MADAGASCAR, FLAG OF

national flag consisting of a horizontal red stripe over a green stripe, with a vertical white stripe at the hoist. The flag's width-to-length ratio is 2 to 3. Possibly based on traditions in Indonesia, the original home of the Malagasy, the predominant flag colours of Madagascar have always been white and red. In the mid-17th century, for example, those colours were chosen by the Sakalava dynasty when it came to power. They named their country the kingdom of Menab, which means great red. In the late 17th century the Merina (Hova) kingdom was established. Its flags were also almost exclusively of white and red. Typically, each Merina ruler put his or her name and title in red lettering on a white or white-and-red flag. In the 1880s and '90s Madagascar fell under French control. Local symbols were suppressed but not forgotten. Following World War II, Malagasy rebels fought an unsuccessful war for independence under a white-and-red flag containing blue stars. Finally, a decade later, the French began to allow Madagascar and other colonies to advance toward self-government. The Malagasy Republic became autonomous on October 14, 1958, and one week later it adopted a national flag. Still in use today, this flag combines the traditional white and red colours with a stripe of green. The white is said to stand for purity and the red for sovereignty; the green represents the coastal regions and symbolizes hope. Many other former French colonies adopted vertical or horizontal tricolours, showing clearly the influence of the French Tricolor on their designs, but Madagascar chose a unique arrangement. Whitney Smith History Early history Archaeological investigations in the 20th century indicated that human settlers reached Madagascar about AD 700. Although the huge island lies geographically close to Bantu-speaking Africa, its language, Malagasy, belongs to the distant Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. There are, nonetheless, a number of Bantu words in the language, as well as some phonetic and grammatical modifiers of Bantu origin. Bantu elements exist in every dialect of Malagasy and appear to have been established for some time. As a people, the Malagasy represent a unique blend of Asian and African cultural features found nowhere else in the world. Although on the whole Asian features predominate, African ancestry is prevalent and African influences in Malagasy material and nonmaterial culture are widespread. The most plausible theory for this circumstance is that the seafarers from Indonesia who settled Madagascar initially arrived by way of eastern Africa and the Comoros after these areas had already been colonized by Bantu-speaking Africans. There is also some evidence that Bantu speakers inhabited portions of western Madagascar prior to the 17th century, only to eventually become completely assimilated into Malagasy culture. Even before AD 1000, important Afro-Arab influences entered Madagascar and spread through much of the island. Apart from the colonial French, settlers from overseas appear to have stopped coming to Madagascar by roughly 1600. Madagascar in the 16th and early 17th centuries Much of Madagascar was populated by internal migration before the beginning of the 16th century, giving the theretofore empty lands their tompontany (original inhabitants, or masters of the soil). Yet politically the island remained fragmented. Most of the nearly 20 ethnic groups that make up the modern Malagasy population did not attain any form of national consciousness until new political ideas arrived from abroad in the 1500s and began to spread through the island. A host of written European accounts from the 16th and early 17th centuries fail to reveal any large state or empire, and few of the Malagasy oral traditions collected since the mid-19th century go back that far in time. Still, small local states were found at many points along the coast visited by European ships. The capitals were almost always located near river mouths, territorial domains were invariably small, and rulers were independent of one another. Alliances and wars were usually short-lived affairs involving limited economic objectives and little loss of life, and they seldom led to any border adjustments. Economies were pastoral or agricultural, often a mixture of both, and there were no radical differences in wealth. In some areas the rulers appeared to be absolute, while in others elders and priests had the preponderant influence. In one area in southeastern Madagascar, later to become known as Fort-Dauphin (site of the French East India Company fort of that name), early Europeans believed they had found a Muslim state in existence among the Antanosy people of the region. It was ruled by a Moorish king and had an aristocracy with privileges deriving presumably from Islam. Their collective name was Zafindraminia, or descendants of Raminia, the ultimate great ancestor. In the first quarter of the 16th century, Portuguese navigators also reported a number of coastal towns in northern Madagascar that were architecturally similar to Kilwa, a once important entrept in what is today Tanzania. The towns belonged to an Afro-Arab commercial network in the western Indian Ocean which undoubtedly predated the 16th century. At the town of Vohemar, once the island's northeastern centre of international trade, the blend of Malagasy and Afro-Arab customs produced an arts-and-crafts tradition that was quite original. Portuguese explorers who visited the Matitana River valley in southeastern Madagascar witnessed the arrival of a group of Afro-Arabs (Moors from Malindi) between 1507 and 1513. Within one or two generations the descendants of this group had intermarried and merged with the local tompontany to form another group known as the Antemoro. By the 1630s the Antemoro had formed a theocratic state, which was the only state in Madagascar at the time to possess written texts. Using the Arabic alphabet, the texts were written in the Malagasy language and were both religious and secular in nature. Proximity to Islam became a major criterion among the Antemoro for the right to rule, and there is little doubt that the four Antemoro sacerdotal clans were far closer to the Muslim faith than were the Zafindraminia of the Fort-Dauphin area. In time, Antemoro holy men, traveling far and wide within Madagascar, came to influence other Malagasy in both religion and government. Political evolution from 1650 to 1810 Unknown to the early coastal visitors from Europe, new and historically pivotal dynasties also were beginning to form in southwestern and central Madagascar toward the mid-16th century. Two of them, the Maroserana in the southwest and the Andriana-Merina in central Madagascar, would go on to create vast empires, each with its own apex and decline, between about 1650 and 1896, the year the French annexed Madagascar. While the Maroserana were able to establish their rulers over several south-central peoples, the most outstanding achievement of the dynasty was the creation of two states in western Madagascar, Menab and Boina. These states later combined into the Sakalava empire, which controlled most of western Madagascar and several adjacent areas deep inland. The Sakalava were originally a group of warriors who came into contact with the Maroserana before 1660, the year the Maroserana ruler, King Andriandahifotsy, founded Menab. Ultimately, Sakalava citizenship was extended to hundreds of west-coast clans as the original Sakalava warriors and their descendants intermarried and merged with them. A sense of unity also came from religion, as the Maroserana royals, upon death, became the sacred ancestors of all Sakalava. The Sakalava empire was ultimately weakened by internal power struggles for the throne, by attempts to substitute Islam for the ancestral cult, and, after 1810, by wars with the Merina, a people of the central plateau already on the way to an empire. The Betsimisaraka confederation, a quasi-state concurrent with the late Sakalava empire, was a brief but successful attempt in the 18th century to unite the coastal peoples of Madagascar's eastern littoral. Ruled by Ratsimilaho, son of an English pirate and a Malagasy princess, the viable confederation extended along more than 200 miles of coastline. After Ratsimilaho's death in 1750, the confederation began an abrupt, though prolonged, disintegration. The Merina kingdom was founded toward the end of the 16th century in the swampy Ikopa valley on the central plateau. Antananarivo (Tananarive) became its capital. In the 18th century Imerina was divided among four warring kings. One of them, Andrianampoinimerina, who reigned 17871810, reunited the kingdom about 1797. He gave it uniform laws and administration and sold slaves to the French on the coast, using the guns he got in return to conquer his neighbours, the Betsileo. Under Andrianampoinimerina, Merina society was divided into a ruling noble class (Andriana), a class of freemen (Hova), and a slave class (Andevo). At Andrianampoinimerina's death, he left his son a single political ambition: The sea will be the boundary of my rice field (i.e., of his kingdom). Early European contacts Madagascar is mentioned in the writings of Marco Polo, but the first European known to have visited the island was Diogo Dias, a Portuguese navigator, in 1500. It was called the Isle of St. Lawrence by the Portuguese, who frequently raided Madagascar during the 16th century, attempting to destroy the incipient Muslim settlements there. Other European nations also invaded; in 1642 the French established Fort-Dauphin in the southeast and maintained it until 1674. One of their governors, tienne de Flacourt, wrote the first substantial description of the island. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries Madagascar was frequented by European pirates (among them Captain William Kidd) who preyed upon shipping in the Indian Ocean. In the 18th century the Mascarene Islands to the east were colonized by the French with the help of Malagasy slaves. Two attempts at fortified settlements failedone at Fort-Dauphin by the comte de Modave, the other at the Bay of Antongil by Baron Benyowski. However, French trading settlements prospered, notably at Tamatave. The kingdom of Madagascar Formation of the kingdom (181061) Andrianampoinimerina's son, Radama I (181028), allied himself with the British governor of the nearby island of Mauritius, Sir Robert Farquhar. In order to prevent reoccupation of the east coast by the French, Farquhar supported Radama's annexation of the area by supplying him with weapons and advisers and giving him the title King of Madagascar. At the same time, Radama agreed to cooperate with Britain's new campaign to end the slave trade. In 1817 he captured the east-coast town of Tamatave, from which he launched annual expeditions against the coastal populations. He eventually conquered almost the entire east coast, the northern part of the island, and most of the two large Sakalava kingdoms. Only the south and a part of the west remained independent. The French retained only the small island of Sainte-Marie. In addition, Radama invited European workmen, and the London Missionary Society spread Christianity and influenced the adoption of a Latin alphabet for the Malagasy language. Radama died prematurely in 1828; he was succeeded by his widow, Ranavalona I, who reversed his policy of Europeanization. She expelled Christian missionaries and persecuted Malagasy converts. A few Europeans maintained external trade and local manufacture, but eventually they also were expelled. The British and French launched an expedition against Ranavalona but were repulsed at Tamatave in 1845. By the time of her death (1861), Madagascar was isolated from European influence. Outside influences (186195) Ranavalona was succeeded by her son, Radama II, who readmitted the foreigners. English Protestants and French Roman Catholics vied for supremacy, while businessmen obtained excessive concessions. This policy led to Radama's overthrow by the Merina oligarchy in 1863. The head of the army, Rainilaiarivony, a Hova, became prime minister and remained in power by marrying three queens in succession: Rasoherina, Ranavalona II, and Ranavalona III. He embarked on a program of modernization, and in 1869 he caused Protestantism to be adopted and suppressed the traditional Malagasy religion. European-style ministries were created and governors set up in the provinces. Villages were supervised by former soldiers. Education was declared obligatory and placed under the direction of the Christian missions. A code of laws was worked out that combined ancient customs with such Western practices as monogamy. The French began to extend their influence over the Sakalava, and the first Franco-Merina war (188385) ended with an ambiguous treaty: France was given a settlement at Digo-Suarez and a resident at Antananarivo, but the institution of a protectorate was temporarily avoided. The succeeding period was marked by disorder and internal strife. In 1890 the British recognized Madagascar as a French protectorate, but Rainilaiarivony refused to submit to French suzerainty. In January 1895, French troops landed at Majunga, and on September 30, 1895, they occupied Antananarivo. The prime minister was exiled. The queen signed a treaty recognizing the protectorate and was maintained on the throne as a figurehead. The French period The colonial period (18961945) French occupation soon extended to the entire part of the island conquered by the Merina. But, in Imerina itself, armed guerrilla bands (the Menalamba, or Red Togas) resisted modernization and French rule. The French parliament voted the annexation of the island on August 6, 1896, and sent General Joseph-Simon Gallieni first as military commander, then as governor-general. Slavery was abolished. Gallieni put down the insurrection, subdued the oligarchy, and sent the queen into exile on February 27, 1897. In 1898 the old Merina kingdom was pacified; Gallieni then undertook the difficult task of subjugating the independent peoples. Two insurrections, in the northwest (1898) and in the southeast (1904), were quickly put down, and, when he left the island in 1905, unification had been achieved. The Merina governors had been replaced by French administrators with leaders taken from local peoples. The teaching of French in the schools was made compulsory. Customs duties favoured French products, though Malagasy enterprise was also encouraged. The Tamatave-Antananarivo railroad was begun, roads were built, and a modern health service was inaugurated. The economic development of the island continued under Gallieni's successors. The railroad and its branch lines were completed in 1913. A second line, the Fianarantsoa-Manakara, was finished in 1935. Automobile roads increased after 1920, airlines after 1936. The cities and seaports were built up and equipped, and loans were contracted in France. Exports were confined to agricultural products and raw materials for industry. Rice, cassava (manioc), rubber, raffia, meat, and graphite predominated at first. Between World Wars I and II, coffee, vanilla, cloves, and tobacco, introduced by the Europeans and then taken up by native planters, became more important. Three-quarters of all trade was with France. Material aspects of life became Westernized, especially in the cities, and half the population became Christianized. In 1915 a nationalist secret society, the Vy Vato Sakelika (VVS), was outlawed. In 1920 a teacher, Jean Ralaimongo, launched a campaign in the press to give the Malagasy subjects French citizenship and to make Madagascar a French dpartement. When France failed to respond to the demand for assimilation, the movement turned toward nationalism. In 1940 Madagascar, though hesitant at first, rallied to the Vichy government. Then came a blockade, occupation by the British and South Africans (1942), and finally a return to Free France. The French Union (194658) In the elections of 1945, two Malagasy nationalists were elected to the French parliament. The constitution of 1946, creating the French Union, made Madagascar an overseas territory of the French Republic, with representatives to the Paris assemblies and a local assembly at Antananarivo. Six provincial assemblies were created later. The political struggle erupted into violence on March 30, 1947, with a full-scale insurrection in eastern Madagascar. The leaders of the Democratic Movement for Malagasy Renewal (Mouvement Dmocratique de la Rnovation Malgache), including the three representatives to the French national assembly, were outlawed. While an official count of lives lost in the revolt records about 11,000 dead, it is certain that thousands more of the Malagasy populace perished from famine, cold, and psychological misery while hiding from both the French army and the insurgents in the island's inhospitable tropical forests. A period of political inactivity followed until the 1950s. After the Overseas Territories Law of 1956 gave Madagascar an executive elected by the local assembly, Vice-Premier Philibert Tsiranana founded the Social Democratic Party (Parti Social Dmocrate; PSD), which, though most of its members were non-Merina from the coastal areas, offered to cooperate with the Merina. In 1958 France agreed to let its overseas territories decide their own fate. In a referendum on September 28, Madagascar voted for autonomy within the French Community. On October 14, 1958, the autonomous Malagasy Republic was proclaimed; Tsiranana headed the provisional government. The Malagasy Republic The opposition regrouped under the name of Congress Party for the Independence of Madagascar (Ankoton'ny Kongresy ny-Fahaleovantena Malagasy), which included both Protestant Merina dissidents and communists. Antananarivo was this party's stronghold; it also had some support in the provinces but, owing to the electoral system established by the PSD, held only three seats in the legislature. The PSD also settled the provincial question: executive power in the local assemblies was vested in a minister delegated by the central government. Tsiranana was elected president of the republic, and he was instrumental in obtaining its independence on June 26, 1960. Tsiranana and the PSD remained in power until 1972. Under his regime, successive development plans were inspired, according to Tsiranana, by a grassroots socialism and were aimed at improving the lot of the peasantry. In foreign policy, the bond with France remained strong, and close relations were established with the United States, West Germany, Taiwan, South Africa, and other anticommunist powers. Tsiranana was reelected in January 1972, but political and labour unrest and his own poor health led him to appoint Major General Gabriel Ramanantsoa as prime minister with full powers of government. A plebiscite on October 8, 1972, confirmed Ramanantsoa as head of government; there was no longer a president after Tsiranana resigned on October 11. The new head of government initiated radically different foreign and domestic policies. Under new agreements with France, French military and naval forces were removed from the island, and all French citizens were to be treated as aliens. Ties were established with the Soviet Union and other communist nations, and the country was withdrawn from the Franc Zone. In 1973 a rural reorganization programin which elected committees would sell produce to state-owned companieswas initiated, and the government began to take control of joint French-Malagasy organizations. In the wake of political and social unrest, on February 5, 1975, Ramanantsoa handed power over to a former minister of the interior, Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava. He assumed the titles of president and prime minister but was assassinated six days later. A military directorate was then established; it dissolved on June 15, after naming Lieutenant Commander Didier Ratsiraka president and head of the Revolutionary Council. A referendum on December 21, 1975, approved Ratsiraka as president under a new constitution that set up the Democratic Republic of Madagascar. Ratsiraka, sworn in as president on January 4, 1976, continued the policies begun by Ramanantsoa. He nationalized the banks, insurance companies, and the nation's mineral resources and solidified his nation's ties with the communist powers. The formation in 1976 of the National Front for the Defense of the Revolutiona coalition of formerly banned political parties headed by Ratsirakafurther increased the president's control of the government and of Madagascar's political life. Ratsiraka was reelected without opposition in 1983. Under the banner of scientific socialism he further extended government control over the economy. Despite several loans from the International Monetary Fund to help keep it afloat, however, the country's economy declined drastically. In 1986 Ratsiraka reversed the country's course completely. Laws were altered across the board to allow for a free market economy. In June 1990 France responded by forgiving Madagascar its huge debt of four billion French francs. Hubert Jules Deschamps Raymond K. Kent Political unrest continued to plague Madagascar in the 1990s, as it had done for previous decades. Protests led to multiparty elections, and Albert Zafy became president in 1993. In July 1996 the National Assembly voted to impeach him for various constitutional violations. Despite this, Zafy declared himself a candidate for presidential elections held in November 1996. Ratsiraka narrowly defeated Zafy and developed relations with Israel, South Africa, and South Korea, countries he had previously disdained. Ratsiraka subsequently secured a constitutional amendment that allowed him to be reelected twice. The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica The economy The control of Madagascar's economy by France, which had taken nearly half of the island's exports and supplied more than half of its imports, ended following the changes in government that occurred during the turbulent years 197275. Currency, banking, finance, loans, and economic planning had been influenced by accords with France and by French personnel in government, commerce, and technical assistance. After 197275 aid came from new sources, including the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and North Korea, but most continued to come from France, other Western countries, and Japan. Resources The Great Red Island disappointed those who hoped to discover precious metals in large quantities. Considerable small-scale gold mining was conducted toward the end of the 19th century, by both French and Malagasy prospectors. There is a wide variety of semiprecious stones, but deposits are not of significant economic importance. Mineral deposits include chromite, which is found north of Antananarivo and in the southeast at Ranomena; ilmenite (titanium ore), found on the southeast coast at Tlanaro, a source thought to represent the world's largest reserve of titanium; low-grade iron ore, found in scattered deposits in the southern half of the island; low-grade coal north of Toliara and inland from Besalampy; nickel near Fianarantsoa; and copper north of Ampanihy and near Ambilobe. There also are smaller deposits of zircon, monazite, bauxite, lead, graphite, quartzite, jasper, gold, uranothorianite, bentonite, kaolin, and alunite. The various gems include garnet, amethyst, tourmaline, beryl, and columbite. The eastern evergreen forest and the scattered remnants of deciduous forest are valuable for their timber. Except for fish and crustaceans, the indigenous animal life is of little economic importance. Domestic animals include the humped zebu (cattle of Asiatic derivation, doubtless brought from Africa), of great religious importance; goats; fat-tailed sheep; dogs; poultry; and pigs. Although there are many narrow valleys and magnificent waterfalls, especially on the eastern escarpment, only a small number of them have been harnessed for electric power generation. Hydroelectric power stations provide about two-thirds of the country's electricity requirements; the remainder is supplied by coal-burning thermal stations. Many mines and factories also generate their own electricity with diesel- or steam-powered generators. Bituminous shales have been discovered at Bemolanga, oil at Tsimiroro, and natural gas off the coast of Morondava. The development of these resources remains commercially questionable, however. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing Rice occupies the largest share of the total crop acreage. Many varieties of dry, wet, and irrigated rice are grown in the central plateau; dry rice is also grown in the eastern forests and wet rice in the lower river valleys and along the estuaries, mainly by populations migrated from overpopulated parts of the plateau. Costly imports are still required. Slash-and-burn techniques (the temporary clearance of land for agriculture) are used in the escarpment forest and along the east coast. In the river valleys of the west, cultivation is permanent; irrigation techniques are heavily utilized. Sugarcane is grown on plantations in the northwest, around Mahajanga, and on the east coast near Toamasina. Cassava (manioc) is a staple grown all over the island, and potatoes and yams are cultivated mainly in the highland region of Ankaratra. Bananas are produced commercially on the east coast, and corn (maize) is grown mainly on the central plateau, in the south, and in the west. Fruits include apples, grapefruits, avocado pears, plums, grapes, oranges, litchis, pineapples, guavas, pawpaws, passion fruits, and bananas. Robusta coffee is grown on the east coast and arabica coffee on the plateau. Other significant crops are beans, peanuts (groundnuts), pois du cap (lima beans), coconuts, pepper, vanilla, cacao, sisal, raffia, tobacco, copra, cotton, and castor beans. Cattle (mainly zebu) are distributed throughout the island. The large numbers of pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys are found mainly on the plateau. The hoarding of cattle as a sign of wealth and for religious sacrifice has frustrated government efforts to increase the use of cattle for domestic meat consumption and for export. A significant area of the forest is degraded (i.e., regenerated after repeated burnings, with many original species lost and smaller, fewer, less valuable species prevalent); the rest is wet or dry tropical forest. Major reforestation efforts have been undertaken, but, with about 80 percent of domestic fuel needs supplied by wood and charcoal, the country's total forested area continues to decline drastically. Fisheries are poorly developed and depend mostly on small traditional fishing communities on the west coast; production is badly adjusted to the island's needs and to the potential market. In the late 20th century, however, the industrialization of marine fishing was begun, and rivers, lakes, and irrigated rice fields were stocked with breeding fish. The inshore waters are fished, while the distant offshore waters are neglected; inland distribution of the fish caught is poor, except in main towns. The bulk of the catch is composed of fresh fish and crustaceans; some fish are dried. There is also considerable raising of fish in the irrigated rice fields, mainly for home consumption. Industry Mining and quarrying are little developed. The most important products are graphite, mica, monazite, quartz, garnet, amethyst, salt, and chromite. Less valuable amounts of gold, tourmaline, citrine, beryl, ilmenite, columbite, zircon, and jasper are produced as well. Merina jewelers polish and set semiprecious stones at small workshops in most of the towns of the plateau. The country's manufacturing consists mainly of rice mills and small industrial establishments. More than half of the manufacturing is located in and around Antananarivo. Products include wood, paper pulp, cotton cloth, fertilizer, oils, soap, sugar, cigarettes and tobacco, sisal rope and mats, bricks, processed foods, and beverages. A small printing industry and several motor-vehicle assembly plants are also located there. Finance and trade The Malagasy franc replaced the CFA (Communaut Financire Africaine) franc in 1963, and in 1973 Madagascar officially left the Franc Zone. The Central Bank issues all currency. The value of exports is derived mainly from coffee, cloves and clove oil, vanilla, sisal, raffia, sugar, rice, pepper, tobacco, peanuts, and petroleum products. Despite their variety, many of these, like coffee, cloves, vanilla, and sisal, are threatened by world overproduction or by the manufacture of synthetic substitutes. Imports include crude petroleum, chemical and metal products, machinery, vehicles, electrical equipment, cotton textiles, and essential foods. After 1972, trade with France fell sharply, although France remains Madagascar's main trading partner. Other important trading partners include the United States, Japan, and Italy. Administration of the economy Before 1972 the government had established producers' cooperatives, which collected and processed most of the rice crop (at prices that were bitterly resented by the peasants); state farms intended to increase the commercial production of rice, cattle, coffee, oil palms, cotton, and silk; a rural development program; and a national consumers' cooperative with retail shops located in most towns. After a period of prolonged domestic turbulence from 1972 to 1975, a new emergent military regime replaced the already constrained free-trade economy with one whose goal was to achieve a socialist paradise under divine protection by the year 2000. Nationalization made state corporations out of foreign firms, transforming the five French banks into three state banks for agriculture, industry, and trade. In addition, foreign insurance companies were converted into two state insurance corporations, and state monopolies were formed for import-export trading and shipping and for the textile, cotton, and power industries, as well as for the new agencies created for the extension of irrigation. The economy responded with a relentless decline. Exports fell, inflation rose, and debt expanded from $89 million in 1970 to $250 million in 1978 and $3.3 billion in 1988. Debt services took more than half of the country's export earnings, and imports nearly ceased for lack of foreign exchange. Industrial production fell to a quarter of the 1975 level, and foreign investment declined to almost nothing. Devaluation reduced the value of the Malagasy franc by 80 percent. Under these adverse conditions the country's infrastructure and social services deteriorated greatly. The rural population was reduced to subsistence levels, bartering with cattle and bags of paddy. By 1982 the country was technically bankrupt, forced to adopt a program of structural adjustment imposed by the International Monetary Fund and face a humiliating turnabout to reliberalize the economy. Abolition of the state monopolies was accepted, and any state enterprise that could not pay its way was threatened with privatization. Private business took years to regain any confidence, however. Taxation is mainly indirect and is derived largely from various customs, import and export duties, and excise taxes. Direct taxes take the form of taxes on company income, registration fees, stamp duties, and personal taxes; the latter bear heavily on the peasants. Most union members hold office jobs or work in industry. A popular and extensive trade union is the Union des Syndicats Autonomes de Madagascar, but the Sendika Kristianina Malagasy (Christian Confederation of Malagasy Trade Unions) claims more affiliated unions. The main employers' association is the Union des Syndicats d'Intrt conomique de Madagascar. Transportation Transport facilities serve primarily the plateau and the east coast. Facilities are rudimentary on the western half of the island, although the country's best natural harbours are located there. The majority of roads are unpaved. Roads down the eastern escarpment and across the western coastal strip, as well as minor roads everywhere, become impassable during the wet season. The main paved road runs south from Antananarivo to Fianarantsoa, where it branches southwest to Toliara, southeast to Tlanaro via Ihosy, and east to Mananjary and Manakara. Paved roads run east from Antananarivo toward Toamasina, west to Analavory, and north to Mahajanga and Antsiranana. Two railways connect the plateau with the east coast; they run from Antananarivo to Toamasina and from Fianarantsoa to Manakara. Plateau routes run from Antananarivo south to Antsirabe, to Fianarantsoa, and north to Ambatondrazaka. The main port is Toamasina, which has a fine deepwater harbour equipped with quay berths and directly linked to Antananarivo by rail, air service, and road. Mahajanga is second in importance but is accessible only to small ships of shallow draft; it has considerable dhow traffic with the Comoros. Antsiranana has one of the finest natural harbours in the world but is as yet too remote from the main centres of economic activity; it contains the former French naval base, arsenal, and dry dock and also has a small commercial port. The coastal lagoons and swamps of the Pangalanes Canal on the east coast, which are linked by artificial channels where necessary, provide a waterway that is 434 miles (698 kilometres) long. Airfields are found throughout the island. The main international airport is at Ivato, near Antananarivo, and some international flights make secondary landings at Toamasina, Nosy-Be, and Mahajanga. Air Madagascar provides internal service; its international flights are supplemented by those of several foreign airlines. The land Relief Madagascar consists of three parallel longitudinal zonesthe central plateau, the coastal strip in the east, and the zone of low plateaus and plains in the west. Situated between 2,500 and 4,500 feet (800 and 1,400 metres) above sea level, the plateau has been uplifted and worn down several times and is tilted to the west. Three massifs are more than 8,500 feet high. The Tsaratanana region in the north is separated from the rest of the plateau by the Tsaratanana Massif, whose summit at an elevation of 9,436 feet (2,876 metres) is the highest point on the island. Ankaratra Massif in the centre is an enormous volcanic mass whose summit, Tsiafajavona, is 8,668 feet high. Ankaratra is a major watershed divide separating three main river basins. Farther south, Andringitra is a vast granite massif north of Tlanaro (Faradofay); it rises to 8,720 feet at Boby Peak. The plateau slopes more regularly toward the extreme southern plain, but its boundaries to the east and west are more abrupt. To the east it descends in a sharp fault, by vertical steps of 1,000 to 2,000 feet. This cliff, which is called the Great Cliff or Cliff of Angavo, is often impassable and is itself bordered by the Betsimisaraka Escarpment, a second and lower cliff to the east, which overhangs the coastal plain. Behind the scarp face are the remains of ancient lakes, including one called Alaotra. To the south the two steep gradients meet and form the Mahafaly and the Androy plateaus, which overhang the sea in precipitous cliffs. Toward the west the descent is made in a series of steps. In places, however, the central plateau is bordered by an impassable escarpment, such as the Cliff of Bongolava in the west-central part of the island. To the extreme north the plateau is bordered by the low belt of the Ambohitra Mountains, which include a series of volcanic craters. The coastal strip has an average width of 30 miles. It is a narrow alluvial plain that terminates in a low coastline bordered with lagoons linked together by the Pangalanes (Ampangalana) Canal, which is some 400 miles long. To the south of Farafangana the coast becomes rocky, and in the southeast there occur many little bays. To the northeast is the deep Bay of Antongil (Antongila). The western zone is between 60 and 125 miles wide. Its sedimentary layers slope toward the Mozambique Channel and produce a succession of hills. The inland (eastern) side of these steep hills dominates the hollows formed in the soft sediments of the interior, while the other side descends to the sea in rocky slopes. The coastline is straight, bordered by small dunes and fringed with mangroves. The currents in the Mozambique Channel have favoured the offshore deposit of alluvium and the growth of river deltas. On the northwestern coast there are a number of estuaries and bays. This coast is bordered by coral reefs and volcanic islands, such as Nosy-Be (Nossi-B), which protects Ampasindava Bay. Jean Dresch Drainage and soils Drainage The steep eastern face of the plateau is drained by numerous short, torrential rivers, which discharge either into the coastal lagoons or directly into the sea over waterfalls and rapids. They include the Mandrare, the Mananara, the Faraony, the Ivondro, and the Maningory. The more gently sloping western side of the plateau is crossed by longer and larger rivers, including the Onilahy, the Mangoky, the Tsiribihina, and the Betsiboka, which bring huge deposits of fertile alluvium down into the vast plains and many-channeled estuaries; the river mouths, while not completely blocked by this sediment, are studded with numerous sandbanks. There are many lakes of volcanic origin on the island, such as Lake Itasy. Alaotra is the last surviving lake of the eastern slope. Lake Tsimanampetsotsa, near the coast south of Toliara (formerly Tular), is a large body of saline water that has no outlet. Soils The central plateau and the eastern coast are mainly composed of gneiss, granite, quartz, and other crystalline rock formations. The gneiss decomposes into red murrum, laterite, and deeper and more fertile red earths, giving Madagascar its colloquial name of the Great Red Island. Fertile alluvial soils in the valleys support intensive cultivation. There also are scattered volcanic intrusions that produce fertile but easily erodible soils. Lake Alaotra is a large sedimentary pocket in the central plateau containing some of the island's most productive farmland. The western third of the island consists entirely of deposits of sedimentary rock, giving rise to soils of medium to low fertility. Climate The hot, wet season extends from November to April and the cooler, drier season from May to October. The climate is governed by the combined effects of the moisture-bearing southeast trade and northwest monsoon winds as they blow across the central plateau. The trade winds, which blow throughout the year, are strongest from May to October. The east coast is to the windward and receives a high annual rate of precipitation, reaching nearly 150 inches (3,800 millimetres) at Maroantsetra on the Bay of Antongil. As the winds cross the plateau, they lose much of their humidity, causing only drizzle and mists on the plateau itself and leaving the west in a dry rain shadow. The southwest in particular is almost desert, with the dryness aggravated by a cold offshore current. The monsoon, bringing rain to the northwest coast of Madagascar and the plateau, is most noticeable during the hot, humid season. The wind blows obliquely onto the west coast, which receives a moderate amount of precipitation annually; the southwest, which is protected, remains arid. Annual rainfall drops from 83 inches on the northwestern island of Nosy-Be to 37 inches at Maintirano on the west coast to 14 inches at Toliara in the southwest. The plateau receives moderate rains, with 53 inches falling annually at Antananarivo and 48 inches at Fianarantsoa, which lies about 200 miles farther south. July is the coolest month, with mean monthly temperatures around the island ranging from a low of about 50 F (10 C) to a high of about 78 F (26 C), and December is the hottest month, with temperatures between 61 and 84 F (16 and 29 C). Temperatures generally decrease with elevation, being highest on the northwest coast and lowest on the plateau. Tropical cyclones are an important climatic feature. They form far out over the Indian Ocean, especially from December to March, and approach the eastern coast, bringing torrential rains and destructive floods. Plant and animal life Much of the island was once covered with evergreen and deciduous forest, but little now remains except on the eastern escarpment and in scattered pockets in the west. The plateau is particularly denuded and suffers seriously from erosion. The forest has been cut in order to clear rice fields, to obtain fuel and b