37
12
Meaning "The Hawk".
Confusion reigned as some greedy
privateers who desired rapid
gains joined up with the pirates.
Sometimes, the latter ended up
working for the local Governors
who represent their countries,
and who were officially at war
against the pirates. They were
commissioned for occasional
services, such as the transportation
of slaves. The adventures of the
famous Captain Kidd, who arrived
in Madagascar in 1698, and later,
Olivier Levasseur, nicknamed ‘La
buse’
12
, are beautiful illustrations of
what was happening at this time.
Periods of maritime violence did
not stop with the end of piracy.
Attracted by the possibility of rapid
gains, some Malagasy people
initiated forays into the Comoros
and East Africa between 1750 and 1810. One of their objectives was to capture a maximum number of slaves to sell to European
traders and settlers. Indeed, some leaders from the Betsimisaraka area and their allies from the west coast congregated in the region
of Nosy Be before starting out on their foray against the Comoros. Carried out every two or three years, these attacks involved
thousands of men who set sail in hundreds of large outrigger canoes. A typical expedition of this nature could easily gather
20,000 men in over 400 canoes. These attacks left the Comoros in a state of complete destitution and the memory of atrocities
committed is still embedded in the minds of the people.
In the early 18th century, Prince Ratsimilaho (c.1694 -1750), a
malata
set up a kingdom in the region of Tamatave. After pushing back
the Tsikoa and Betanimena people, who were threatening to occupy the coast all the way up to Fénérive, he managed to unite the
various groups under his authority giving them the name, Betsimisaraka (lit. many and united). During this period, relations with other
foreign powers were a series of conflicts and pacts of alliance. In their aim to control this region for economic reasons, the French,
who settled in Bourbon, paid a high price in terms of their numbers who were massacred.
The Port of Tamatave in the early 19th Century (from an old engraving).
