Conquests of the Southern Winds: A Malagasy ATL


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"The ancestors have spoken during the Holiest of Moons, no more shall we meander the north lands. The captain has lost himself in exotic objects and sells our daughters and sons to foriegn men for favor. He has lost his ways and apes that of the Fragrant Peoples with much merriment.

Tonight we rise sturdy as the mast, tomorrow we catch the winds of our own destinies!"


-Green Forest "Mother-Of-Us-All"


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Madagascar as the story goes or at least has gone is a subcontinental island off the coast of Southeast Africa. Isolated for millions of years it was a pristine rainforest that in its luxuriance brought about endemicy unlike anywhere else on earth.

Relatively recent in settlement (10-14th century), the island was steadfastly iron age and rice farming in its formation; created by southeast Asians who went on to enslave Bantu from Mozambique who introduced cattle husbandry.

These peoples very quickly went about an environmental blitzkrieg of epic proportion destroying in less than a thousand years 85% of forest cover as well as caused the extinction of a number of birds; the largest never before seen by humanity as well as pygmy Hippos, giant tortoises and lemurs species whose form and functions mimicked that of monkeys, gorillas and sloths.

This story of OTL Madagascar of course is much more complicated.

Recent subfossil findings show intentional cut marks from tools on the bones of extinct animals have strongly suggested a human population some two thousand years older than previously thought.

While assumed to be "Hunter gatherers" (given the lack of grains in the archeological record) evidence shows cannabis pollens in the highlands around 700-900 years earlier than the suggested timeline shows horticultural knowledge.

The estimated 90% forest cover was not in fact shown to be such, rather environmental mosaics and natural fires and landslides created a much more varied and diverse range of ecosystems.

Human modification while marked was not nearly as systematic.

Unlike in New Zealand where there are thousands of hacked bones from Moa, Madagascar has few examples of human modified elephant bird bones. A prevailing belief is a chicken derived diseases wiped them out along with vegetation shifts and human gathering of eggs.

Linguists such as Adelaar and Blench believe the proto-malagasy language and people with its borrowings swahili as well as cushitic and a yet unknown language were already mixed before settlement of the island.

Later migrations from Srivijaya, India, Arabia and Southeast Africa created a number of variants within a rather cohesive Malagasy body of peoples from Antemoro who are of Arab ancestry to the Betsimisaraka's zana-malata who descend from European pirates.

But most strangely and rarely noted within the genetics of islanders there exists "Polynesian" motifs that's distribution begins in the easternmost of Indonesia near Papua, far from the supposed Austronesian homeland as well as specific Malagasy motifs such as a variant of M29 found no where else on earth shows exceptional time lapse but also a retelling of who the first Malagasy actually were.

The Merina stories of the Vazimba short & black farmers with kingdoms ruled by women such as the earliest recorded Queen Rangita ("Kinky Hair") are turning out to be closer and closer to fact.
 
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The five senses have overridden the common sense of man for millennia. The need to obtain what is most precious to our nose, eyes and tongues can make humans go on incredible journeys...

Found within the private home of Puzurum a land agent at Terqa, Syria 1596 BCE in what was once Western Mesopotamia hidden in a small pot within the pantry was a spice clove derived from the flowers of Syzygium aromaticum found on only one archipelago on earth: Maluku.

Genetics have shown remains from the city are not found in modern day Syrians but rather are close to markers found in South Asia and amongst the sea nomads of Western mainland Southeast Asia.

According to a recent studies two maternal lineages of certain Malagasy share these same haplogroups.

This story begins some 3500 years ago; pliers of spices centered around the Maluku make their way across the waters during the great monsoonal winds.

Hatshepsut seeks prestige and power, ordering a great expedition to seek out the exotic goods of Punt around Eritrea and Somalia.

An inscription found in Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple dating to the 15th century BCE speaks of her representatives being compiled to bring back

"all goodly fragrant woods, heaps of myrrh-resin, with fresh myrrh trees, with ebony and pure ivory, green gold of Amu, cinnamon-wood, khesyt-wood, ahmut-incense, senter-incense, eye makeup, apes, monkeys, dogs, skins of the southern panther, and with natives and their children"

The trade of spices, especially cinnamon was so greatly attached with Somalia and Eritrea that for centuries it was one of the greatest kept secrets from the West. It was believed this Asian spice was in fact grown in "Aethiopia". It is said the sailors who brought cinnamon from Southeast Asia to Rhapta and Somalia were forbidden to bring anything made using coconut (a domesticate from SEA) to quell suspicion and firmly hold on their monopoly.
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Green Forest "Mother-of-Us-All" captive and most senior crew member who called for the death of the captain luxuriating in relative opulence will go down as demigod and common ancestor for many.

The Maui of the Western Indian oceans.

She and her people are an ancestral offshoot of the same people that sprang the Sea Gypsy Orang Laut, Moken and Moklen. A "Negrito" and Melansian related peoples who are the inheritors of deep ocean travel between the lands of Sunda and Sahul.

These people were at one point vegeculturalists, cultivating Banana, Yam, Taro and other starchy foods. According to archeo-linguist Roger Blench there is a deep history of cultural expansion from Island Southeast Asia to the Himalayas and India at a still unknown time.

It is said that Banana were brought on long distant voyages not for their fruit but because the stalks could be stored and eaten during long travel. These stalks came to Uganda and other regions of the Great Lakes some 3kya spurring mass population growth and changing the trajectory and expansion of Humans on Africa.

But in this story the ship had stayed for far too long, the Banana stalks were eaten away and at any case there was another food that grew on the spice ship crew and kept their spirits up; finger millet, it's malt and the beer brewed from it.
 
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They took the first winds after burning down the trade post. Along with the murder of captain and presiding chief the crew pillaged of both home and kraal & took with them girls and boys to make up for their own auctioned off children and then some.

The young ones were gangly as the resin trees their parents cultivated and harvested, with forehead bulging and hair so limp and loose that it obeyed the wind with even the slightest breeze, but their coloring was admired "red as the bark of cinnamon".

Green Forest commanded they return to the island pitstop they set anchor to before reaching the land of Punt in time for the approaching rainy season to plant. As they sailed back the crew approached the greater of two islands filled with plants of much whimsy and queerness.

It's inhabitants were much like the coastdwellers, speaking their own language while surely foreign also spoke a pidgin over many generations of voyages that maintained a certain quality to it that was understood.

So between Green Forest and the more dolice/willing of young ones a deal was struck with the chief (no doubt horrified for what the child explained of their recent events)...

Before every annual rainy season the crew shall remain so long as they pay tribute and protect the defenseless islanders from mauraders.

Three calves were taken from the ship and slaughtered; twenty ostrich eggs worth of beer distributed and a feast was had with dance and bits of gold for everyone to have.

"There is a chance in this strange land after all" Green Forest thought to herself.

Being honest with herself, while she didn't question what the ancestors told her to do -for what they said was to never be questioned- her fears for what would happen next was anyone's guess.

So she sat about, for a moment fears dissapated; singing and clapping to drums and ululation. As the celebrations went on a boulder or something that looked like a boulder meandered "I should stop drinking" she whispered to herself. But after a few minutes of clapping she notices the rock getting closer. "What?!" Her eyes bulging: the rock was in fact a tortoise of much immensity inspecting curiously to the sounds and smells of moisture.

"What a strange land indeed."
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The crew growing restless of settled life go about creating ships of much agility and finesse as years go by, the wood cannot make the great double outrigger they loving maintain but what can be made are single outriggers plying the ocean routes to pillage ships and liberate crews to join them in their declaration of freedom.

All was well for the first two decades, the original islanders whittled away by disease, assimilation or in fear fled to the mountains numbered no more than a few dozen amongst the settlement.

But then the day of many masts came across the horizon spotted by a scout. The warning flags and smoke signals were raised outrigger to outrigger down to the coastal posts chaining around the island.

"If what you say is true, then we must not risk death today" Green Mother in all her wizened beauty flatly remarked.

"Flee?!" He exclaimed "Are we a school of sardines! Let us fight these slavers, we are not our parents; I do not fear their shackles!"

"It is because you've never been made into bondage that you are willing to surely lose your freedom."

She turned her head made so small by voluminous white Afro up to a willowy woman standing behind her

"Dear wife, tell the people to gather their things and burn all that cannot be harvested.

And you boy!

Listen and listen well; never again will we be under the yoke of other men."

And so they fled some 300. The traders seeing only a great cloud of smoke know to the south the direction these runaways are heading into is that of the land of cannibals.

No need to go after them, the savages would get them first.

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Lying some 240 kilometres (150 mi) east of the Horn of Africa and 380 kilometres (240 mi) south of the Arabian Peninsula the 20 million year old island was settled by modern humans about the time of the Pleistocene.

Showing little innovation it is assumed that particular population was short lived. A second wave is said to have settled in the Holocene around 11kya sharing a common origin with Cushitic speakers from both sides of the Red Sea. Finally the last major wave some 3kya a Neolithic expansion occurred with the introduction of cattle and agriculture.

The people on the island speak a language of the same name. While Semitic on the surface Socotran retained within it the Cushitic substratum that connects these people with Mehri, Somali and Agaw.

Socotra was a major trading port for dozens of ethnic groups and merchants. Strewn throughout the islands is the grafitti of over a dozen languages stretching back over 2,000 years.

They traded in fragrances and tortoise shells, livestock and grains. In this TL the first Neolithic peoples to not just arrive but settle are Green Forest's people.
 
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Deleted member 67076

This is good stuff. It seems the traditional Indian Ocean trading networks have expanded further south far earlier, and Madagascar gets to join in on the Near Eastern Cultural family.
 
This is good stuff. It seems the traditional Indian Ocean trading networks have expanded further south far earlier, and Madagascar gets to join in on the Near Eastern Cultural family.
Actually I'm not really at a POD yet save for the numbers of people involved in this its feasible.

My second post is all OTL until the underscore and still within the realm of likelihood given the 2,000bce dated remains of hunting in northern Madagascar. In all likelihood there was a migration from Punt on down.

Oppenheimer talks at length about Southeast Asian and Mesopotamian interaction and Blench writes a bit about a Southeast Asian expansion into India.
Then there is the proliferation of African crops in Indus Valley: Pearl Millet, Sorghum, Finger Millet. Also Tamarind, Baobab, roselle.

Puntites and Cushitics I don't consider Middle Eastern. Also Iraqw has some influence in Beosi Malagasy language.

I appreciate your interest so far :3
 
Delonix edule, the Kañuskussikan or Kañu
The vegetable flame tree, is a very popular and most beautiful agroforestry tree that has been very widely introduced to tropical, subtropical and warm temeperatr countries around the world. It has been observed to have naturalized in many countries, and is invasive in Australia, and on Christmas Island and a number of Pacific islands. It has a tendency to form monocultures and prevent the regeneration of native species if not care taken by people.​

The Kañu looks nothing like what Westerners might consider a vegetable plant to be. It is a tree. A true Jack-and-the-beanstalk kind of crop, it is indeed related to beans, albeit distantly. It often grows more than 10 meters tall, and people harvest all the pods they can get, sometimes climbing all the way to the top

Most of the common names for D. Edule are derived from the shape of pods resembling fingernails. The pods are 8 cm broad and 45-75 cm long, ending in a beak when mature . They are green and flaccid when young and are compressed, firm and rather thick when mature. Seeds are medium to large, varied in color from beige to yellowish to rust, oblong.

It is it's seeds that are of most value.
The seeds are high in lipid (29%), protein (35%), carbohydrate (16%), and are a good source of fat and calcium. Though rarely eaten in its raw or green unfermented state.

These seeds are fermented and made into strongly aromatic pastes and mashes collectively referred to as Kudenkan, often used in the preparation of most soups, stews, as well as sauces for basting, roasting and and recommended for poor communities whose diets lacks proteins and vitamin B.

In November to January they harvest the seedpods by pulling them down from the trees with a crook or retrieving them by scampering youths moving through the branchrs. The husks are removed and the seeds and pulp are placed into a wooden pestle and pounded to separate out the seeds from their covering. The seeds are then laid out to dry in the sun for a day, and once dry can be used immediately or stored for future use. To make kudenkan, the dried seeds are sorted, removing any small stones or small unusable seeds. The selected seeds are then placed in a large pot and boiled in water to soften and separate the hard seed coat. The seeds are then strained and placed along with wood ash, which acts as an abrasive, into a mortar made from a hollowed out log. After several minutes of pounding, the seeds are again laid to dry in the sun. Once complete, they are poured from one container (usually a calabash gourd) to another to winnow away the seed coat and the seeds are washed again to remove any remaining wood ash. The seeds are boiled again for two hours, and then drained and placed in a fabric bag, which is weighted to press away excess water.

Then chunks of specially sprouted and fermented malt are broken up by passing them through a screen. The crumbled malt is then mixed with a carefully measured amount of sea salt. The amount of salt used depends on the variety of paste and the intended length of fermentation. The salt preserves the enzymes and food value of the malt, while preventing any further mold growth.

9-1 ratio Kañu to malt is necessary to produce a richly aromatic kudenkan that can be aged indefinitely.

Kudenkan holds great cultural significance, particularly as an indicator of familial wealth. As such it will often be used as a token of honor for esteemed visitors to a household, akin to other cultures' customs. Amongst the highland dwellers it is tradition to bury a sealed vessel of kañu on the day of a child's birth, aging it until it is unearthed and used to season the food served on that daughter's wedding.

The natives rightly believed Kañu to possess fertilizing qualities which is concentrated in its green branches and moisture.

In one example, a ten-year experiment in Nepal showed that, by using the fertilizer tree Kañu on land on which no mineral fertilizer was applied, finger millet yields averaged 4.3k tonnes per hectare as compared to one tonne per hectare in plots without fertilizer trees nor mineral fertilizers.

It is the most commonly found tree across the entire island growing along and above fields of crops and enriching soil in times of fallow.

These fertilizing components not only are abstracted by the use of its own symbol, communicated through prayer.

From birth to marriage to death Kañu is the most significant tree in Islander identity, many say that the ancestors themselves created and gifted the tree to them upon settling the island and thus is mark of indigeniety for Islander peoples.

Through migration, both forced and voluntary they Kañu is remembered and known to many diaspora as a symbol of their Civilization. Its flavorings filling bowls and plates across the globe to this day.
 
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Its really difficult to follow.
It seems the TL, OTL Facts, Scientific Articles are all jumbled up together leaving it up to the Reader to sort through it all. Should probably make a clear indication of which is which.
 
Its really difficult to follow.
It seems the TL, OTL Facts, Scientific Articles are all jumbled up together leaving it up to the Reader to sort through it all. Should probably make a clear indication of which is which.

Thank you. I can and will edit to make things clearer! I think I'm just really just hyped to talk about recent studies changing the narrative of the Western Indian Ocean so I interweave TL and OTL.
 
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