Mahajangā

Mahajanga was a port at the mouth of the Betsiboka on Madagascar's northwestern coast. Its shores belonged to the trading world of the Antalaotra, Muslim Swahili-speakers with towns in northern Madagascar.

Around 1690 the Sakalava prince Andriamandisoarivo founded Boina in the region. His successors conquered the Antalaotra port of Mazalagem Nova and made Mahajanga their commercial capital in the early eighteenth century. A visiting English captain in 1764 saw stone houses, mosques and merchants from Surat and Anjouan. Imerina forces occupied Boina after 1832, ending its independence.