ABSTRACT
The island of Madagascar is one of the less-well-known parts of Africa. Its location in the South Indian Ocean, away from major shipping routes since the opening of the Suez Canal, has been partly responsible for limited contact with the European world; and the 250-mile-wide Moçambique Channel effectively separates it from the African mainland. The present population numbers more than 5 million, of whom 98 per cent are Malgache. Numbers of French have declined since 1960, when there were about 70,000, since many officials were replaced by Malgache. It is possible that Malagasy was joined to Africa as part of the former continent of Gondwanaland until approximately Jurassic times. The eastern two-thirds of the island, including the highlands, consist of Pre-Cambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks, similar to the foundation rocks of the African continent. The climate ranges from humid tropical on the east coastlands to semi-arid tropical in the south-west.
