Malagasy peoples

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Malagasy

Top: A Malagasy street vendor; Bottom: A traditional Malagasy Valiha orchestra
Total population
c. 26.8 million
Regions with significant populations
Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte, Réunion, Mauritius, France, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
Languages
Malagasy (L1) French (L2)
Religion
Christianity, Traditional Faiths, Islam
Related ethnic groups
Austronesian peoples Bantu peoples Ma'anyan Banjar Dusun Paku Lawangan other Barito Ambonese Moluccans Native Oceanians

The Malagasy (French: Malgache) are a group of Austronesian-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the island country of Madagascar. Traditionally, the population have been divided into ethnic groups. Examples include "Highlander" (ethnically mixed ancestry but more Austronesian and slightly less Bantu) groups such as the Merina and Betsileo of the central highlands around Antananarivo, Alaotra (Ambatondrazaka) and Fianarantsoa, and the "coastal dwellers" (predominantly Bantu with less Austronesian traits) such as the Sakalava, Bara, Vezo, Betsimisaraka, Mahafaly, etc.

The Merina are further divided into two subgroups. The “Merina A” are the Hova and Andriana, and have an average of 30–40% Bantu ancestry. The second subgroup is the “Merina B”, the Andevo, who have an average of 40–50% Bantu ancestry. The latter make up less than 1/3 of Merina society.^[1] The Malagasy population was 2,242,000 in the first census in 1900. Their population had a massive growth in the next hundred years, especially under French Madagascar.