{{Short description|1895–1897 uprising in Madagascar against French rule}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Menalamba'' rebellion}} {{Infobox military conflict |conflict = Menalamba rebellion |date = September 1895 – May 1897 (sporadic clashes until 1903) |place = [[Madagascar]] |result = Rebellion suppressed * End of the [[Merina Kingdom]] |combatant1 = {{flagicon|France}} [[French colonial empire|French Empire]] * {{flagicon|France}} [[French Madagascar]] |combatant2 = [[Merina]] rebels<br />[[Marofotsy]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Nèple |first=Capitaine |author2=Alain Grandidier |title=Guide de l'immigrant à Madagascar |volume=1 |year=1899 |pages=69 |publisher=Imprimerie Officielle |location=Tananarive |language=fr }}</ref><br />[[Manendy]] |commander1 = {{flagicon|France}} [[Joseph Gallieni]]<br/>{{flagicon|France}} [[Hubert Lyautey]] |commander2 = Rabozaka<br>Rabezavana<br>Rainibetsimisaraka |casualties3 = Hundreds to 100,000 dead }}
The '''''Menalamba'' rebellion''' was an uprising in Madagascar by the [[Merina people]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Deschamps|first=Hubert|title=Histoire de Madagascar|publisher=Mondes d'outre-mer|year=1961|language=fr|page=234}}</ref> that emerged in central [[Merina Kingdom|Madagascar]] in response to the [[French colonial empire|French]] capture of the [[Rova of Antananarivo|royal palace]] in the capital city of [[Antananarivo]] in September 1895.<ref name="GC"/> It spread rapidly in 1896, threatening the capital, but French forces were successful in securing the surrender of many rebel groups in 1897. Elements of the rebellion continued sporadically until 1903.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last=Mutibwa|first=Phares M.|date=1980|journal=Transafrican Journal of History|volume=9|issue=1/2|pages=134–152|issn=0251-0391|jstor=24328554|title=Resistance to Colonialism: The Revolt of 1904—5 in South-East Madagascar}}</ref> Menalamba rebels were mostly outlaws called "Fahavalo" led by Rabozaka and Rabezavana in the region of [[Anjozorobe]] between [[Alaotra]] lake and [[Betsiboka]] river and Rainibetsimisaraka in the region of [[Vakinankaratra]].
==Background== French diplomatic and military claims over the island of Madagascar – ongoing for more than four decades – intensified under the reigns of Queen [[Ranavalona II]] and Queen [[Ranavalona III]], the island's final monarchs.<ref name="Oliver">Oliver, Samuel. ''Madagascar: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Island and its Former Dependencies, Volume 1''. Macmillan and Co., 1886.</ref> Following a [[Franco-Hova War|successful campaign]] under General [[Jacques Duchesne]], France officially annexed Madagascar on January 1, 1896. That August, the French declared Madagascar to be their colony and exiled [[Malagasy people|Malagasy]] Prime Minister [[Rainilaiarivony]] to [[Algiers]] (in Algeria) where he died the following year.{{sfn|Randrianja|2001|pages=}} Queen Ranavalona III and much of her administration remained but were afforded no real political power.<ref name="Sheldon2005">{{cite book|author=Kathleen E. Sheldon|title=Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=36BViNOAu3sC&pg=PA209|year=2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5331-7|pages=209–}}</ref> A civil governor, [[Hippolyte Laroche]], was initially appointed to administer the territory.<ref name="Heseltine1971">{{cite book|author=Nigel Heseltine|title=Madagascar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6YaRAAAAIAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Praeger}}</ref>
==Outbreak== [[File:Execution of Rainandriamampandry and Ratsimamanga, Madagascar, 1896 (impa-m28578).jpg|thumb|Execution of Rainandriamampandry and Ratsimamanga, Madagascar, 1896 (impa-m28578)]]
In December 1895, two months after the French capture of Antananarivo, popular resistance to French rule emerged in the form of the ''menalamba'' ("red shawl") uprising, principally conducted by common peasants who wore shawls smeared with the red laterite soil of the highlands.<ref name="GC">{{cite journal|last=Campbell|first=Gwyn|title=The Menalamba Revolt and Brigandry in Imperial Madagascar, 1820–1897|journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies|volume=24|issue=2|pages=259–291|doi=10.2307/219791|jstor=219791|year=1991}}</ref> This guerrilla war against foreigners, Christianity, and political corruption, quickly spread throughout the island. The rebellion did not seek to restore the authority of the queen, as the conversion of the leading members of the royal family was regarded by the rebels as the cause of cosmic chaos. The rebellion was based in peripheral regions far from the capital, already the abode of brigands, runaway slaves and deserters. One if its main motivations was the restoration of traditional ancestor veneration.<ref name="EF">{{cite journal|last=Esoavelomandroso|first=Faranirina|title=Résistance et rébellion. Une lecture de l'insurrection menalamba|journal=Cahiers d'Études africaines|date=1985|volume=25|issue=99|pages=443–446|doi=10.3406/cea.1985.1740|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/cea_0008-0055_1985_num_25_99_1740|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref> Another was the rejection of [[corvee]] labour (fanompoana), on which had become increasingly common in the Malagasy political order and which the church promoted and relied on.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Campbell|first=Gwyn|title=Missionaries, fanompoana and the Menalamba revolt in late nineteenth century Madagascar|journal=Journal of Southern African Studies|date=1988|volume=15|issue=1|pages=54–73|doi=10.1080/03057078808708191}}</ref>
The rebellion broke out only a few days after the French took Antananarivo. It began spontaneously in multiple centres and lacked any unified leadership or coordination.<ref name="EF"/> Lacking central coordination, as the revolt developed it encompassed both religious traditionalists and popular Christian preachers, and although it rejected the corrupt old political order, it maintained links with the palace.<ref name="EF"/>
The scale and danger of the rebellion was not immediately obvious to the French, who at first they were only dealing with isolated outbreaks of violence. However, in March 1896, a full-scale uprising began, taking them by surprise.<ref name="SE">{{cite journal|last=Ellis|first=Stephen|title=The Political Elite of Imerina and the Revolt of the Menalamba. The Creation of a Colonial Myth in Madagascar, 1895–1898|journal=The Journal of African History|date=1980|volume=21|issue=2|pages=219–234|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/8948/ASC-1241486-068.pdf?sequence=1|access-date=9 November 2019|doi=10.1017/S0021853700018181|hdl=1887/8948}}</ref> The indication that something different was happening was a wave of coordinated attacks on administrative posts of the Malagasy royal government in that month.<ref name="Reth"/>
Members of Ranavalona's court were accused of encouraging the rebels and on October 15, 1896, General [[Joseph Gallieni]] executed the queen's uncle Ratsimamanga (brother of her favored adviser, Ramisindrazana) and her Minister of War, Rainandriamampandry.<ref name="SE"/><ref>{{cite web|date=October 15, 2009|title=1896: Rainandriamampandry and Prince Ratsimamanga |url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/10/15/1896-rainandriamampandry-prince-ratsimamanga-madagascar/|website=ExecutedToday}}</ref> [[Ramasindrazana|Ramisindrazana]], the queen's aunt, was exiled to [[Réunion]] in 1897, because the French colonial administration was reluctant to execute a woman.{{sfn|Basset|1903|pages=}}
The resistance led the government of France to replace the island's civil governor with [[Joseph Gallieni|Gallieni]] as the military governor.{{sfn|Basset|1903|pages=}} It was also a principal factor in the decision to exile Ranavalona to Réunion later that same year.<ref name="Wright1991">{{cite book|author=Gwendolyn Wright|title=The Politics of Design in French Colonial Urbanism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJ3zkUa7raoC&pg=PA235|year=1991|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-90848-9|pages=235–}}</ref>
==The height of the rebellion== [[File:LYAUTEY2 1898 Madagascar.jpg|thumb|Lyautey in Madagascar, 1898]]
At its height, the rebellion may have controlled territory with as many as 300,000 people.<ref name="Reth">{{cite book|author1=Gerrit Jan Abbink|author2=Mirjam De Bruijn|author3=Klaas Van Walraven|title=Rethinking Resistance: Revolt and Violence in African History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJ54bFqJtV8C&pg=PA72|year=2003|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-12624-4|page=72}}</ref> The rebels were able to impose a blockade on Antananarivo in July, August, and September 1896, and in the latter month, a state of siege was declared in the capital.<ref>{{cite book|title=Consular Reports: Commerce, manufactures, etc|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAf7wftI4_YC&pg=PA587|year=1897|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=587–}}</ref>
There was a belief among some of the rebels – particularly Protestants, that the British would arrive to support them against the French. However, this hope for support never materialised and by 1897 hunger was forcing rebel groups to negotiate for surrender. One, in the north of the country, led by Rabezavana, surrendered to [[Hubert Lyautey]] in May 1897.<ref name="SE"/>
==Suppression== [[File:Jacques Berthieu (1838-1896).jpg|thumb|Jacques Berthieu (1838–1896)]]
The French government determined that a civil governor was incapable of ensuring order and submission of the Malagasy people, and so deposed the queen in 1897, dissolved [[Merina Kingdom|Merina monarchy]], and installed a military government headed by [[Joseph Gallieni|Gallieni]]. Queen Ranavalona III was exiled to [[Réunion]] and later to [[Algeria]], where she died in 1917 without ever being allowed to return to Madagascar.<ref>Roland, Oliver; Fage, John; Sanderson, G. N. (1985). The Cambridge History of Africa 6. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-22803-9}}.</ref><ref>Aldrich 1996, p. 63</ref>
The resistance movement was mostly put down by the French military by 1900,<ref name=":0" /> although revolts continued in west, northwest and east Madagascar until 1903.<ref name=":0" />
The rebellion destroyed hundreds of churches and killed an unknown number of Malagasy religious figures as well as five foreign missionaries.<ref name="GC"/> [[Jacques Berthieu]], a [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] priest executed by the rebellion, was declared a [[martyr]] and [[saint]] of the Catholic Church in 2012.<ref name=ewtn>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=6266|title=Pope to canonize French Jesuit martyr|website=[[EWTN]] News|date=3 Oct 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125060450/http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=6266|archive-date=25 November 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The number of Malagasy deaths as a result of the rebellion may have reached 100,000, while French deaths – from disease as well as violent causes – were in the hundreds.<ref name="Reth"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last=Randrianja|first=Solofo|author-link=Solofo Randrianja|title=Société et luttes anticoloniales à Madagascar: de 1896 à 1946|location=Paris|publisher=Karthala Editions|year=2001|pages=100–110|isbn=978-2-84586-136-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wc3touH8E24C|language=French}} * {{cite book|last=Basset|first=Charles|title=Madagascar et l'oeuvre du Général Galliéni|location=Paris|publisher=A. Rousseau|year=1903|pages=140–142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5MoAAAAYAAJ|language=French}}
{{Authority control}} {{French colonial campaigns}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menalamba Rebellion}} [[Category:Wars involving France]] [[Category:Wars involving Madagascar]] [[Category:French Madagascar]] [[Category:Rebellions in Madagascar]] [[Category:Resistance to the French colonial empire]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1895]] [[Category:19th-century rebellions]] [[Category:African resistance to colonialism]] [[Category:1890s mass murders]] [[Category:1895 in international relations]] [[Category:1896 in international relations]] [[Category:1897 in international relations]] [[Category:1890s in Madagascar]] [[Category:1890s in Christianity]] [[Category:Violence against Christians]] [[Category:Attacks on churches in Africa]] [[Category:Attacks on government buildings and structures in Africa]]