3rd Period: Team Safari

Country: Madagascar



Information provided by 31:


Geography


• is surrounded by the indian ocean. there are beaches- west coast. Swamps- west coast valleys- west coast plains- west coast and forests


Language


• the Malagasy language changed within an Indonesian group, though it also contains many words of African and colonial origin( bantu, English, Swahili and Arabic from the first group)


• “I’m hungry” is Noana aho... “Hello” is Manao ahoana.... “Good bye” is Veloma and “thank you” is Misaotra.


Information provided by: 31


Religion


• 40 percent of the population are Christians there president in 2003 Marc Ravalomanana took Christianity seriously so the thousands of people who worked with him do the same they had to attend regular services and hold prayer meetings before they started work this was the first time the country had not had a catholic president. All Malagasy people have traditionally accepted the existence of supreme god known as Zanahary or Andriamanitra. The other half of the population is roman Catholics and protestants and remaining five Muslim. In the nineteenth century the was a conflict between Christianity and traditional beliefs cause queen ranavalona the first expelled foreign missionaries and persecuted Christians


Cooking


• Achards de Legumes:80z of carrot,cut into julienne 8oz white cabbage, finely shredded 8 oz small cauliflower florets 8oz french green beans, thinly sliced on the diagonal 1 tbsp vegtable oil 2 oz fresh root ginger 4 large chilli peppers, shredded 1 large onion chopped 1 heaped teasp curry powder the juice of 1 lemon and salt


• Akoho sy voania - one chicken one coconut two tomatos two onions two cloves of garlic 20 grams of ginger oil, salt, and pepperand little more on the language ( few words)


Music


• like the culture and people has got influences from alot of countries ... Music is played with sophisticated modern instruments ... The ambio: rosewood claves ... The aponga: drum ... The kabosy: sort of small squared quitar with four strings... The valiha: a sort of bambou zither and the tsikadraha... TARIKA is the root music of madagascar. The vocal traditions of madagascar are most often polyharmonic; southern vocal styles bear strong resemblance to south africans songs. Musical performances have often been associated with spiritual traditions music is a key component is achieving trance state in tromba spiritual rituals...popularized music in madagascar includes french chanson, soft rock, gospel music, heavy metal, jazz and reggae.


Art and craft


• textile art is the major art and plays an important part in weaving expenssive clothing... Art includes: wall art, fantasy art, poster art, impressionist art, light house art, modern art and many moree. The art of madagascar was first inhabited in the 7th century ... RAJERY lost his right hand as a baby and went on to become one of the most respected and innovative valiha players in madagascar.


Agriculture-


• Land is unsuitable for cultivation because of its mountainous terrain, extensive laterization and irregular rain fall. Madagascar has sought to diversify staple crop production by promoting maize and potatoes. The major Malagasy export is coffee and vanilla is the second ranking agricultural export and cloves the third and only about 5 percent of the land area is cultivated at any one time.
Information provided by: 32


Animals:


• Fanaloka found in rain forest...... Black and white ruffed lemur in rain forest.... Southern madagascar- verreaux sifaka.. Western- red fronted brown lenur ....eastern- indri ... Rainforest- aye-aye


Natural resources:


• graphite, chromite, coal, bauxite, salt, quartz, tar sand, semiprecious stones, mica, fish, hydropower


Architecture:


• made out of clay, bamboo, rocks, made on a plant form platue and old houses


Trade and Commerce:


• fishing and forestry is part of the trade they do for Madagascar economy
Information provided by 29


Important people


• Artist: everyone contributes, ancestor raminia came from mecca he was a king...abul hasan ali al-masu'di (name)-


• Philosopher....military leaders: Gilles Andriamahazo:served in french army for going to madagascar, richard ratsimandrava....


• Political leaders- transitional president; andry rajoelina and jing ping: is the african union chief.
Information provided by: 30

History
Information provided by: 30 and 31

- around 2000 years ago- madagascar settled by indonesians or people of mixed indonesian\ african descent...
800-900 ad- arab merchants begin tradin along the northern coast..
1200 ad- central highlands of the island are settled
august 10 1500- portuguese sea captian diogo dias becomes first european to land on madagascar
1500s- portuguese,french,dutch, and english attempt to establish trading settlements which fail fue to hostile conditions and fierce local malagasy
1700s- the sakalava of the western coast establish the first kingdom which extended from tulear in the south to diego suarez in the north.
1810-1828- radama 1, a merina king who has help from british, unifies most of the country save for the sakalava kingdom in the far west and far south. Radama opens the country to english missionaries who spread christianity throughout the island and transcribed malagasy to a written language. Under his reign, a miniature industrial revolution brings induatry to the island.

1890 the british reconize a french protectorate over madagascar in exchange for concessions in zanzibar. 1896- france annexes madagascar as a colony and later unifies the country under a single gov.
June 26 1960- madagascar gains independence.
2001- marc ravalomanana, mayor of tana is elected president with 52 percent of the vote.
Ratsiraka sets up a rivel government in his home town. Ratsiraka fled in exile to france in july 2002.

People:
Madagascar is now a military republic, which is probbably explained by the fact that it has beeen under oppressive rule in the past.

Current Issues:
Tavy is depleating the land of vitale resources it needs. it produces unstainable farm land that eventually will have to be replaced by distroying more forset and continuing a endless cycle.


link: http://www.pbs.org/edens/madagascar/paradise.htm

and http://www.wildmadagascar.org/conservation/threats.html
Information provided by: 31

Solution Letter:
comoran Embassy in Tana, Madagascar

Emabssy of Comoros in Tana, Madagascar
Tana, Madagascar
City: Tana

Dear Mr. R. Niels Marquardt,

We are a group of students from WCHS. For the last few weeks we have been studying various aspects of Madagascar . We enjoyed learning about Madagascar ’s people and animals and quite enjoyed looking at pictures of all the variety in Madagascar ’s ecosystem. It has come to our attention that the current use of Tavy is extremely detrimental to the environment. If the process is not changed soon there could be permanent damage done to Madagascar’s ecosystem. Doing some research we believe that this disastrous outcome could be adverted if certain practices were put to curb, which would reduce the damage done to the environment. First off the practice of tavy needs to be outlawed because it has no long-term benefit to either Madagascar’s people or environment. Some beneficial alternatives would be to promote and encourage positive growing habits like those in use that are outlined by the Environmental Action Plan.



Sincerely,

29,30,31,32