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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

Madagascar

 

 

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

chameleon

 

 

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

Madagascar

 

 

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

Madagascar

 

 

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

malagasy

 

 

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

Antananarivo

 

 

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

orchid

 

 

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

baobab

 

 

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

pirate ship

 


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