THE ONLY AFRICAN COUNTRY OF MIXED RACE (BLACK-ASIAN) PEOPLE : The Malagasy.

#malagasy #madagascar #blasian
Welcome to Madagascar, the convergence of the east African Bantu and Asian people. Madagascar is an island c
ountry lying off the south eastern coast of Africa. It is the fourth largest island in the world, after Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo.
In this land, you will encounter a people who look unlike any other African population. They look what could typically be described as Blasian. A hybrid of Asian and black African. As a people, the Malagasy , as people from Madagascar are known as, represent a unique blend of Asian and African cultures found nowhere else in the world. Although Asian features predominate on the whole, African ancestry is present and African influences in Malagasy material and nonmaterial culture are evident. The history and precise nature of this relationship, however, remains a matter of debate.
Centuries of intermarriages created the Malagasy people, who primarily speak Malagasy, an Austronesian language with Bantu, Malay, Arabic, French, and English influences. Most of the genetic makeup of the average Malagasy, however, reflects an almost equal blend of Austronesian and Bantu.
One study concludes that Madagascar was first settled approximately 1,200 years ago by a very small group containing approximately 30 women, with 28 of them of maritime Southeast Asian descent and 2 of African descent. But this result is not consistent with more extensive data accumulated. The Malagasy population formed through the intermixing of the first founding population with later immigrants.
Human settlement of Madagascar occurred during or before the mid-first millennium AD by Austronesian peoples, presumably arriving on outrigger canoes from present-day Indonesia. Around the year 900, Bantu people from East Africa crossed the Mozambique Channel to join them.
More than nine-tenths of the population is Malagasy, which is divided into about 20 ethnic groups. The largest and most dominant of the groups is the Merina people, who are scattered throughout the island. The name Merina (Imerina) is said to mean "Elevated People," deriving from the fact that they lived on the plateau. The second largest group is the Betsimisaraka (The Inseparable Multitude), who live generally in the east. The third most numerous group is the Betsileo (The Invincible Multitude), who inhabit the plateau around Fianarantsoa. Other important peoples are the Tsimihety (Those Who Do Not Cut Their Hair), the Sakalava (People of the Long Valley), the Antandroy (People of the Thorn Bush), the Tanala (People of the Forest), the Antaimoro (People of the Banks), and the Bara (a name of uncertain origin).
Language.
Although Madagascar is located geographically close to Bantu-speaking Africa, Malagasy is a standardized version of Merina, an Austronesian language. It shares a high degree of mutual intelligibility with the Malay language of Indonesia. Nevertheless, there are a number of Bantu words in the language, as well as some phonetic and grammatical modifiers of Bantu origin. There exists numerous local variations of Malagasy, all of which are mutually intelligible. Bantu elements, which exist in every dialect, appear to have been established for some time.
Religion.
Almost half of the population is Christian, with more than one-fourth of the population adherent to Protestantism and about one-fifth to Roman Catholicism. Conversion to Christianity has not eliminated the observation of traditional religious rites, however, particularly those involving the dead. A community of Sunni Muslims is found in the northwest.
Economy.
Despite the importance of intensive rice cultivation, the land is used primarily for pastoral purposes. Cattle are kept in all parts of the island; although fewer are found in the dense forest areas of the eastern escarpment, elsewhere pastoralism predominates, most often in coexistence with the cultivation of subsistence crops. On the plateau the valley floors and irrigable slopes are mainly used for growing rice. The forest peoples traditionally grew hill rice, after cutting and burning the forest; this practice continues, although it is discouraged by the government, which promotes the establishment of permanent irrigated rice fields.
The nation of Madagascar is a classic demonstration that two vastly different ethno-racial groups can converge to create a totally new identity. Thank you for watching to the end, and I'll see you in the next video.