UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Madagascar
P. VÉRIN
Cultural investigations
The population of Madagascar has been the subject of many studies, yet
despite several often valid hypotheses, its origins are still veiled in
mystery. Most authors agree that while the neighbouring African continent
has made ethnic contributions to Madagascar, the Malayo-Polynesian
elements, that are just as obvious, especially in the central highlands, should
also be stressed. The double ethnic origin of the Malagasy would explain
the physical differences amongst the inhabitants of the island, who all
speak an Indonesian language. Although this language is divided into three
dialects, its linguistic unity is unquestionable.
Archaeological discoveries of historical importance first began to be made
from 1962 but previously important results had been gained from research
in the fields of comparative linguistics, ethnology, musicology and physical
anthropology. It is therefore appropriate to summarize briefly the investigations
into Malagasy cultural history made in these auxiliary sciences
before examining the data that we possess on the firstsettlements.
Linguistics
The Dutchman de Houtman was the first scholar to suggest that
Malagasy belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian linguistic group. In 1603 he
published some dialogues and a Malay-Malagasy dictionary, 1 and his
theory was reaffirmed by Luis Mariano who a few years later recognized
the existence in the north-west of a 'Kaffir' language (Swahili) that was
spoken on the north-west coast, as distinct from a 'Buki' language
(Malagasy) spoken 'throughout the interior of the island and on the rest of
the coast ... that is very similar to Malay'.
Van der Tuuk 2 later established scientifically the relationship between
Malagasy and the Indonesian languages. His research was followed by
that of Favre, Brandstetter, Marre, Richardson and, especially, Demp-
1. R. Drury, pp. 323-92.
2. Van der Tuuk.