Bara

The Bara are the largest zebu-herding people of Madagascar, roaming the dry southern plateau around Ihosy, in a land they call Ibara. Split into five tribes, they lived semi-nomadically, young men proving their manhood by cattle rustling, in a patriarchal society of nobles, commoners and slaves.

Around 1640 a Mahafaly noble conquered the country and founded the Zafimanely dynasty, its rule settled after 1653 amid cattle raids and succession strife. About 1800 King Raikitroka's new rules brought a period of calm, but after his death the Bara fragmented into rival kingdoms.

Even so, slave and cattle trading and raids on their neighbours made them stronger in the early nineteenth century: under Queen Ranavalona I the Merina garrisoned Ihosy but never wholly subdued the Bara, who kept their kings and herds. Village life centred on the hazomanga, a tall worship pillar.