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Antananarivo is the capital of Madagascar, located in Antananarivo Province, and is most commonly known by its colloquial short-hand form Tana.

It is situated in the centre of the island length-wise, and 90 miles away from the eastern coast. The city occupies a commanding position, being built on a series of hills. In years gone by the king used to occupy his palace on the tallest hill and from there he would look down over the smaller hills where all his wives lived. The city grew from there and modern day Tana now sprawls across the hills.

History of Antananarivo

Antananarivo was founded about 1625 by King Andrianjaka and takes its name (the City of the Thousand) from the number of soldiers Andrianjaka assigned to guarding it. Until 1869 all buildings within the city proper were of wood or rushes, but even then it possessed several timber palaces of considerable size. The city was captured by the French in 1895 and incorporated into their Madagascar protectorate. Since the French conquest, good roads have been constructed throughout the city, broad flights of steps connect places too steep for the formation of carriage roads, and the central space, called Andohalo, has walks and terraces, flower-beds and trees.

First impressions

Looking down from the plane window as you approach you can see clusters of red clay houses and steepled churches on hilltops and a mosaic of fields. Dotted in the empty countryside are the white concrete Merina tombs from where the dead will be exhumed in the famadihana ceremony. Driving into town from the airport is fascinating. Whilst there is no doubt that you are in a working African city it is one of the more attractive ones. Taxi-brousses zip along the roads that are also home to zebu-carts, people pushing homemade wheelbarrows, street traders selling everything from bananas to brooms and more.

The city is interspersed with paddy fields where zebu graze and cattle egrets mix with ducks and chickens. There are old colonial houses, cobbled streets, modern office blocks and grand French state houses. The city is very vibrant, very alive and has totally chaotic traffic, yet somehow it manages to look serene in the light of the sunset.