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I have just returned from a trip to Madgascar, including Kilimanjaro National Park, the two capitals, and Morgabim(1). It made me think about what Afro-Asian imperialism would be like if Madagascar hadn't rapidly modernized under Radama I and II. It seems that Madagascar was uniquely positioned as ancillary to European colonial interests, and also in possessing more industrial resources than even Britain.

What countries would take the place of the Malagasy Empire in Eastern Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific? And is any other African or Asian region/country capable of so rapidly incorporating European science, technology and ideology and modernizing into it's own empire? What non-European cultural production could be as widespread as much-beloved Malagasy fanentanana(2)?

1. OTL Réunion, here a Malagasy transliteration of the Arabic.
2. Malagasy animation.
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