Tanala

The Tanala kingdoms arose among forest communities in the Sandrananta and Manambondro valleys of southeastern Madagascar. Their Zafirambo rulers came from the coast.

In the seventeenth century the Zafirambo moved inland; in the eighteenth they allied with Betsileo blacksmiths and displaced the Antemahafaly in the Sandrananta and Manambondro valleys. Under Andriamatahetany the kingdom reached its greatest extent before splitting. Late in the eighteenth century the Tanala conquered the Antemoro coast.