ABSTRACT
The "Indonesia-Africa" hypothesis The possibility ofan Indonesian contribution to African culture has a long history among historians and ethnologists, and has attracted its fair share of scepticism. However, the undisputed Austronesian1origin oftheMalagasy and thefindings ofrecentethnobotanical work suggest that it is time for a fresh assessment of the evidence put forward by earlier writers. To put the argument of this paper in perspective, I begin with a brief history of the debate.
