Vohipeno

Vohipeno lies in the Matitanana River country of southeastern Madagascar, a centre of the Antemoro people. Here families of religious specialists preserved sorabe manuscripts, written in a form of Arabic script adapted to the Malagasy language. These texts recorded genealogies, ritual knowledge and accounts of origins, giving their custodians influence beyond the southeastern coast. The knowledge was transmitted within learned families as well as used in the service of rulers.

Antemoro scholars carried their learning to the courts of other Malagasy rulers. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Andriamahazonoro and Ratsilikaina taught at the court of Andrianampoinimerina in Imerina. Sorabe learning thus travelled from the river valleys of the southeast to the central highlands, where it became part of the knowledge available to a rising kingdom.

The later city of Manakara lies here.