Tandroy

The Tandroy, also called the Antandroy, are a traditionally nomadic Malagasy people of the arid thorn country of Androy at the southern tip of Madagascar; their name means people of the thorns. Two clans shaped their early history, the Karimbola of the west and the Mahandrovato of the east.

Early in the eighteenth century a confederation arose under the Zafimanara dynasty of the Mahandrovato. Around 1790 floods and ecological upheaval drove the Zafimanara onto the Manombo plateau and the confederation broke apart. The spiny forests and waterless wastes of Androy shielded the Tandroy from the armies of the Kingdom of Imerina, and they were never brought under Merina rule.

They herded zebu and grew millet, yams and maize rather than rice. Their rectangular fanesy tombs grew larger with a family's wealth and were crowned with the skulls of sacrificed zebu.