Madagascar

Antananarivo serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of Madagascar, positioned in Eastern Africa. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Toamasina, Antsirabe, Mahajanga — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. Antananarivo occupies 12 hills at 1,276 metres altitude in the central highlands — its name meaning 'city of a thousand' (for the thousand warriors guarding it) — the historical capital of the Merina kingdom whose royal palace (Rova) burnt in 1995 and is currently being reconstructed, overlooking a capital whose French colonial boulevards, rice paddies within the city limits, and Malagasy wooden architecture coexist in unusual urban density.

With a population of approximately 28.9M, Madagascar is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The principal languages spoken are Malagasy, French, which reflect the country's cultural heritage and open doors to a wide international community. Internationally, Madagascar is reached via the dialling code +261. Malagasy identity is rooted in an extraordinary ethnic origin story — the island was settled primarily from Borneo (present-day Indonesia) between 350 BC and 550 AD, the world's longest maritime migration to an uninhabited island, producing an Austronesian-speaking people with African admixture whose ancestors' navigation skills in dugout canoes across the Indian Ocean without instruments represent one of prehistory's most remarkable achievements.

Madagascar spans 587,041 km², in the Eastern Africa subregion of Africa. Geographically centred around 20.0°S, 47.0°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the right-hand rule, in line with surrounding Africa convention.

The official currency is the Malagasy ariary (Ar), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. Madagascar's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC+03:00, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.

Football / Pétanque holds a special place in the heart of Madagascar's national identity. Football is Madagascar's dominant modern sport, but the traditional sport of moraingy (Malagasy bare-knuckle boxing) remains deeply embedded in coastal communities where match days between village champions draw crowds that treat the fighters as celebrities — a martial tradition that is simultaneously sport, entertainment, and community ritual dating to pre-colonial Malagasy kingdoms.

The highest point in Madagascar is Maromokotro, rising to 2,876 metres above sea level. Madagascar separated from Africa 165 million years ago and India 88 million years ago, creating evolutionary isolation that produced extraordinary endemism — 107 of 110 lemur species, 99% of frog species, and 90% of plant species found nowhere else, making the island a laboratory of evolutionary experimentation with a biodiversity crisis underway as deforestation removes habitat at among the world's highest rates.