Merina people

Distribution of Malagasy ethnic groups; Merina territory in the center of the island is shown in lilac.

The Merina are the dominant "highlander" Malagasy ethnic group in Madagascar, and one of the country's eighteen official ethnic groups.^[1]

Their core territory corresponds to the former Antananarivo Province in the center of the island. Beginning in the late 18th century, Merina sovereigns extended political domination over the rest of the island, ultimately uniting it under their rule. In 1895–96, the French colonized Madagascar and abolished the Merina monarchy in 1897.

History

Rainilaiarivony, the Prime Minister and Commander in Chief of the Merina kingdom, reviewing his troops in 1883.

Austronesian settlement of Madagascar took place in the 1st millennium AD, and the various Malagasy sub-ethnicities would have emerged by the mid-2nd millennium. The Merina emerged as the politically dominant group in the course of the 17th and 18th century. Oral history traces the emergence of a united kingdom in the central highlands of Madagascar – a region called Imerina – back to early 16th-century king Andriamanelo.

By 1824, sovereigns in his line had conquered nearly all of Madagascar, particularly through the military strategy and ambitious political policies of Andrianampoinimerina (circa 1785–1810) and his son Radama I (1792–1828). The kingdom's contact with British and later French powers helped modernize the state, allowing its very capable leaders to build schools and an impressive modern army.

The Merina kingdom reached the peak of its power in the early 19th century. In a number of military expeditions, large numbers of non-Merina were captured and used for slave labour. By the 1850s, these slaves were replaced by imported slaves from East Africa, mostly of Makua ethnicity. Until the 1820s, the imported slave labour benefitted all classes of Merina society, but in the period of 1825–1861, a general impoverishment of small farmers led to the concentration of slave ownership in the hands of the ruling elite. The slave-based economy led to a constant danger of a slave revolt, and for a period in the 1820s, all non-Merina males captured in military expeditions were killed rather than enslaved for fear of an armed uprising. There was a brief period of increased prosperity in the late 1870s, as slave import began to pick up again, but it was cut short with the abolishing of slavery under French administration in 1896.^[2]

Due to the influence of British missionaries, the Merina upper classes converted to Protestantism entirely in the mid-19th century, following the example of their queen, Ranavalona II. The early spread of Protestantism among the Merina elite resulted in a degree of class and ethnic differentiation among practitioners of Christianity, as the former slaves of the Merina would mostly convert to Catholicism, turning a traditional class division into a confessional one in contemporary demographics.^[3]

The absolute dominance of the Merina kingdom over all of Madagascar came to an end with the first Franco-Hova War of 1883 to 1885. At the war's end, Madagascar ceded Antsiranana (Diégo Suarez) on the northern coast to France and paid 560,000 gold francs to the heirs of Joseph-François Lambert, a Frenchman who had been promised lucrative trade privileges under King Radama II that had later been revoked. Britain, in order to obtain the Sultanate of Zanzibar, renounced all claims to Madagascar in favor of France in the Berlin Conference of 1885. The end of the Merina kingdom came with the Second Franco-Hova War of 1895, when a French flying column landed in Mahajanga (Majunga) and marched by way of the Betsiboka River to the capital, Antananarivo, taking the city's defenders by surprise. In 1896, the French Parliament voted to annex Madagascar, forming the colony of French Madagascar in 1897.

With colonial rule and the abolition of slavery, the Merina lost much of their former dominance. Consequently, in the early 20th century, anti-French nationalist sentiment arose primarily among Merina intellectuals after the template of nationalism as it was current in Europe at the time. The group, based in Antananarivo, was led by a Malagasy Protestant clergyman, Pastor Ravelojoana. A secret society dedicated to affirming Malagasy cultural identity was formed in 1913, calling itself Iron and Stone Ramification (Vy Vato Sakelika – VVS). Repressed at first, the movement succeeded in negotiating concessions to Malagasy equality during the 1920s, and the 1946 constitution of the French Fourth Republic made Madagascar a territoire d'outre-mer (overseas territory) within the French Union. On March 29, 1947, Malagasy nationalists revolted against the French, and Madagascar gained full independence in 1958 as the Malagasy Republic. The Merina failed to raise to political dominance again. The first president of the Republic, Philibert Tsiranana, was a coastal Malagasy of Tsimihety ethnicity, and he was able to consolidate his power with a winner-takes-all system, while the Merina nationalists of the Congress Party for the Independence of Madagascar was weakened by rifts between leftist and ultranationalist factions. Identity politics were also at the core of the civil unrest and political crisis during the 2000s, where the Merina party was represented by Marc Ravalomanana (2009 Malagasy political crisis).

The Merina dialect of the Malagasy language is spoken natively by about a quarter of the population of Madagascar; it is classified as Plateau Malagasy alongside the Betsileo, Bezanozano, Sihanaka, Tanala, Vakinankaritra dialects. Merina is considered the national language of Madagascar. It is one of two official languages alongside French in the 2010 constitution putting in place the Fourth Republic. Previously, under the 2007 constitution, Malagasy was one of three official languages alongside French and English. It is the language of instruction in all public schools through grade five for all subjects, and remains the language of instruction through high school for the subjects of history and Malagasy language.

Society and culture

Social stratification

Among all the Malagasy ethnicities, the Merina historically have one of the most stratified caste systems. In general they are divided into three classes: the Andriana (nobles), the Hova (freemen), and the Andevo (slaves). Each class is then hierarchically divided into subclasses.

The Andriana are divided into seven subclasses, from the highest ranking to the lowest as follows:

• Zanakandriana: A small, elite sub-group of the Zazamarolahy from which a sovereign's successor was selected.
• Zazamarolahy (or Marolahy): Direct descendants of the sovereign.
• Andriamasinavalona: Noble descendants of the four sons of King Andriamasinavalona who were excluded from ruling one of the four sub-divisions of Imerina that had been made the fiefs of his four preferred sons.
• Andriantompokondrindra (or Zanatompo): Descendents of King Andriantompokondrindra, the oldest son of King Ralambo, who according to one popular legend was passed over for the kingship in favor of his brother Andrianjaka (reportedly due to a game of fanorona).
• Andrianamboninolona ("Princes Above the People") or Zanakambony ("Sons Above"): Descendents of those who accompanied King Andrianjaka on his conquest of Antananarivo
• Andriandranando (or Zafinadriandranando)
• Zanadralambo

Cuisine

The cuisine of the Merina is so heavily dominated by rice that the term for eating a meal is simply "to eat rice". This staple of the diet is so central to the Merina that it is considered to be masina, or holy, and a common Merina belief holds that the eating of rice is the key to moral behaviour, and the French who occupied Merina lands were often looked down upon for eating bread over rice.^[4] Beef also plays a large part in the Merina diet, and according to Merina oral history, it was a servant of King Ralambo who discovered that cows were edible and shared this knowledge with the king, who in turn informed the rest of his kingdom.^[4]

Ritual and folklore

The Vazimba feature prominently in Merina oral history and popular imagination. It has been speculated that the Vazimba were the original population of Madagascar, descended from Southeast Asian seafarers who may have had pygmy physical characteristics. Among some Malagasy, the Vazimba are not believed to be human at all, but rather a form of supernatural creature possessing magical powers (mahery).^[4]

In the first seven years of their lives, boys are typically circumcised in a ritual wherein relatives request the blessings and protection of the ancestors.^[4]

The Merina believe their land to be tanin'drazana (the land of the ancestors) and show reverence to their ancestors by burying them in family tombs typically located in the ancestral village of origin. Many believe that ancestors can intervene in events on Earth, for good or for ill, and this belief shapes the actions and thoughts of many Malagasy.^[4]

Economy

The Merina cultivate rice, cassava, potatoes, onions, and other crops and raise cattle and pigs. They constitute a large proportion of the educated middle-class and intellectual elite of Madagascar, serving as businessmen, technicians, managers, and government officials.

See also

• Malagasy people
• Merina Kingdom

References

External links

• The Merina nation
• Merina royal family