Mahafaly Coast

The Mahafaly coast borders the dry southwestern corner of Madagascar, facing the Mozambique Channel. Inland, the Mahafaly people inhabit a country of limestone and thorny vegetation, while fishing communities use the coastal waters. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries European ships visited southwestern Madagascar for provisions and trade. Cattle, food and enslaved people were among the goods sought by vessels calling along the coast and at Saint Augustine Bay farther north.