Bombetoka Bay

Bombetoka Bay opens onto the Mozambique Channel on Madagascar's northwestern coast. The Betsiboka River enters the bay through an estuary of islands and sandbanks, connecting the inland river country with the sea.

In the late seventeenth century Sakalava rulers from the south established the kingdom of Boina, bringing ports on this coast under their authority. Mahajanga, near the mouth of the Betsiboka, became a commercial centre where Sakalava rulers and Antalaotra Muslim traders took part in Indian Ocean networks. Eighteenth-century exchange included the trade in enslaved people as well as other goods, linking the bay to coastal and overseas markets.