S4E23: Radama II

Radama II's coronation by a Catholic Priest

Radama II had a short reign over Madagascar, and his legacy is heavily debated. Charitable accounts of his reign paint him as a forward-thinking and humanitarian reformer, the "Renaissance Prince of Madagascar." However, more critical accounts highlight his capitulation to foreign interests and unwillingness to adhere to Merina norms of power sharing, leading to a dysfunctional government.

Radama II and his wife, Radobo

As a man essentially raised by a European father figure, Radama II was destined to hold some degree of sympathy towards the cause of foreigners in his kingdom. He was also culturally influenced by foreign elements, having converted to Christianity and enjoying western dress. Upon his mother's passing and his inheritance of the throne, he implemented numerous policies in alignment with European interests, including the legalization of Christianity, the reopening of trade with European countries, and the plan to implement the Lambert Charter. Furthermore, he ended Ranavalona's plans for self-sufficiency and industrialization, sought to relax fanampoana labor, and aimed to reduce the country's reliance on slavery.

In addition to these policies, Radama II sought to establish himself in the image of an "Enlightened Monarch", like his historical object of admiration, Napoleon Bonaparte. As part of this model, he began to ignore Merina constitutional norms, such as the consultation of nobility and bureaucrats prior to the implementation of policy. Instead, Radama favored ignoring his ministers and noble subjects in favor of associating with his close friends the Menamaso.

Ultimately, this unwillingness to include his ministers in decision-making as well as cuts to military pay resulted in a bureaucratic coup after only a couple years of rule. Radama was executed (or perhaps exiled in secret) and his wife was put in his place as a puppet ruler to the prime minister. From now until the end of the Merina kingdom, the monarchy remained a strictly regulated and constitutional position, a puppet to the state bureaucracy.

S4E22: The Lambert Coup

Joseph Lambert, labelled here with his nickname "Duke of Imerina", which he earned due to his control over 

Following the French invasion of Madagascar, the relationship between Ranavalona and the nations of Europe were at an all-time low. However, at the urging of her son, Prince Rakoto, and new moderate prime minister Rainivoninahitriniony, Ranavalona decided to reopen her country to European immigrants. One of the earliest immigrants to take advantage of this system was Joseph Lambert, a man who made a small fortune utilizing legal loopholes to trade slaves despite the near-global outlawing of the practice.

Prince Rakoto, the future king Radama II

Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony

While Lambert initially acted as a loyal agent of the Merina crown, he quickly revealed that he had more ambitious plans. He concocted a conspiracy with multiple high-level Merina officials, including the prime minister and prince, as well as Europeans living on the island, like the industrialist Jean Laborde. They planned together to overthrow Ranavalona in a military coup and place Rakoto on the throne. Meanwhile, he had Rainivoninahitriniony and Rakoto sign a charter for a new "Madagascar Company", a private firm under Laborde's ownership. This company would possess a monopoly on Malagasy imports and exports, as well as a right to exploit all uncultivated Malagasy land, and unlimited mining and logging rights on the island.

However, it turned out that Laborde had underestimated Ranavalona. She had known about the plan since its conception, and allowed it to continue in an effort to reveal disloyalty in the government ranks. When the day came for the coup to begin, all members were arrested. The prime minister and prince were spared punishment, indicating that they were the likely sources of Ranavalona's knowledge of the plan. All other Malagasy supporters were executed, while all foreign supporters of the coup were deported.

The Laborde Coup represented the final severing of relations between Ranavalona's government and the nations of Europe. The fact that a European businessman had attempted to overthrow her almost immediately following the relaxation of immigration restrictions confirmed her suspicions of foreigners. The brief thaw of the 1850s was reversed, and the rest of her reign saw a return to diplomatic isolation.

S4E21: How Mad was the "Mad Queen" of Madagascar

 

Sea mangos (Tangena) the poisonous fruit used in the notorious trial by ordeal

Ranavalona holds a unique place in Malagasy history as one of the island's longest reigning monarchs and arguably the most impactful ruler in its history. Ranavalona's rule saw radical shifts in every major contentious political matter in 19th century Madagascar. The queen is also one of the most notorious leaders not only from Madagascar, but one of the most infamous political leaders of any polity on earth. However, recent historical scholarship has shifted towards a more nuanced perspective of the "Mad Queen of Madagascar." 

Much of Ranavalona's negative reputation can be traced back to her falling out with the London Missionary Society. While Ranavalona maintained positive relations with the organization during the early segment of her reign, her perception shifted. She became increasingly concerned that the rising popularity of heavily syncretized Christianity in her kingdom would lead to a decline in veneration of the Merina ancestors, and subsequently a loss of faith in the ideological system which supported her royal legitimacy. Ranavalona banned Christian baptisms and ordered existing concerts to return to their original faith. While most Malagasy christians obeyed the coercive order, the few who refused to de-convert were treated to harsh punishments, often escalating to the death penalty.

An illustration of the persecution of Christians in Madagascar

Ranavalona's reign also saw the widespread reimplementation of Tangena, a trial by ordeal in which the accused was made to consume a toxic fruit, and the toxin's effect on their body was used to gauge their guilt. The Tangena Ordeal had an estimated fatality rate of between 30 to 70 percent, with the danger varyingly immensely by the ripeness and dilution of the fruit.

An artist's render of a Tangena trial: 1873

Ranavalona's reign had an interesting character that defined easy classification. While the brutality of Ranavalona's reign was undoubtedly exaggerated, it was brutal nonetheless. It was also a period of rapid, if unsustainable, economic and technological progress.

To her credit, Ranavalona is often praised for her defense of Madagascar's sovereignty against foreign incursions. In addition to defeating a French invasion in 1829, Ranavalona's army also defeated a joint Anglo-French intervention force in 1845. When British and French soldiers attempted an amphibious landing at Toamasina, they were rebuked and routed by the garrison of the city's fort.

The Fortress at Toamasina: 1845

However, Ranavalona would soon find out that the greatest threat to her sovereignty did not manifest in the form of foreign armies, but rather in a group of scheming advisors. We will focus on the Lambert plot and the final severing of the relationship between Ranavalona and the Europeans in our next episode.

S4E20: Progress for the Few, Misery for Many

Large auction of enslaved workers in Antananarivo, 1860s.

The economic progress made under Ranavalona's early reign was seemingly awe-inspiring. The country had rapidly transformed from a feudal state pumping endless sums of cash into perpetually failing companies, into a more coherent system of state-run capitalism. However, this economic progress came at an enormous human price, and was propped up by a system of horrifically brutal exploitation.

Enslaved worker carrying cattle hides, 1880s.

This episode will focus on unfree labor within the Merina economy, with a focus on how the Merina system justified and explained the use of enslaved and corvee labor, the effect that reliance on unfree labor had on the Merina economy, and how unfree laborers responded to their oppression.

S4E19: Western Technology, Malagasy Spirit

 

The remnants of one of the blast furnaces at Mantasoa

Malagasy political priorities were massively altered by the failed French invasion of Madagascar in 1829. While the attackers had ultimately been expunged, the refusal of the Malagasy's British allies to support them in the war effort resulted in a new premium being placed on developing a military capable of independently defending Imerina from foreign attacks.

James Cameron, LMS missionary and artisan, pictured here several decades after his arrival in Madagascar.

Ranavalona also sought to improve the fortunes of the failing foreign run firms throughout madagascar. Due to high transportation costs and constant material shortages, foreign run industrial firms based in Madagascar struggled to compete on the international market. By 1830, most of them were loss makers and only still in existence due to heavy government subsidies.

Ranavalona sought to transform these loss makers into a useful government expenditure by retooling them to focus on developing supplies for the army. James Cameron, a missionary, chemist, and  carpenter, was tasked with developing a recipe for gunpowder which only relied on locally available materials, and then building a gunpowder mill. John Canham, a missionary and leather tanner, made fewer products for the consumer market and started producing more military uniforms.

Jean Laborde, the French blacksmith turned industrialist, had a close relationship with the Malagasy royal family

The most influential foreign industrialist was Jean Laborde. Arriving in Madagascar from a shipwreck in 1831, Laborde got into contact with Ranavalona and became the head of a project to develop a cannon factory. Eventually, he would run the largest industrial project in Malagasy history: the creation of a multi-purpose industrial park at Mantasoa. In addition to cannon factories, Mantasoa featured silkworm farms, hydraulic powered blast furnaces, housing for workers, and a private residence for the queen.

The Mantasoa Industrial Complex

Ranavalona used her growing military industrial complex to double the size of her standing army, and resumed her late husband's campaigns of expansion. Under Ranavalona, Imerina reconquered countless rebellious territories, destroyed its longtime Sakalava rivals in Boeny, nearly did the same to the other Sakalava kingdom of Menabe, and extended its influence across southern Madagascar.

However, while Ranavalona's rule can selectively appear like a Malagasy golden age, a horrific system of oppression fueled her kingdom's economic and territorial growth, as well as its political stability. The atrocities committed by her government and that fueled the economic growth of Imerina will feature as the main topic of the next episode. 

S4E18: The Rise of the "Mad Queen" of Madagascar

1905 portrait of Ranavalona I

Ranavalona I have may be the most famous (or infamous) figure yet to be covered on this podcast. She is, for example, the first figure from this podcast to feature in her own pop history biography. The title of that book adequately summarizes Ranavalona's incredibly negative reputation in Western popular conception: "Female Caligula." Until relatively recently, the view of Ranavalona as a bloodthirsty and sadistic tyrant remained unchallenged, and the image of the "Mad Queen of Madagascar" became the definitive description of Ranavalona.

But what if it's wrong? What if the reality of Ranavalona's reign was far more complex than her depiction as a one-dimensional villain? Throughout the next several episodes, we'll examine the long reign of Ranavalona, observe how she achieved this infamous reputation, and assess the fairness of her inclusion among history's most infamous figures.

Enslaved workers packing rice - 1856

Ranavalona rose to power on the back of a military coup following her husband's death in 1828. Upon assuming the throne, Ranavalona was immediately beset by numerous problems which she would have to address throughout her reign. The early industrial firms supported by Radama were failing, the growing number of enslaved workers was challenging the traditional labor hierarchy, sampy guardians were becoming increasingly resentful of Christian missionaries, and a French invasion in 1829. These early challenges would shape Ranavalona's future administration in multiple ways. The British, Merina allies, refused to help defeat the French invasion, sewing a deep mistrust of European powers within Ranavalona. Additionally, while she remained relatively friendly to Christians at first, the conflicts between Sampy guardians and Christian missionaries would eventually send Ranavalona down a path of persecution that will define her historical legacy.

S4E17: The Forges of Amoronkay

 

Malagasy workers running an iron forge.

Following the Merina abolition of the exportation of enslaved workers to European colonies in 1817, Radama had hoped that a stipend obtained from the British Empire would be enough to offset economic losses. On the one hand, this hope made sense. The slave trade between Madagascar and the primary British colony in the region, Mauritius, had been on the decline since the legal abolition of the practice in 1807. While local plantation owners continued smuggling enslaved workers, the colonial government began clamping down harder on the underground trade. Initially, the colonial government instead began importing Chinese indentured servants in the early 1810s, further weakening Mauritian demand for enslaved workers (our latest premium episode focuses on the history of the Chinese diaspora population in Mauritius, so if that sounds cool to you, please support the show and check it out!)

Chinatown, Port Louis Mauritius, ~1860s

However, Radama's hope that the stipend would cover the costs of abolition proved untrue. A combination of expensive wars of conquest throughout Madagascar as well as the unforeseen indirect costs of ending the trade ensured that the stipend was insufficient. While Imerina continued exporting small numbers of enslaved workers to other countries, the declining sales of enslaved workers in Merina-owned ports like Toamasina and Mahajanga ensured that non-Merina-owned Malagasy ports enjoyed a competitive advantage with Swahili, Arab, and Indian merchants.

Bezanozano porters carrying cattle skins to Toamasina

Instead, Radama had to reform his economy to produce competing products outside of the slave trade. This namely took the form of a concerted industrialization campaign. Through a combination of the invitation of foreign craftsmen and the training of domestic managers, Radama's reign saw the creation of major industrial centers at the hands of British, Mauritian Creole, and even Bengali craftsmen, as well as the training of hundreds of Malagasy to serve as shop managers and industrial directors.