Background
Ranavalona I was born as Rabodoandrianampoinimerina in 1778 to Prince Andriantsalamanjaka and Princess Rabodonandriantompo at Ambatomanoina east of Antananarivo.
Ranavalona I
Ranavalona traveling on her filanzana (palanquin), accompanied by her son Rakoto on horseback and a retinue of slaves and soldiers.
Queen Ranavalona I with her son and heir Prince Rakoto.
Ranavalona traveling on her filanzana (palanquin), accompanied by her son Rakoto on horseback and a retinue of slaves and soldiers.
Queen Ranavalona I with her son and heir Prince Rakoto.
Ranavalona's son and heir, Prince Rakoto (later King Radama II).
Ranavalona I was born as Rabodoandrianampoinimerina in 1778 to Prince Andriantsalamanjaka and Princess Rabodonandriantompo at Ambatomanoina east of Antananarivo.
Ranavalona I started out life as a girl named Ramavo who lived as a commoner with her parent when Andrianjafy was forced from the throne at the royal city of Ambohimanga. After years of internal warfare, and many of the warring tribes were finally united under the leadership of King Andrianampoinimerina (1787-1810) bringing peace and prosperity to the Kingdom of Merina. This was at a period when most of the African empires have fallen to the guns and bombs of the Europeans but for centuries, Madagascar was virtually unknown to foreign invaders. By the 18th century, this unspoiled and untamed land was discovered by European explorers who scrambled to claim the prime estate as their very own. For the English, Madagascar was the perfect pit-stop on the long voyage to India while the French were eager to add Madagascar to their already burgeoning African portfolio.
King Andrianampoinimerina in his wisdom believed that learning from these foreigners would help his kingdom, his people but the traditionalists and the priests were not so keen on this idea and so were against it. His uncle took it one step further by trying to assassinate him but Prince Andriantsalamanjaka; Ramavo's father got wind of this assassination plot and so he alerted the king who moved swiftly to foil this plan and executed all the people involved. To say "thank you" saving his life, the King decided to adopt Ramavo as his daughter, bringing her to court and in addition, he arranged for her to marry his own son, Prince Radama whom the king had designated as his heir.
In 1810, Prince Radama succeeded his father as King. Ranavalona became increasingly frustrated at her inability to check her husband’s modernizing ideas. He was eager to bring his country into the 19th century. King Radama began to allow more foreigners onto the island, particularly British missionaries, who began efforts to convert the natives to Christianity. They built schools and helped to develop a written language. Ranavalona watched in horror as the new religion slowly took root threatening the worship of the Malagasy gods.
In 1828, King Radama died after a long, debilitating illness. Two of his officers decided to keep the news on ice until they could place his nephew, Prince Rakatobe on the throne. But Ranavalona got wind of the plan and mobilized her supporters, which included the priests and the hard-core traditionalists. She spread rumors that the gods were telling her that she was destined to be the next ruler. She was aided and abetted by a young army officer named Adriamihaja who served as her first minister until he got on her bad side and was summarily executed. After declaring herself Queen, she had all immediate rivals to the throne captured and put to death, including Rakatobe.
Once that was out of the way, Ranavalona turned her sights on the foreigners polluting her kingdom. As far as Ranavalona was concerned, the only good foreigner was a dead one. She broke treaties with both the English and the French and banned Christianity. With a fanaticism that would have made Mary Tudor proud, she came up with creative and inventive ways to eliminate anyone caught practicing Christianity. They were tortured, flung from cliffs, boiled in water, poisoned, flung off cliffs, or beheaded if they didn’t recant. She also got rid of trial by jury and brought back good old fashioned "Trial by Ordeal" which was decided by forcing the accused to drink the poisonous juice of the tanguena plant. If they survived, they were innocent. Both the French and the British spent considerable time and effort trying to dislodge Ranavalona from the throne but to no avail. After one successful battle against an invasion, Ranavalona cut off the heads of the dead Europeans, stuck them on pikes, and lined them up on the beach, to repel any future invaders. After that little display, the French and the English decided that were better off concentrating their efforts on other third-world countries not ruled by insane females.
Things weren’t all bad in Madagascar. Ranavalona wanted her people to be self-sufficient. Divine providence brought her a French arms manufacturer whose boat was shipwrecked off the coast. He helped her to build up her arsenal and became her lover as well. Before long Madagascar had built factories to produce guns, bullets, sugar, clothing, and booze. She founded cities and was one of the few African rulers to successfully hold off colonial rule. However, it came at a high price. To boost the economy, Ranavalona turned to sell her own subjects into slavery. Those who were sold were considered traitors, spoils of war or Christians caught practicing their religion in secret. She continued the wars of expansion, determined to bring the entire island under her thumb. Her actions decimated the population from a high of 5 million people down to 2.5 million at the end of her reign. It was estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 were killed a year for various offenses.
Ranavalona died peacefully in her bed at the age of 79 in 1861, managing to survive a coup by her son. The European powers rejoice, they had generally condemned her policies, whispering that she was insane. In 1898, during the reign of Ranavalona III, the French finally managed to colonize Madagascar. Today, Ranavalona’s actions are seen in a different light, not those of a despot but those of a Queen attempting to protect her people and their culture against European domination.
Ranavalona I was sovereign of the Kingdom of Madagascar from 1828 to 1861. As queen, she strongly opposed efforts at colonization, fending off the advances of both the British and the French in Madagascar. But Ranavalona's reign also marked a period of cultural renewal. Although several other plots were fomented to depose and assassinate her, she managed to foil them all - a testimony to her political acumen, absolute power, and an extensive network of spies.
Ranavalona I worshiped the Malagasy gods.
Ranavalona pursued a policy of autarky (self-sufficiency) and isolationism, diminishing economic and political ties with European powers, repelling a French attack on the coastal town of Foulpointe, and taking vigorous measures to eradicate the small but growing Malagasy Christian movement initiated under Radama I by members of the London Missionary Society. She made heavy use of the traditional practice of fanompoana (forced labor in lieu of tax payments in money or goods) to complete public works projects and build a standing army of between 20,000 and 30,000 Merina soldiers, whom she deployed to pacify outlying regions of the island and further expand her realm.
Subsequently, to try to eradicate Christianity among her subjects, as she believed (and rightfully so) that this was a means of infiltration of the colonial ambitions of Europeans on the island, she had converts (considered as traitors) run off. As she declared in 1849: «Miala amiko ka mba ialako, mahafoy ahy ka mba foiko !» («They [christians] have denied me [as a living symbol of their homeland], therefore I deny them as well; they have rejected me, I reject them!»).
She said in a letter addressed to the Europeans: "To all Europeans, British and French, in recognition for the good you have done to my country by teaching European wisdom and knowledge, I would like to express my thanks. You can keep following your customs. Have no fear for I have no intention of modifying your habits. But if I see some of my subjects trying to change the rules established by the twelve great kings, my ancestors, I will not possibly consent: because I will not allow men to come and change anything to all the ideas I have received from my ancestors, which I had accepted without shame or fear. You are free to teach my people science and wisdom, but when it comes to touching our ancestors' customs, it is a vain work, which I will fully oppose..."
Ranavalona is portrayed as a brutish tyrant by many of her contemporary European leaders. Her own people grew somewhat wary themselves, particularly as Ranavalona's behavior became more and more erratic. For instance, in 1845 she demanded that the entire court - along with a huge number of servants and slaves - go on a buffalo hunt. A total of 50,000 people set off to hunt buffalo. They carried with them very few supplies and had to build a road as they went as per Ranavalona's orders. Many dropped dead from hunger and exhaustion, and it's thought that around 10,000 people died during the 4-month-long hunt in which no buffalo were killed.
There was one European invention she had any use for, which strangely enough, was soap. When the French brought it to the island, Ranavalona became obsessed and determined to discover how it was made. Once she obtained the recipe, she had no more use for the people who gave it to her. Like Cleopatra, Ranavalona was a master at propaganda and ritual. Once a year, she would take a public bath on her balcony. People would come from miles around to see it; it was the best ticket in town. After her bath, she would pour the water over the balcony to sprinkle the spectators. It was her way of allying herself with the ancient Malagasy gods.
Ranavalona I was married to King Andrianampoinimerina's heir, Prince Radama, and he declared that any child from their union would be the first in the line of succession. She thus had an elevated rank among the royal wives but was not Radama's preferred wife.
Ranavalona ruled with the support of advisers from the upper class, and the most powerful ones were also her consorts. Her first consort was Andriamihaja, and he most likely fathered the Queen's only son, Prince Rakoto (later King Radama II). Andriamihaja was killed in 1830 when a conservative faction managed to persuade a very drunk Ranavalona to sign his death warrant on charges of witchcraft and treason.
Ranavalona eventually married Field Marshal Rainiharo in 1833. He served as First Minister from 1830 to 1831 and then Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief from 1831 to 1852. When he died in 1852, Ranavalona married Field Marshal Andrianisa, who remained her husband until her own death in 1861.
