Madagascar

Introduction: Madagascar is a large island off the east coast of Africa, which lies in the Indian Ocean. In fact, it's the world's fourth largest island. Most species of lemur live on this chiefly agricultural country. Despite the size of the country, most people here live in poverty, and many suffer from malnutrition.

Geography: Some people like to call Madagascar a micro-continent, and it is rightly so. The island of Madagascar is one of the most diverse areas on the planet earth. The environments of this country cover everything from bays, rain-forests, scrublands, deserts, mountains, valleys, and everything in between. In addition to that, it also seems to have been frozen in time, and many areas of the island still stand untouched, from when human's first graced the island.

Culture: There are two official languages spoken on the island of Madagascar. These two languages are French, and Malagasy. There is also a diverse group of ethnic societies, including Malayo-Indonesian, French, Indian, Creole, Comoran, and Cotiers, which is a mix of African, Malayo-Indonesian, and Arab ancestry. The religious beliefs of these people are primarily of their own variety, but almost half are Christians, and a small amount are Muslims.

Economy: As stated above, Madagascar is primarily an agricultural society. Though they do some petroleum exports. Most exports from the country are, coffee, vanilla, cloves, shellfish, and sugar. You can see even by the imports of the country that this is an agricultural based society. The primary imports are, intermediate manufactures, capitol goods, petroleum, consumer goods, and a small amount of food which they can't produce on their own. Another minor industry, is tourism. The tourism that is produced isn't the caliber of major destinations of the world, but if you would love to have an adventure of a lifetime, many say this is the best place to do it.

Government: The government of Madagascar is that of a Republic. They have a prime minister who is currently named Pascal Rakotomavo. Madagascar's national flag has a white vertical bar towards the left of the flag, and two horizontal bars, which are green and red, on the right.

History: About 165 million years ago, an earthquake seperated what is now known as Madagascar from the African continent. Close to 2,000 years ago humans started to arrive. These human's that first arrived settled in tribes, and they are now the Indian, and Malagasy portions of the country. Around the year 1500 AD the Portugese began to arrive. Like most other explorers of the time, other countries were soon notified of this island's existance, and the French, and English soon began to arrive too. These countries began to form settlements, and this is a primary reason why the official language of the country is French. For years the island lived under a monarchial rule, until in 1883 the French attacked and brought Madascar under it's control as a protectorate. About 100 years later, the country became independant, and that is how it still stands today.