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Andrianampoinimerina

Andrianampoinimerina (''Andriana-am-Poin-Imerina'', "The-King-in-the-Heart-of-Imerina", born as '''Ramboasalama''' or '''Ramboasalamarazaka''', nicknamed '''Nampoina''', '''Imboasalama''', or '''Ny Ombalahibemaso''' "The-Big-Eyed-Bull"; ca. 1745, Ikaloy – 1810, Ambohimanga), was a Merina (''litt.'' "Highlander") military and political leader of Madagascar island who had a significant impact on Madagascar history. Also a great orator, he is considered by some historians as one of the greatest political rulers and military strategists of all times, in the same vein as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, or Shaka, all proportion respected. Undefeated in battles, his achievements as conqueror, unificator, diplomat, legislator, and organizer, considering the means in his possession at his time, were quite amazing: At first King of the small principality of Imerina Avaradrano ('Northern Imerina'), a fourth part of Imerina which Capital was Ambohimanga hill, he progressively extended his domain over all the Merinas, the Malagasy people from the central plateau of Madagascar, then over all the highlands territories from the North to the South (absorbing the Betsileo, Sihanaka, Bezanozano, and Bara territories). By the time of his death, after 23 years of reign, he has conquered two third of Madagascar island. He is widely recognized as one of the three greatest Merinas to rule over Madagascar before the French occupation, along with his son Radama I and the Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony. His reign formed the basis for the unification of Madagascar, almost achieved under his son Radama I.

Early life

Birth

Andrianampoinimerina was Born at Ikaloy in the first quarter of the moon (''tsinambolana'') of the month Alahamady, the sign of a royal birth according to the popular beliefs. Following the Merina customs at that time, his parents gave him a birth-nickname, '''Ramboasalama''' (Ra-amboa-salama, "The-dog-healthy") to ward off the "bad fate". He was later called by his first child name, '''Ramboasalamarazaka'''. He grew up within this dark period of Imerina insecurity and poverty, in the principality of Ambohimanga, capital of Imerina Avaradrano.

Family and lineage

It is Andrianampoinimerina parentage that, most of all, prepared him to a great destiny:
- By his father, Andriamiaramanjaka, King of Ikaloy and Anjafy, he was a Zafimamy Prince of Alahamadintany, the northern independent Kingdom of Madagascar highlands which was not yet a part of Imerina. Andrianampoinimerina was the third son of Andriamiaramanjaka and his 2nd wife Ranavalonandriambelomasina.
- By his mother, Ranavalonandriambelomasina, he was a Merina Prince, as he was the grandson of King Andriambelomasina (1730-1770) (the grandson of Andriamasinavalona, and son of Andriantsimitoviaminandriana first King of Ambohimanga principality). He also was the nephew of Andrianjafy, son of Andriambelomasina, who ruled after his father's death (1770 - 1787). Practicing endogamy, the Zafimamy people of the Alahamadintany Kingdom of the North, The clan of Andrianampoinimerina's father, as direct descendants of the Andriantomara clan members, shared in common an Indian (both Indo-Aryan & Tamil) culture, due to the deep influence of Indian civilization in the whole Southeast Asia since the 2nd century AD (in particular in the Srivijaya Malay Kingdom of Sumatra). Thus, they rarely mixed with the former local peoples, the ''Vazimbas'' (also called the ''Hovas''). However, these ''Vazimbas/ Hovas'' - from whom Andrianampoinimerina partly descended by his mother, as she was a descendent of Rafohy and Rangita, two Vazimba/ Hova Queens at the sources of the Merina Dynasty - were also natives of Austronesian/ Nusantao of Southeast Asia Islands, since it is them who brought the Malagasy language, a Malayo-Polynesian language belonging to the Barito river subgroup (with the Ma'anjan, Samihin, Dujun Deyah, Dujun Paku of Borneo, and the Tagalog of Philippines), as well as they set up the main current Malagasy ancestral and cultural backgrounds (beliefs, customs, music ) though they also integrated a Bantu-Swahili culture, as well as an Arab-Persian culture too. Evidences of the Bantu-Swahili substratum in the Vazimba/ Hova culture can be found in certain common names. For example, they called the cattle ''omby'', which derives from the Swahili ''ngumbe'', while the Alahamadintanys called them ''jomoka'' (later ''jamoka'') , which certainly comes from the Sanskrit ''gomukha'' (also ''gomukh'' or ''gaumukh'') 'head of cattle'. Gomukha is as well the name of an Himalaya mount, which bear the Gangotri (source of the Ganges) glacier, which looks like a cow head http://www.bose.res.in/~amitabha/trip/gomukh.html.

Historical context

During almost a century, from the end of the reign of King Ralambo (1575-1600) to King Andriamasinavalona (1675-1710), the part of the highlands controlled by the Merina was developing and growing economically in a certain civil peace. However, after the reign of Andriamasinavalona, the most famous King of Imerina after Andrianampoinimerina, it broke down into several principalities. The great King, despite the warnings of his wise counselor, Andriamampandry, had the unfortunate idea of dividing his Kingdom into four states after his death, so as to each of his sons could reign. This division of Imerina (the Central Highlands), resulted in a global growing of insecurity and, at last, finished in clan wars and starvations which weakened the Imerina Kingdom. This growing insecurity within Imerina, the menace of both a Sakalava invasion from the West, and of an Alahamadintany/ Zafimamy invasion from the North, lead Andrianampoinimerina's grandfather, Andriambelomasina, King of Imerina Avaradrano, to conclude a strategic alliance with the border Alahamadintany/ Zafimamy Principality of Ikaloy, by marrying his daughter, Ranavalonandriambelomasina, to the King Andriamiaramanjaka of Ikaloy and Anjafy. This deal stipulated, notably, that after the reign of Andriambelomasina's son, Andrianjafy (also Andrianjafinandriamanitra, or Andrianjafinjanahary), the throne of Ambohimanga would be given to one of his daughter's son. This seemed, for the population of Ambohimanga, to be the realisation of a famous prophecy attributed to King Andriamasinavalona, who has said: "''One day, Imerina will be unified and ruled by a white man from Alahamadintany''". "White", here, simply means "light skin", because of the likely Malay, Bugis, Javanese people|Javanese, and Indo-Aryan origins of the Alahamadintany nobles and the majority of their commoners, though some of the last one were probably also from Tamil people|Tamil origins (cf. Adelaar 2005, 2006 for the linguistics evidences of Bugis, Malay, Javanese, and Sanskrit loanwords in Malagasy language). Moreover, according to all official genealogies, most of all Merina King and Princes, from Ralambo to Andriambelomasina, including Andriamasinavalona, and all Alahamadintany nobles are known to be descended from a common ancestor, Andriantomara http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~aviavy/tree/g5564.html who, on the basis of those genealogies, probably arrived in Madagascar, the later, in AD 1300 with his clan and army. Tomara seems to be an Indian Rajput clan name (cf. Tomar/ Tanwar, Rajput clans), and his Malay and Javanese officers and soldiers should probably preceded his name by the Old Javanese nobility title ''Rahadyan'' 'Lord', 'Master', which in Malagasy became either ''Rohandryan''/''Roandriana'', or ''Randriana''/ ''Andriana'' (cf. Adelaar 2006 p.6, for the Old Javanese ''Rahadyan'' origin of the Merina and Zafimamy nobility title ''Andriana''). That way, more a strategic wish than a prophecy, the words of Andriamasinavalona show that, since the early days, the Merina Kings intended to extend their kingdom to the North, by absorbing the great and menacing Zafimamy Kingdom of Alahamadintany. In another hand, the Zafimamy Kings of Alahamadintany had also the ambition to extend their land to the South, by absorbing the Merina Kingdom. Thus, the wedding of Andrianampoinimerina parents seemed to be a fair and peaceful compromise for the two parts: the Prince who will born would, ata last, become the King of the two states: Ambohimanga and Ikaloy, which would unify the two great kingdoms of Imerina and Alahamadintany, without bloodshed.

Re-uniting the Merina Kingdom

The coup against King Andrianjafy

In 1787, at 42 years old, Andrianampoinimerina incited a rebellion against Andrianjafy, with the help of the commoners Council of Elders, and those sold into slavery. After the success of the coup, who compelled Andrianjafy to fly away, the new King adopted his now well known ruling name, Andrianampoinimerina. Following his ouster from the town of Ambohimanga, Andrianjafy continued fighting his nephew from his southern headquarters Ilafy. Andrianampoinimerina reached a treaty with the rival Merina town of Antananarivo in 1786, which allowed him to fully concentrate on reuniting Ambohimanga. This conflict was finally concluded in 1790, when Andrianjafy was either killed in Ilafy, or died in exile in Antananarivo. Andrianampoinimerina conquered Antananarivo in 1792, and subsequently, the capital of Merina empire was moved to there; however Ambohimanga remained important spiritually. Royal Malagasy Hills declared World Heritage

The re-unification of Imerina

Continuing his conquests in the 1790s, Andrianampoinimerina began establishing control over a comparatively large part of the highlands of Madagascar. He proclaimed soon his ambition to become the sole King of Madagascar, announcing it for the people of Ambohimanga in a historical speech (''kabary'') using the Merina ''hain-teny'' metaphoric style: "''The sea is the limit of my ricefield''" ("''Ny ranomasina no valam-parihiko''"). Andrianampoinimerina centralized the power into his own hands and obtained European firearms, realizing these were vastly superior to the traditional weaponry. This allowed him to gradually conquest the Merina, then the Vakinankaratra and the Betsileo principalities.

Expansion

It is notable, that Andrianampoinimerina mostly accomplished his conquests by relying heavily on shrewd diplomacy and alliance treaty|treaties, only resorting to military conquest when it was essential and unavoidable. He liked to repeat to his officers one of his favorite principles: "''The force is weaker than the spirit''" ("''Ny hery tsy mahaleo ny fanahy''") . The extension of his rule allowed Andrianampoinimerina to stop paying tribute to the Sakalava kingdom, the western clan who had continuously menaced the Malagasy central highlands by slave hunting Keith Laidler, ''Female Caligula: Ranavalona, the Mad Queen of Madagascar'', ISBN 0-470-02223-X, page 2 . The gradual conquest of surrounding lands by Andrianampoinimerina and his Merina army was opposed by the Sakalava and other clans, who made several attempt to end Andrianampoinimerina's reign . He also faced opposition from some Merina nobles, and from his own family. Early in Andrianampoinimerina's rule, an attempt on King's life by his uncle Andrianjafy was foiled by an informant, who learned about the conspiracy by chance. Later the king rewarded the informant by marrying his daughter to the Crown Prince, future King Radama I of Madagascar|Radama I . After Radama I's death in 1828, this daughter would rule Madagascar for 33 years as the notorious Ranavalona I, during whose reign hundreds of thousands of Malagasy people were executed, starved or worked to death . Ramavolahy, Andrianampoinimerina's eldest son, was killed by his orders near Imahazoarivo and the appointed Heir Apparent Rakotovahiny was killed for conspiracy against the King in May 1808 .

Organizing the new great highlands Kingdom

Public works: building the Betsimitatatra canal

Laws: Civil, Penal, Fiscal, and Land Codes

Economy: Official markets and standardization of the money and the measurement units

Military organization

Legacy

King Andrianampoinimerina transformed the Merina kingdom of the central highlands from a small group of broken up principalities into the largest, best organised, and the most powerful empire in the history of Madagascar. He was the first Merina King to establish a formal Civil code|civil and penal codes, the latter ameliorated and written by his son Radama I. He distributed land according to a rigorous land code, established a Fiscal policy|fiscal code and collected various taxes, of which the corresponded to the production of a square of ricefield one citizen must pay to the Sovereign according to its Sanskrit etymology ''ksetra'', 'field'. Andrianampoinimerina regulated the commerce and the economy by creating official markets () by the standardization of the Weighing scale|scales () and all the units of measurement (length, volume). Additionally the use of money () was standardized and regularized. Finally, he was also the first Sovereign in Madagascar who organised the military force by creating a citizen army called the ''Foloalindahy'' (the '100 000 soldiers'). One of the well known slogans of Andrianampoinimerina was "''Starvation is my unique enemy''", and in the fight against it Imerina gained a surplus in rice and cattle production during his reign. This surplus allowed the kingdom to consolidate its economic and military supremacies during Radama I's reign. Andrianampoinimerina had at least 30 children by his many wives, and was succeeded by his son Radama I. Another son, Ramanetaka, sailed to the Island of Moheli, in Comores, in 1830 running off Ranavalona I's ascension to the throne, and later converted to Islam, ruling the island as Sultan Abderahmane of Moheli.

Short timeline

Primary sources

Almost all of what is known about Andrianampoinimerina comes from the Révérend Père François Callet's book ''Tantara ny Andriana'' ("History of the Nobles"). This collection of oral tradition about the history of the Merina Dynasty was originally written in Malagasy and published between 1878 and 1881. Callet summarized and translated it in French language|French under the title ''Tantara ny Andriana (Histoire des rois)'' in 1908. ''Tantara ny Andriana'' constitutes the core material for the historians studying the Merina history, and has been commented, criticised, and challenged ever since by numerous historians from Madagascar, Europe, and North America (see for example: Rasamimanana 1930; Ravelojaona ''et al'' 1937; Ramilison 1951; Kent 1970; Délivré 1974; Berg 1988; Larson 2000 ). The work is complemented by oral traditions of other tribes collected by Malagasy historians.

References

Category:1745 births Category:1810 deaths Category:Malagasy monarchs

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