The kingdom of Betsimisaraka and European pirates in 18th century Madagascar. (Patreon)

'In a pirate enclave on the lush eastern coast of Madagascar, the child of a local princess and a pirate unites warring kingdoms, fends off a tyrant from the mountains, and secures a long-lasting peace.'

This popular but fictional account of the pirate kingdom of Libertalia presents Madagascar as a utopian paradise, welcoming to all who seek liberty. 17th century Madagascar was indeed home to several small pirate communities, rumors of which shocked, inspired, and entertained the clients of cafés across the Northern Atlantic world. European historical myths emphasized the power accorded to these pirates in Madagascar where any man could have become a King of a utopian colony, where slaves were freed and all were equal.

The mythical story of Libertalia has since given way to the real historical state of the Betsimisaraka, which controlled parts of north-eastern Madagascar in the 18th century. In his final book titled “Pirate Enlightenment,” the anthropologist David Graeber argues that the Betsimisaraka was an "experiment in radical democracy," representing "some of the first stirrings of Enlightenment political thought" in which a mixed Malagasy-European society created a short-lived period of peace without much hierarchy, slavery, or coercion, but didn't outlive its founder king Ratsimilaho.

This article explores the history of north-eastern Madagascar and the Betsimisaraka state from 1720-1817. I argue that while the pirates played a role in the foundation of the state, the Betsimisaraka state owed little to external influences and more to internal processes common to the societies of Madagascar, including alliances with neighbors like the Sakalava kingdom of Boina and the Nzwani sultanate of Comoros, which enabled Betsimisaraka to flourish for more 60 years after the demise of its founder.

A pirate cemetery on the island of Nosy Boraha (Sainte-Marie), Madagascar 

an 18th-century map of Madagascar

A brief background on the history of Madagascar until the 17th century.

Beginning in the late first millennium of the common era, the island of Madagascar was home to many societies with varying levels of social complexity. These included the old city-states along the northern coast founded by the Swahili (Antalaotra), and emergent states in the interior of the western and northern coast such as the kingdom of Guingemaro that was largely populated by groups from Mozambique on mainland Africa. The Antalaotra were engaged in regional transshipment trade with the Swahili coast, while the interior states were engaged in internal regional trade as well as a small but growing export trade. Trading and political ties between the various groups were strengthened through matrimonial alliances, producing a mixed culture that formed the modern Malagasy society.

(Pirates and Kings pg 218-221)

By the late 17th century, the political situation on Madagascar's west coast was transformed by the rise of the Sakalava monarchies in the southwest of the island, spreading rapidly northwards. Having overrun many of the pre-existing states in the interior and the coastal cities, the Sakalava king Toakafo of the Boina kingdom controlled nearly 1/3rd of the island by 1720. On the other hand, the North-Eastern coast was home to many small polities under the control of chiefs with control over a few settlements each, such as the port towns of Fenerive, Foulpointe, and Tamatave.

(Unesco Vol 5. pg 869-871, 882)

Map of Madagascar in the 18th century, showing the Antalaotra town of Mazalagem, the Sakalava capital of Boina in the west coast, and in the east coast is the Betsimisaraka region (in green highlight) and the island of Saint Marie.

A dhow in Tamatave, Madagascar, ca. 1895, ANOM 

During this later period, Madagascar, like the rest of the East African coast, was an important supplier of various commodities to Indian Ocean ships including those owned locally (by the Antalaotra) and those owned by foreigners such as itinerant Arab merchants and Europeans, the latter of whom had set themselves up on the Islands of Mauritius. In this trade, Madagascar exported rice, cattle, and captives, among other commodities in exchange for silver, cloth, firearms, and other manufactures.

(Tom and Toakafo pg 446)

In the age of mercantilism, rulers along Madagascar's northern coasts were able to integrate themselves into networks of trade and influence extending abroad via alliances with traders from overseas. However, Unlike the Comoros islands like Nzwani that established formal ties with powerful maritime states like the English, or the Swahili who traded with the Portuguese and Arabs, Madagascar's external trade was 'monopolised' by the Antalaotra, according to the Portuguese and with no large states near the coast, it could hardly provide the provisions needed for European ships on the scale like Nzwani, so it was largely avoided. This opened up an opportunity for smaller-scale traders with no affiliation to established states, to trade with Madagascar's coastal societies.

(Pirates and Kings pg 220-222)

European Pirates in 17th century Madagascar.

Following the uptick in European shipping in the southern Indian Ocean during the 17th century, a steady stream of European pirates who had been expelled from the Caribbean islands begun to settle on Madagascar's northern shores. As part of their attempts at extending state authority over maritime commerce, European states such as the British and French, labeled certain disgraced merchants and other captains as 'pirates' despite previously relying on the same individuals during times of naval conflict and rivalry.

(Feeding Globalization, pg 76-77, Pirates and Kings pg 215-217)

The pirates largely avoided the Antaloatra-controlled ports in northwestern Madagascar and instead settled along the northeastern coast. These pirates came from diverse locations, including Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, and North America, with some being described as 'negro'. Most of them lived on the island of Sainte Marie where begun to coordinate trading with passing ships in food, captives, cheap Indian cloth, gems, and gold.

Some pirates developed close ties with local Malagasy rulers, such as the kings of Boina who used them as mercenaries and to construct some fortifications. Numbering between 830 and 1,200 by 1705, the pirates brought sought-after products, and continued pre-existing patterns of trade. Enabled by the desire not to reproduce the Western social order, they were integrated into local society.

(Pirates and Kings pg 223, 226-227, Feeding Globalization, pg 79-80, Tom and Toakafo pg 446)

Pirates therefore possessed significant economic and political capital, but had little social capital. Just like many itinerant merchants who had settled in Madagascar before, the pirates formed close relationships with local elites, and some intermarried with them, forming fairly equal unions which emerged because the Malagasy women recognized their opportunity to dominate the emerging social spaces.

By the early 18th century, the offspring of these unions produced many petty rulers of small kingdoms along the north-western region of the island, who were known as the Zanamalata (Children of the Mulattos). One of these Zanamalata introduced a trading ritual (fati-dra) with visiting merchants that included drinking a mixture of sea water and gunpowder, and a blood-sharing ritual of East-African origin.

(Pirates and Kings pg 230-232)

A group of Betsimisaraka women in the north-eastern coastal town of Vohemar, ca. 1901, ANOM 

King Ratsimilaho and the founding of the Betsimisaraka state. (1720-1750)

Around 1695, an English pirate named Tom and a Malagasy princess produced a son named Ratsimilaho (also known as; “Tamsimalo” or “Tom Similo”). Like all pirates who maintained close ties with their home country, Tom briefly took Ratsimilaho to England where he stayed for three months before the home-sick youth returned to Madagascar in 1710. Ratsimilaho likely visited several other places during his youth including Bombay and Malabar (in modern India) where he established vital connections. Tom later left his son with enough firearms and money to pursue his own career.

(Tom and Toakafo pg 449)

Said to possess less military strength than his peers, Ratsimilaho became known as a keen strategist. He intervened in a local conflict between communities in his home at Foulpointe, who were being attacked by a ruler of a rival community known as Tsikoa that had taken the towns of Fenerive and Tamatave. He defeated the Tsioka, retook Fenerive in 1712, and formed an alliance of subjects known as the 'Betsimisaraka' (The Many Undivided) who recognized him as their king. After a brief truce with the Tsioka, he also retook the town of Tamatave.

(Unesco Vol. 5 pg 883)

a street in Foulpointe in the early 20th century. After the shift of the capital to Tamatave, the town's population had collapsed to around 1,500 in the late 19th century.

19th-century engraving of the town of Tamatave. It housed an estimated 8,000 inhabitants in the 1870s with several streets and quarters including one for Europeans shown in the second illustration.

Ratsimilaho continued to develop his regional and external connections and is known to have hosted atleast two French traders at his court in 1722 and 1733, who provided further accounts of his reign. By this time, most pirates had left the islands after increased anti-piracy operations by their home governments, particularly the British and French, the latter of whom had established a colony on the Mascarene islands of Mauritius and Réunion.

(Tom and Toakafo pg 449-450, Feeding Globalization pg 81-82)

Ratsimilaho and his fellow zana-malata did not present themselves as European, but rather as leaders with ties to fellow elites; both Malagasy and European. In 1738, a visiting French captain found the king dressed in a combination of French and local clothing, mentioning that the King could speak both French and English. Ratsimilaho formed alliances with neighboring rulers to assert their authority over the eastern coast and repel attacks by the Sakalava kingdom of Boina whose armies had begun campaigning in parts claimed by Betsimisaraka.

(Pirates and Kings pg 233-234)

Ratsimilaho's career later became closely associated with Sakalava monarchy of Boina. Both he and his Sakalava allies made extensive use of Europeans as advisors and auxiliaries and were closely integrated into overseas systems of credit and trade. An account by Dutch traders in 1715 mentions the presence of Ratsimilaho at the court of King Toakafo, serving as the latter's right-hand man. Ratsimilaho is said to have been allied by solemn oath to the Sakalava, and was later married to Princess Matavy, daughter of the king of Boina (presumably Toakafo) in a marriage alliance typical of neighboring elites in Madagascar and the Swahili coast.

(Tom and Toakafo pg 451-452)

Traditions and written accounts regarding the Betsimisaraka state led by Ratsimilaho note its close resemblance to the Sakalava kingdom in addition to a number of features likely inherited from the pirates.

Besides the king, the most powerful institution was the state assembly, the grand kabary, during which all the members of the confederation speak and at the end of which is celebrated the abovementioned fati-dra ritual of political alliance, which may represent a synthesis between traditional Malagasy oath-taking rituals and those of pirates. The goal of the assembly and rituals was to establish the Betsimisaraka ruler as the unquestioned leader of the east coast of Madagascar.

(Pirates and kings pg 233)

As he expanded his state, Ratsimilaho let the traditional chiefs to keep their autonomy and pay as much tribute as each saw fit. He took the sons of high and low chiefs as hostages at his court but used them productively as royal messengers, who took his orders to the Betsimisaraka He administered high justice, allowing any Betsimisaraka to bypass their own chief. Religious status seems to have become attached to the king, in a fashion typical of a traditional Malagasy monarch. His son was named Zanahary, a Malagasy word for 'the high god'.

(Unesco Vol. 5 pg 883, Tom and Toakafo pg 453)

A 'Kabary' held in Tamatave in 1898, these sorts of public assemblies represented a traditional Betsimisaraka institution where rulers and subjects negotiated power, in this case, this one was organise for a colonial general.

Betsimisaraka under the successors of Ratsimilaho (1750-1817)

The Betsimisaraka capital Foulpointe became an important trading port on the north-eastern coast, mediating trade with the interior of the island by exporting rice, cattle and captives to the Mascarenes islands in exchange for silver, cloth, firearms and other goods. Internal trade in agro-pastoral and fishing products continued to flourish, and Betsimisaraka's ascendancy would outlive its founder Ratsimilaho, who died in 1750 and was succeeded by his daughter Béti.

Betty's reign was relatively brief, she gave the previously pirate-controlled island of Sainte-Marie to the French of the Mascarenes, but the inhabitants revolted and the colony collapsed. After her departure for Mauritius, she was succeeded by her brother Andrianjanahary who from 1755 to 1767, fended off internal challenges to his rule and wars that disrupted trade. He was later succeeded by his son Yavi (r. 1767-1791) who fended off and later re-established alliances with the Sakalava of Boina, thus keeping the kingdom stable throughout the period.

(Feeding Globalization, pg 87-88, Recollecting from the Past pg 30)

Further Betsimisaraka expansion was halted by the ascendancy of other groups from the interior by the late 18th century such as the Merina. During this time, the few available accounts indicate that the reigning Betsimisaraka king (presumably Yavi's son Zakavolo, who succeeded him in 1791) formed a military alliance with the sultan of Nzwani in 1792 to provide war canoes and armed men against his rival. This initiated a series of naval conflicts that spread across the East African coast from 1796 to 1816 involving organized armed parties from both the Betsimisaraka and Sakalava of Boina in various alliances with coastal rulers against rivals.

After Zakavolo's death in 1803, the center of power shifted to the city of Tamatave under the rule of his uncle Tsihala, who had won out a lengthy succession struggle with the deceased king's sons, one of whom moved to a town known as Ivondro (Hivondro). This dispute fomented anarchy among other Betsimisaraka allowing another zana-malata named Jean René, to take over Tamatave in 1811, managing to rule 'justly' before the Merina king Radama I conquered much of the kingdom by 1817.

After a failed rebellion in 1825, the region came under firm Merina control, with a fort constructed at Manda near Foulpointe and Merina governors installed in all the port towns. Over the course of the 19th century, the Betsimisaraka identity remained an important rallying point for the people of North-east Madagascar against the Merina and the French colonialists and is today considered one of the major ethnic groups of Madagascar.

(Unesco Vol. 6, pg 420, Recollecting from the Past pg 31-36)

Ruins of king Radama's fort Manda, near Foulpointe

Conclusion on the role of European pirates in the emergence of Betsimisaraka.

The history of Betsimisaraka confirms that Madagascar's kingdoms were complex political constructions that arose from systems of trade, war, and diplomacy typical of the Malagasy kingdoms, and were often influenced by local and regional processes as much as external connections.

Graeber's lengthy account (see link in sources) acknowledges that the self-organization of Betsimisaraka was a Malagasy undertaking, but he credits pirate contacts for the emergence of egalitarian political concepts among the Betsimisaraka that "insulated" the region from slavery during the reign Ratsimilaho, whom he considers not fully a king of a hierarchical society.

This is however, a largely speculative conjecture, as Betsimisaraka's social structure and the existence of dynastic succession long after Ratsimilaho indicates that the society wasn't egalitarian. Nor does the Betsimisaraka's continued integration in local patterns of exchange --which included the export of slaves and the formation of military alliances-- provide any evidence for a radial break from pre-existing practices.

Perhaps the Malagasy and the European pirates did pioneer a radical form of democracy based on a more 'faithful' application of enlightenment ideas; which were in truth a contradictory mix of participatory governance reserved for the rich alongside chattel slavery (as Graeber also notes).

But whatever occurred in early 18th century N.E Madagascar did not outlive its creators. What did survive was a kingdom not unlike its peers on the rest of the island, a kingdom that occupied a bounded territory in which a clearly defined and self-reproducing leadership group commanded resources for warfare and trade, formed alliances with its peers, and anchored its existence on the internal processes of 18th and 19th century Madagascar.

references:

Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber

Feeding Globalization: Madagascar and the Provisioning Trade, 1600-1800 by Jane Hooper

Recollecting from the Past: Musical Practice and Spirit Possession on the East Coast of Madagascar by Ron Emoff

UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. V

Tom and Toakafo: The Betsimisaraka Kingdom and State Formation in Madagascar, 1715-1750 by Stephen Ellis

Pirates and Kings: Power on the Shores of Early Modern Madagascar and the Indian Ocean by Jane Hooper

Link