Toamasina

Toamasina, long known to European sailors as Tamatave, stands on Madagascar's eastern coast. Its anchorage gave access to the Indian Ocean and to routes leading inland toward the central highlands. Merchants exchanged goods here with the coastal peoples, making the port a place of consequence to rulers seeking contact with overseas trade.

In the early nineteenth century the local leader Jean René controlled Tamatave and made an agreement with Radama I, king of Imerina. Radama sought to secure the port as a connection between his highland kingdom and the outside world. He returned with a large army in 1823 and obtained recognition of his authority from Betsimisaraka leaders, while Jean René acted for him in the country south of the port.