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28.02.

1897: How was the last queen of Madagascar overthrown?

1897: How was the last queen of Madagascar overthrown?
Photo Credit To http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m58i4vgbLO1rps6x9o1_1280.jpg

Her name was Ranavalona III and she became the queen when she was just 21 years old.



On this day the last queen of Madagascar was deposed from the throne. Her name was Ranavalona III and she became the queen when she was just 21 years old. Madagascar is a large island adjacent to Africa, with a surface area of 587,041 square kilometers.

Once, the entire island of Madagascar was a kingdom ruled by interesting elite. Namely, the rulers could only be members of the noble class named Andriana. The last three persons on the throne of Madagascar were exclusively women, that is, the queens of the aristocratic caste Andriana. Interestingly, the Prime Minister, on the contrary, was of the Hova caste (freelancers). Indeed, the prime minister regularly married the reigning queen and in doing so, developing an interesting joint authority of these two castes. The third caste were slaves, called Andevo.

The last ruling queen – Ranavalona III – was overthrown by the French. Namely, France decided to convert the island of Madagascar into its colony and abolish the power of local rulers. Ranavalona III was expelled from the royal palace. She had to abandon her capital – the city of Antananarivo (today still the capital of Madagascar). She was carried out of the city by a palanquin, accompanied by 700–800 escorts and porters. The Queen was still quite young (she was only 35 years old). It is interesting that by faith she was actually a Christian, because the rulers of Madagascar had adopted that religion much earlier.

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