a person to Tananarive where Catholic brothers there were requested to open a school for teenage boys in Fort Dauphin, but this was turned down due to a lack of teachers.

• 1950s-60s - Boetchi (Swiss), de Heaulme and Jenny families and the Lyonnaise and Marseillaise companies exported wild castor oil beans, cattle (10-30,000/year), mica and sisal through Fort Dauphin port.
• 1956 - First Lycee built in Fort Dauphin, but due to what had historically been poor education in the area, only 30 students qualified for entry, even though the school was equipped to handle 400.
• 1958 - Henri de Heaulme becomes president of the Provincial Assembly and vice-president of the National Assembly, urging independence for Madagascar. He is present with Tsiranana and Monja Jaona at the signing of the new constitution.

• 1960 - Madagascar became an independent nation, with President Tsiranana describing the French residents as the 16th tribe.
• 1962 - 99 ships docked in Fort Dauphin, mainly for the export of sisal.
• 1963 - 105 Chinese living in Tolagnaro
• 1965 - Population of Fort Dauphin is 11,800 and the population of the Antanosy in the Anosy region estimated to be 148,132. Port of Fort Dauphin was handling 30,000 tons per year.

• 1971 - Hundreds of MONIMA supporters, arrested due to the uprising against the national government in Androy, placed on a cargo ship and sent to prison on Nosy Lava.
• 1972-76 - Quite a European foreign residents who had been conducting business in the Tolagnaro and Amboasary areas returned to Europe when the Malagasy government refused to renew their visas as the Malagasy government shifted from being pro- to anti-French.
• 1975 - Name of "Fort Dauphin" changed to Tolagnaro as part of Ratsiraka's revolution. Cyclone Deborah damages much of Anosy, including Tolagnaro, knocking out electricity and water supply for several days. Ratsiraka orders the nationalization of foreign owned businesses, resulting in Jenny family moving back to Switzerland, their holdings in Tolagnaro nationalized. By this time Tolagnaro had become a veritable melting pot of ethnicities, of which the the Antanosy were not the majority. It also included many Tatsimo, Antandroy, a middle-class of Malagasy from the highlands working in administration and business, as well as European, Pakistani and Creole people.
• 1976 - de Guitaut family turned over management of their sisal plantation to Merina overseers, shuttered their house, and returned to France.
• 1978-79 - What the Alien Digest reported as a "cigar-shaped [UFO] craft" crashing near Tolagnaro is actually a flare lit by a foreign resident of Tolagnaro. This results in the September arrest of Jean de Heaulme and 4 other foreigners who were held in the Fort Dauphin prison until February 1979. Nevertheless by June 26 of that year, Jean de Heaulme is an honored guest at the Malagasy Independence Day celebrations in Tolagnaro, though his passport is held by the Malagasy government for several years.

• 1990s - Tolagnaro becomes a major tourist destination and remains so until the mining construction in 2007 fills all the hotels in Tolagnaro with international and Malagasy working on that.

2000s

• 2000 - Cholera outbreak in Tolagnaro.
• 2003 - Tolagnaro is the 3rd most visited city in Madagascar by tourists, with 88,000 traveling to Anosy. Joint French-Malagasy military exercises in Tolagnaro.
• 2004 - Air Madagascar begins flights directly between Reunion and Tolagnaro.
• 2006 - In May EcoDev Madagascar organizes a "Rando de l'histoire" in Tolagnaro.
• 2007 - Air Madagascar begins a flight directly between Joburg and Tolagnaro. Ministry of Justice removed the prosecutor and the President of the Tribunal in Fort Dauphin as punishment for their ineffectiveness in prosecuting sex tourists. The Morals and Minors Brigade in Tolagnaro alerted schools that child trafficking victims were being contacted by exploiters via cell phone. Tolagnaro also closes several nightclubs which were allowing minors on their premises.