Who was known as the "Mad Monarch of Madagascar"?

We’ve all heard of Bloody Mary, the Tudor Queen of England, who persecuted Protestants relentlessly during her short reign. And some of us have heard of King Leopold II of Belgium, who forced millions of Congolese people into slavery for his own personal benefit. But have you heard of Queen Ranavalona I, AKA the “Mad Monarch of Madagascar”?

We could start this story talking about when Queen Ranavalona I was born. Or we could start at the end of her life and backtrack. But in order to set the stage and truly understand where Ranavalona’s title as the “mad monarch” comes from, we have to talk about Madagascar itself. The island, situated roughly 250 miles off the coast of Mozambique in East Africa, has been repeatedly settled by waves of migrating people from around Southeast Asia, Micronesia, and China, but also the Arabic and Bantu-speaking world. It was common from at least a thousand years ago, to have multiple ethnic groups living on the island. As with much of the rest of the world, ethnic groups were united by various leaders over time. Sometimes, they would fight with each other over resources, but more common was that the separate kingdoms on the island would strategize to gain wealth and power through trade. Island kingdoms are notorious for trading with the seafarers passing through, and Madagascar is no different. The biggest difference in this region is piracy. Pirates were extremely common on Madagascar.

We tend to think of pirates being in the Caribbean only. Places like Jamaica and the Bahamas. But Madagascar was a pirate stronghold. This island and the kingdoms therein, were accustomed to prisoner stealing, slavery, piracy on the high seas, and profiting off the trade of stolen goods. At the height of the Golden Age of Pirates, the early 1700s, Madagascar was ruled by a family known as the Maroseranana. Maroseranana means “those who owned many ports”. This tells you how vital trading and piracy was to the island. At the tail end of the 1700s, piracy was becoming less common and European influences were becoming more common. Colonial empires are piracy by a different name, in my opinion. But I digress… This is when the Merina kingdom becomes well established. The Merina kingdom effectively unifies Madagascar for the first time. It’s through diplomacy, as well as successful military campaigns, but ultimately there is one king of Madagascar. For the first time.

Enter the 19th century. The 1800s is a time of upheaval. The entire century will become known in history as a time of revolution, colonization, and industrialization. Obviously, some of these things started much earlier than the 1800s, but it is truly this century that brings about the impact of colonies, industry, slavery, revolution, etc. Madagascar’s story is all of these things combined. Smaller islands around Madagascar had been colonized by various Europeans since the 15/1600s. Europeans were always interested in Madagascar, but saw it as a large island with fractious kingdoms and ethnic groups. And that’s an uphill climb, if you’re wanting to colonize the place. You’d have to successfully colonize one tribe after the other. It was much more profitable to simply trade well with a port city or two. Add in the legacy of piracy, and Madagascar must’ve been seen as a difficult coup to make. Much easier for the British to overtake other islands already colonized by their foes, the French, right?

This is exactly what happened after Napoleon was defeated in 1815. The British started supplanting French colonized islands in various locations, in order to secure the big trade routes from the South Pacific, India, and Africa, back to England. Islands like Reunion and Mauritius, which are close to Madagascar. At this time, the Merina king was Radama I. He is young when he takes power, just 18, and he sees the British and French as pathways to securing his rule. He signs treaties with the British, who formally recognize him as King of Madagascar. He admires Napoleon’s military genius and uses similar strategies in consolidating his power on the island. Radama sends two of his brothers to England for their education. This is all boding well for the British, who want to keep the French out of this part of the world. Radama is also, according to European contacts of the time, suspicious of the rituals inherent to the Merina religious beliefs. Having multiple idols on display, for example. Radama also implements technological innovations, much to the dismay of his people, who were unhappy that Radama seemed to be rejecting the ways of his ancestors.

Now, we have our stage set for Ranavalona. We’ll call her Ramavo, which was her name before marriage. The world she enters into is slightly volatile, full of external forces, and very patriarchal. Ramavo is born in roughly 1778, this we know. What is speculative is who she was born to. One story says that she was born to a prince and princess of the royal family. Another story tells that she was born to poor peasants. Where the stories are similar is around how she becomes a royal wife. It’s said that her father learns of an assassination plot and informs the king. The king is so thankful for this show of loyalty, that he promises that Ramavo will marry his son and successor. The king’s son is none other than Ramada, who will become the 18-year-old Napoleon wannabe. The king also declared that any children born of their union would become first in line to the throne. In Madagascar, it was not uncommon for kings to take multiple wives. Ramada is said to have taken as many as twelve wives. The significance of Ramada’s father dictating that Ramavo’s children would be first in line suddenly makes a bit more sense. And whether this was a true story, or a concoction made up by Ramavo later on, is up for debate.

Ramavo became a wife of Ramada at a young age, but the marriage was never a loving one. In fact, the two never had any children. It was also a known secret that Ramada almost never slept with Ramavo, preferring other wives and mistresses instead. Ramada found Ramavo opinionated, noisy, and “stuck in the past”. And by this, he meant that she adhered too sincerely to his father’s methods and ways. She revered the Malagasy gods, the old Merina rituals, and hated the idea of foreigners settling on their lands. Ramada saw it otherwise. Whether he was seeking to cement his own legacy in the eyes of powerful empires like France or Britain, or whether he was simply realistic about being unable to keep the British or French away from Madagascar, we’ll never truly know. Colonization had been inevitable in places nearby, and the influence of Europe could not be ignored. Much of the wealth of Madagascar stemmed from its involvement with these entities. And yet, Ramavo was determined to speak her mind and do what she could to keep Madagascar independent. Sounds like a badass, right?

Well, many a badass starts out with grand ideas, but when the rubber meets the road, the energy fizzles and they don’t have what it takes to rule. Not Ramavo. She shows how ruthless she can be, when Ramada dies in 1828, at age 36. Ramada had been an alcoholic from a young age, so it is very likely the reports of cirrhosis were valid. With Ramavo’s reputation though, whether or not she helped Ramada drink himself to death is up for speculation. Either way, when Ramada dies, she has borne him no heirs. The crown would go to Ramada’s nephew instead. And Ramavo would have been seen as a problem. The practice of killing off or exiling any rival factions, even within the royal family, had been a tradition in Madagascar. But why is she such a threat? Not only is she opinionated and loud about her opinions, it’s because although Ramavo and Ramada didn’t have any children together, Merina society would have acknowledged any child of Ramavo’s. Because she had been the first wife of Ramada. Even if Ramada was not the biological father. In the grand tradition of royal family infighting, the nephew would have sought to imprison and starve Ramavo. You couldn’t spill royal female blood, but you could keep them hidden away, unable to produce an heir. And yet, Ramavo is strategic. She’s been making headway since Ramada decided to spurn her all those married years ago. She’s made many, many allies in court. Especially those who also believe foreigners should be expelled, and the Merina religion should be honored.

Ramavo gathered military men and religious leaders and occupied the royal palace. She barred the gates and only allowed people entry if they accepted her as queen. The consequences of rejecting her were violent and swift. Just weeks after Ramada’s death, Ramavo is declared Queen of Madagascar. Her rivals, including Ramada’s family members, are captured and killed. Including his nephew. In a lavish and hours-long coronation ceremony, Ramavo then officially became Queen Ranavalona I. Her crowning was epic. She was smeared with the fresh blood of a bull, representing strength, military parades were seemingly endless and unparalleled, and it’s said she gave a speech, which was recorded by visiting foreign dignitaries. This speech certainly would’ve raised a few eyebrows:

"Never say she is only a feeble and ignorant woman, how can she rule such a vast empire? I will rule here, to the good fortune of my people and the glory of my name! I will worship no gods but those of my ancestors. The ocean shall be the boundary of my realm, and I will not cede the thickness of one hair of my realm!"

Doesn’t exactly leave room for interpretation, does it? Ramavo’s support in becoming Queen includes a young army officer, who she would eventually promote to become the first Prime Minister of Madagascar. This young officer also became her unofficial husband for a time, and he fathered a son with her. She named her son Rakoto. So now, Ramavo has cemented her rule and has an heir to follow her, according to the vows made upon her official first marriage. This is an important way to consolidate power, but it’s not the only way. Ramavo also built up her power by making her intentions with the British and French well known. Treaties previously drawn up by Ramada were now null and void. The Christian religion was forbidden to be practiced and the movements of foreigners living on the island were severely restricted. Within a few years of becoming Queen, foreign missionaries abandoned their posts and left Madagascar. More on that in a minute. To her supporters in the military and Merina religion, this was a sign of her power. To the French and British, it was a sign that they might have to put contingency plans into place, in order to keep their interests in play.

But Ramavo wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot. This was the beginning of a 33-year reign, unlike any other in Madagascar’s history. To enable Madagascar to become self-reliant, Ramavo implemented a policy that was a long-standing tradition, called fanompoana - forced labor in lieu of tax payments in money or goods. This policy would end up killing many of her own people, as labor in the fields and forests of Madagascar was strenuous. Add to this, the lack of adequate medical assistance for many people on the island, and it’s a recipe for disaster. And Ramavo did not stop there. She felt the need to instill fear, in order to avoid any coup or assassination attempts. One of the measures Ramavo used to maintain order was a trial by ordeal, called tangena. Named after the native shrub that produced a poisonous nut, tangena was how trials were decided. The accused would be fed the poison extracted from the tangena nut, usually chicken skins laced with the extract. If the accused vomited up all the chicken skins consumed, they were declared innocent. But guilt was decided, if the poison either killed them or they could not vomit up all the skins. Today, this might sound wildly unfair, as well as fatal for most. It’s by design that this practice is not based on facts. Merina society had always seen tangena as a divine practice, a gesture of full faith in the gods to decide guilt or innocence. This fell right in line with Ramavo’s strict adherence to the old ways. And when I say that tangena was fatal for most, the numbers prove it. An estimated 20 to 50 percent of all who underwent the ordeal died. And neighbors could accuse neighbors of any crime, like theft, practicing Christianity, or even witchcraft. Tangena would be used as their trial.

A brief mention about how Christianity was dealt with. Initially, Christian missionaries were restricted in their movements and many fled the island altogether. But not all of them. It started slowly with Ramavo. She knew the schools founded by Christians were still active, and one even had a printing press. She banned the distribution of books amongst her army to preserve discipline. She perhaps didn’t believe many of her people would wish to convert to Christianity, so she allowed the churches to baptize and to administer the sacrament. But within a few years, hundreds of her people were converting. All walks of life as well, even some of the respected elders. This alarmed her and others. She banned Christian marriage ceremonies, baptisms, church services for those studying to become missionaries. The churches held services in secret under the ban. Which didn’t sit well, leading Ramavo to ban Christianity altogether in 1835. She was careful to make a distinction though. She banned the religion for her people. Not for the foreigners who were staying and were Christians before they even came to Madagascar. This is ultimately how the last of the Christian missionaries came to the decision to leave.

Ramavo was also determined to ensure she could hold onto the entirety of the island as her realm. She said so in her alleged speech at her coronation: the ocean shall be the boundary of my realm. Ramavo kept up the military campaigns of her late husband. Fanompoana, the forced labor policy, included conscription into the military. Her army would raze villages to the ground, burn crop fields, and perform mass executions - if that community was unwilling to submit to Ramavo as Queen. Those who survived such scorched earth events, eventually starved due to the lack of resources or became slaves to wealthy families in the capital city. Oh, and have I mentioned malaria yet? The disease was rampant across the coastal areas of Madagascar. Malaria alone could kill as much as 50% of the Queen’s standing army. The Merina soldiers had no natural resistance to it, since their tribe was traditionally from the highlands of the island. Malaria was less common there due to the altitude. The picture is clear now: Ramavo was intent on conquering all of Madagascar through military campaigns, implementing traditional policies like fanompoana and tangena, building wealth without the influence of the British or French, and violently repressing anything foreign-born, like Christianity. It is estimated that throughout her 33-year reign, the total population declined from around 5 million to 2.5 million. A majority of this roughly 50% decline occurred within the first decade of her reign as well.

This is the legacy of Queen Ranavalona I. It is the foreigners who watched all this occur who named her the Mad Monarch of Madagascar. The numbers are staggering, of course, but foreigners had a bias. They wished to de-throne Ramavo from the beginning. The British and French were waiting for their opportunity to colonize Madagascar and benefit solely from its riches. It’s tempting to see Ramavo from only this perspective. Her rule was harsh, her reign was violent, and so on. But Ramavo was also a woman in a man’s world. Not only within her own society, but within the eyes of the foreigners who so desperately wanted what she had. Ramavo was a believer in her people, their rituals, their traditions. This, in and of itself, is admirable. You can call Ramavo a mad monarch, you can’t call her a hypocrite. And while her tactics created a disadvantage for her - in that, her army was decimated by malaria, starvation, and violent battles - we have to address the fact that this woman maintained power for 33 years. During a time when other armies were much larger and stronger. Ramavo was clever as well.

For example, when she voided the treaty with the British, and she rejected foreign influence, this left her vulnerable. It was the foreigners who would trade in weaponry and arms. A French fleet of six ships launched an unprovoked attack on Fortpointe and the nearby town of Ivondro, on the east coast of Madagascar in 1829. Early on Ramavo’s reign. Her army was successful in repelling the fleet, forcing them to the next port over, Ile Sainte-Marie. Diplomatic envoys were sent to address the French fleet. And while negotiations went on, the French soldiers were vulnerable to malaria. Many of them were infected and some died. This was how Ramavo had decided to “negotiate”. The French ultimately sailed away and didn’t return for quite some time. A few years later, a Frenchman named Jean Laborde had been shipwrecked off the coast of Madagascar. When Ramavo learned who he was, and that he had the knowledge to build cannons and other forged weapons, she instantly gave him preferred citizen status and allowed him to build factories that she filled with forced labor. Subsequently, her military had enough weapons for her military campaigns, without being dependent on foreign governments for arms.

Ramavo isn’t without her personal flaws also. Remember that high-ranking officer who became her de facto husband and father of her child? He did become Prime Minister and held that office for a little over a year. But his opponents in government conspired to bring him down a peg. See, Ramavo was not immune to the lure of alcohol. It was consumed in great quantities at court. Her late husband apparently died of liver failure, and Ramavo had been hosting rum-drinking parties for many years before becoming Queen. While she was intoxicated one night, her Army Field Marshal came to her and stated that the Prime Minister had been committing treason behind her back, that he was conspiring with foreigners to overthrow her. Even if she had been sober, I’m not sure he would have been safe from her wrath. But under the influence of both alcohol and her generals, she signed the PM’s arrest and death warrant. He was immediately captured and killed.

And what became of her son, Rakoto? He grew up in the royal court, and in his early years, understood he would one day inherit the throne. However, his education was a mix of traditional Malagasy wisdom and tutoring from a French advisor to the Queen. This is the 1830’s and 40’s, a time when France itself was undergoing revolution and reform. The ideals of the Revolution in the 1790s were long established, France had existed as a Republic for a time before Napoleon. There was a history of Enlightenment thought, but also of parliamentary and republican rule. As opposed to absolute monarchy, like that of Ramavo’s. Prince Rakoto held the belief that European influence was beneficial, if regulated. This belief and outward-facing perspective was taken advantage of by the French. When Rakoto was 26, his relationship with the French advisor to the Queen led to irreversible consequences for Madagascar’s history. This advisor’s name was Lambert, and he drew up documents for Rakoto to sign. On the surface, these documents were based on Rakoto’s own beliefs, that French influence could resume when he became king. However, they were written in French. Rakoto did not speak, read, or write French at all. Hidden within the documents was language stating that Lambert and his business associates would have first rights to exploit Madagascar’s natural resources. Under intense pressure, Rakoto signed the documents. Now known as the Lambert Charter.

This Charter would have sealed Ramavo’s fate, if the French wished to stage a coup, putting her son on the throne instead. But it’s said that Rakoto himself, outed his signing of the documents to the British - once he had learned what it actually entailed. The French would never have engaged in a coup, without notifying and having the consent of the British. Since the British saw the duplicitous nature of the documents, and the sneaky way they’d made Rakoto sign them, they gave the French their word they would never support a coup against Ramavo. Lambert, not backed by the French government at all, decided to stage a coup on his own. But his merry band of businessmen failed. Some accounts say that Ramavo and Rakoto were in the know the whole time, and allowed the attempted coup to be carried out - in order to weed out who in the court was unfaithful and punish them. After this coup attempt, Ramavo placed all Europeans under house arrest. Within a couple months, she ordered them to leave her territory for good.

Only four years later, Ramavo lay on her deathbed, at the ripe old age of 81. Her successor confirmed by the rest of the court. Her lands expanded. Her legacy partly cemented by the foreign bias that would envelop Madagascar for the foreseeable future. She fought to keep her island kingdom from being colonized and rampaged by Europeans. And at least in her lifetime, won the fight. But at great cost. She died in her sleep, a peaceful end to a deadly reign. And yet, the impact of Ranavalona I does not end there. During her state funeral, barrels of gunpowder that were to be used in the ceremony were accidentally set alight by a random spark. The explosion killed bystanders and destroyed three royal residences. Bad-ass Queen Ranavalona, AKA Ramavo, literally went out with a bang.

And that’s the backstory of Queen Ranavalona I being the answer to the trivia question: Who was nicknamed the ‘Mad Monarch of Madagascar’?

Upon the death of his mother, Prince Rakoto became King Radama II. His swift upending of his mother’s policies led to a flood of foreign interest in Madagascar. The Lambert Charter held a priority for French businessmen, who eagerly embraced the opportunity to build roads and canals, as well as claim exclusive mining rights. Previously, foreigners could lay claim to Malagasy lands, with the provision that the land reverted to the crown upon that foreigner’s death. This new charter allowed foreigners to permanently own Malagasy lands, which did not sit well with Ramada II’s subjects. His opening to foreign investment alienated his more conservative opponents, but also the poor, who saw possession of land as an evil. Land was sacred, land was not to be owned - especially by foreigners. Ramada II was plotted against after only two years on the throne. He was ambushed in the royal palace by a group of military officers and strangled to death. Thereby avoiding the spilling of royal blood. His wife was installed as his successor, on the condition that she abide by a strict set of rules. She was married off to one of the officer’s complicit in Ramada’s demise, a political solution we’ve seen many times over around the world. Ramada II was not mourned by the public or given a state funeral at all.

A few more monarchs ruled over Madagascar until the end of the 19th century. A number of treaties were signed with the Brits, the Americans, and the French. Freedom of religion was established. More British started to occupy land and a descendant of Ramavo eventually declared Anglicanism the state religion of Madagascar. The Lambert Charter was voided, which angered some French contingents. The French decided to invade Madagascar in 1883, and by 1896 the French parliament voted to annex the island. The Merina dynasty had ended, and its last reigning queen exiled to Algeria. As with many African colonies of the time, the local population held repeated uprisings. To no avail initially. Malagasy people fought alongside the Allies in World War Two. And post-war, it was a time when empires truly fell apart and colonies sought independence. Madagascar won its independence in 1960.

Since its independence, Madagascar has had multiple heads of state. At times leaning towards socialism, at other times leaning towards capitalism. It wasn’t until 1992 that the country adopted a new democratic constitution. The first multi-party elections were held. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank held invested interests in Madagascar, which became a political hot potato issue. The country’s economy has suffered over the decades, politicians have been accused or found guilty of corruption, and some of the people have been living below poverty lines for generations. Health epidemics have claimed thousands of lives. Recently, an epidemic of measles killed at least 1200 people in 2019. COVID has of course impacted the island. And in 2021, the worst drought in 40 years left about one million people food insecure, meaning they had no way of feeding themselves. Thousands of people scattered across the island or further, in search of food.

Knowing how history has treated the people of islands like Madagascar, can you blame Queen Ranavalona I for being so invested in creating a self-sustaining Madagascar?