world. Two examples are lemurs and
fossas. Lemurs are monkeylike animals
that live in trees. Fossas are catlike mammals
that hunt birds and lemurs. Many
butterflies, chameleons, and crocodiles
also live in the country.
People
Madagascar’s people are known as the
Malagasy. The Malagasy are more
closely related to Indonesians than to
Africans, even though the country is
closer to Africa than to Indonesia. The
Malagasy are divided into about 20
groups. The Merina make up the largest
group. The country also has small
groups of people from Africa, Asia,
France, and the nearby island country of
Comoros.
Many people of Madagascar speak both
the Malagasy and French languages.
About half of the people are Christian,
and most of the rest follow traditional
Malagasy religions. Fewer than one third
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Madagascar 9
of the people live in cities. Almost all the
major cities and towns are in the east.
Economy
Madagascar is a poor country. Most of
the people live by growing crops and by
raising humped cattle called zebu. Rice
is the main food crop. Farmers grow
vanilla and cloves to sell to other countries.
Madagascar also produces coffee,
sugar, and shrimp.
Madagascar’s small industries make
mainly cloth, clothing, cement, soap,
beer, and cigarettes. Mines provide
chromite, graphite, gold, and gems.
History
People first came to Madagascar from
Indonesia more than 1,000 years ago.
Arab traders arrived on the island before
AD 1000. The first Europeans to visit
Madagascar were Portuguese sailors,
who first arrived in 1500. The French
set up trading posts in the 1600s.
Around this time the Malagasy began to
develop kingdoms. The Malagasy traded
slaves to the French in return for weapons.
The Merina kingdom conquered
much of the island by the early 1800s.
The French defeated the Merina in
1895. France then ruled the island as a
colony. The island became the independent
Malagasy Republic in 1960.
In the 1970s the country’s military took
power. The country took the name
Madagascar in 1975. In 1992 Madagascar
held free elections for the first time
in 17 years. The new government
worked to improve the economy.
..More to explore
Antananarivo • Indian Ocean • Lemur
Rice is grown on hillsides in Madagascar.
Facts About
MADAGASCAR
Population
(2008 estimate)
20,215,000
Area
226,658 sq mi
(587,041 sq km)
Capital
Antananarivo
Form of
government
Republic
Major cities
Antananarivo,
Toamasina,
Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa,
Mahajanga
10 Madagascar BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Madison
Population
(2000 census)
208,054;
(2007 estimate)
228,775
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state
ofWisconsin. It is nicknamed the City
of Four Lakes. Part of the city lies on a
narrow strip of land between Lakes
Monona and Mendota. Two other lakes
are located nearby. The city is a center of
government, culture, and education.
The main campus of the University of
Wisconsin is located in Madison.
Many people inMadison work for the
university or the state government.
Trade, manufacturing, and business
services are important to the city’s
economy. High-technology companies
and tourism also bring money to the city.
Native Americans settled in the area
that is now Madison hundreds of years
ago. Madison was founded in 1836. It
was named after former U.S. President
James Madison. Later in 1836 Madison
was chosen to be the capital of the
Wisconsin Territory. Wisconsin became
a U.S. state in 1848, with Madison as
its capital.
..More to explore
Wisconsin
Madison, James
James Madison was the fourth president
of the United States. He is known as the
Father of the Constitution for his role in
the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
He also led the country through theWar
of 1812.
Early Life
James Madison was born in Port Conway,
Virginia, on March 16, 1751. His
parents were James Madison, Sr., and
Eleanor Rose Conway. Madison lived
most of his life at Montpelier, his family’s
plantation. He graduated from the
College of New Jersey (now Princeton
University) in 1771.
Political Career
In 1776 Madison helped to write Virginia’s
constitution. In 1779 he was
elected to the Continental Congress,
where he served until the end of the
American Revolution.
In 1784 Madison entered the Virginia
legislature. He then helped bring about
the U.S. Constitutional Convention. In
The Wisconsin state Capitol is in Madison. 1787 the convention met in
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Madison, James 11
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to create a
system of government for the United
States. Many of Madison’s ideas,
including his support of a strong central
government, went into the new U.S.
Constitution.
In 1789 Madison was elected to the
new House of Representatives. There he
helped pass the Bill of Rights, the first
10 amendments to the Constitution.
During his time in Congress Madison
came to believe that the federal
government should not have more
power than the states. He shared that
opinion with his friend Thomas
Jefferson.
In 1794 Madison married Dolley Payne
Todd. They had no children together.
In 1801 President Jefferson made Madison
secretary of state. They worked
together to buy the Louisiana Territory
from France in 1803.
