CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT MADAGASCAR YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW
Added on: 3rd Sep 2016
BOTH POLITICALLY AND GEOGRAPHICALLY
MADAGASCAR NOW BELONGS TO AFRICA
BUT ORIGINALLY, IT WAS A PART OF MODERN ASIA.
AROUND 88 MILLION YEARS AGO, THE ISLAND SPLIT
FROM THE INDIAN PENINSULA, FOLLOWING THE
PREHISTORIC BREAKUP OF THE SUPERCONTINENT
GONDWANA
AS THE ISLANDĀ“S NATIVE PLANTS AND ANIMALS
HAVE EVOLVED IN RELATIVE ISOLATION,
MADAGASCAR HAS BECOME A TRUE BIODIVERSITY
HOTSPOT WITH OVER 90% OF ITS WILDLIFE
BEING ENDEMIC
OCCUPYING A TOTAL AREA OF 588,000 SQUARE
KILOMETRES (227,000 SQUARE MILES), MADAGASCAR
IS THE FOURTH LARGEST ISLAND IN THE WORLD
AFTER GREENLAND, NEW GUINEA AND BORNEO
THESE DAYS, MADAGASCAR IS HOME TO OVER 22
MILLION MOSTLY RURAL PEOPLE OUT OF WHICH
APPROXIMATELY 69 PERCENT LIVE BELOW THE
NATIONAL POVERTY LINE THRESHOLD OF
ONE DOLLAR PER DAY
FROM 1897 TO 1960, MADAGASCAR WAS A PART OF
THE FRENCH COLONIAL EMPIRE AND EVEN TODAY,
FRENCH IS ONE TWO OFFICIAL LANGUAGES IN THE
COUNTRY. MOST PEOPLE IN MADAGASCAR SPEAK
MALAGASY, THE OTHER LANGUAGE, AS THEIR
FIRST LANGUAGE THOUGH
ALSO KNOWN BY ITS FRENCH COLONIAL NAME “TANA”,
ANTANANARIVO IS THE CAPITAL AND LARGEST CITY IN
MADAGASCAR. FULL OF MODERN BUILDINGS,
FACTORIES AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES, THIS
1.6 MILLION METROPOLIS IS THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC,
EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL HEART OF THE COUNTRY
A TRUE BOTANICAL PARADISE, MADAGASCAR IS
HOME TO ALMOST 15,000 PLANT SPECIES INCLUDING
170 PALM SPECIES (THREE TIMES AS MANY AS ON
ALL OF MAINLAND AFRICA) AND 860 ORCHID SPECIES
HOWEVER, IT IS THE BAOBAB THAT HAS BECOME THE
MOST ICONIC PLANT OF MADAGASCAR. THERE ARE
JUST NINE SPECIES OF THIS BIZARRELY BEAUTIFUL
TREE IN THE WORLD, OUT OF WHICH SIX CAN BE
FOUND ONLY IN MADAGASCAR
MADAGASCAR USED TO BE A POPULAR RESTING
PLACE FOR EUROPEAN PIRATES AND WAS
RUMOURED TO BE THE SITE OF THE INDEPENDENT
PIRATE NATION OF LIBERTALIA. ACCORDING TO
THE STORY, PIRATES RENOUNCED THEIR NATIONAL
IDENTITIES AND CALLED THEMSELVES LIBERI,
MAKING THEIR OWN SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND
LAW. ALLEGEDLY, THEY WAGED WAR AGAINST
STATES AND LAWMAKERS, RELEASING PRISONERS
AND FREEING SLAVES
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