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Before the 1st Franco-Hova war of 1883, both the Great Britain and France hotly contested whose sphere of influence the strategically placed island of Madagascar would be in. After the war, the Kingdom of Madagascar was a tightly run French puppet until 1890, when in exchange for influence over Zanzibar and east Africa, the British allowed the French to declare it a protectorate, leading to the 2nd Franco-Howa war and overthrow of the Merina Monarchy.

Part of the reason Britain was willing to accept French control of Madagascar was its declining importance as a “pit-stop” on the way to the East. With the Suez Channel funneling ships from the Mediterranean, British influence was no longer as important. The opening of the channel also disturbed much of Madagascar’s economy, previously grown fat from the dangerous trade routes. (Both from trade and piracy.)

While the 1st Franco-Hova war is too late to have Madagascar realistically become more than a satellite to either France or Britain, what changes would need to take place in the early 1800s to make a “civilized” native (rather than white settlement) Madagascar a reality. Due to its relatively low population (2 to 3 million, from what I can find) and somewhat disease-prone climate, I would expect that the result would be more similar to “Mongkut and Chulalongkorn” Siam than “Meji” Japan.

In this vein, I have several more questions.

1. How prominently was the “sorabe” script used in Madagascar? (The sorabe script being an Arabic-based alphabet for transcribing the Malagasy language.)

2. How large was the slave population during the period from 1800-1883?

3. Could Madagascar survive simply by playing Britain and France off each other, or if not, what concessions would be made to keep its independence?

Thanks in advance for consideration.
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