Sakalava

The Sakalava are the dominant people of Madagascar's western plain, formed from the mingling of Austronesian seafarers and Bantu farmers. Their first kingdoms took shape around the 1650s, when the Maroserana princes of Fiherenana, possibly heirs of the Zafiraminia clans, exchanged captives for Arab guns.

After 1610 Andriandahifotsy pushed north across the Mangoky River; Menabe became western Madagascar's leading power. Between 1730 and 1760, under King Andrianinevenarivo, the Sakalava realm covered nearly half the island and monopolised the slave trade through Mahajanga.

The kingdom split into northern Boina and southern Menabe, and the wars of the Merina king Radama I broke its power in the 1820s, though neither state was fully annexed. Sakalava life centred on zebu herds and the royal ancestor cult, with Tromba spirit ceremonies.