Ranavalona I of Madagascar: African Jezebel or Patriot?

Abstract

The conventional historical interpretation of the early nineteenth-century history of Madagascar is that it reflected two contrasting reigns, that of King Radama I (r. 1810–28), and that of his successor, Queen Ranavalona I (r. 1828–61). The dominant view of Radama is that he was an enlightened, progressive, and pro-European monarch who welcomed embassies from British-ruled Mauritius from 1816, signed a treaty of alliance with Britain in 1820, and within less than a decade banned slave exports, accepted a Resident British political agent at his court, encouraged a London Missionary Society mission in Madagascar, and with British military assistance quickly subjected the entire island to his rule. By contrast, Ranavalona, Radama's senior wife, was illiterate and, guided by superstition and ancestral beliefs, unpredictable and brutal. Upon Radama's untimely death in mid-1828, Ranavalona illicitly seized the throne, established a tyrannical administration, and pursued retrograde illiberal, xenophobic, and anti-Christian policies. This article critically examines the origins of the conventional interpretation of Ranavalona and argues for the rationality of core economic and military policies she adopted aimed at safeguarding Madagascar from European imperial domination.