Antaisaka woman circa 1890s

The Antesaka, also known as Tesaka, or Tesaki, are an ethnic group of Madagascar traditionally concentrated south of Farafangana along the south-eastern coast. They have since spread more widely throughout the island. The Antesaka form about 5% of the population of Madagascar. They have mixed African, Arab and Malayo-Indonesian ancestry, like the western coastal Sakalava people of Madagascar from whom the clan derives. They traditionally have strong marriage taboos and complex funeral rites. The Antesaka typically cultivate coffee, bananas and rice, and those along the coast engage in fishing. A large portion of the population has emigrated to other parts of the island for work, with an estimated 40% of emigrants between 1948 and 1958 permanently settling outside the Antesaka homeland.

The group was founded by Andriamandresy, a Sakalava prince who was cast out of Menabe after engaging in violence upon being passed over in the line of succession. The Antesaka constituted one of the four largest kingdoms in pre-colonial Madagascar by the early 1700s, and a political party founded by two Antesaka brothers in the runup to independence in 1960 went on to produce several local and national leaders. As of 2013, an estimated 600,000 Malagasy identify as Antesaka.^[1]

Ethnic identity

Antesaka have mixed African, Arab and Malayo-Polynesian ancestry, and are descended from a royal branch of the coastal Sakalava people of western Madagascar.^[2]

History

Distribution of Malagasy ethnic groups

Many Antesaka kings descended from the Zarabehava lineage, a royal Sakalava line that crossed to the east coast between 1620 and 1650.^[2] The ancestors of the Antesaka migrated from the Menabe Sakalava kingdom and arrived at Nosipandra (today called Vangaindrano) by the 1650s.^[3] According to oral history, the founder of the Antesaka clan was named Andriamandresy. He was born Repila in the village of Tsiarepioky, near Mahabo; he later changed his name to Ihazorango, and finally adopted the name Andriamandresiarivo in anticipation of being named king. When his arrogance and stubbornness led the people to support his younger brother's succession instead, Andriamandresy angrily departed and attempted to seize his uncle's rice field by force, mortally wounding him in the process. Outraged, Andriamandresy's mother exiled him from the territory, and Andraimandresy departed toward the east accompanied by warriors and slaves.^[4]

By the start of the 18th century, the Antesaka had formed one of the four largest kingdoms on Madagascar.^[5] Succession was often contested and a source of internal conflict. According to oral history, a king called Ratongalaza had to kill or exile all his brothers to secure the throne. The last and most important king of the 18th century, Lengoabo, was Ratongalaza's grandson and succeeded in extending the Antesaka territory to its largest extent.^[6] In the 19th century, the Antesaka kingdom was invaded by the Merina armies of the Kingdom of Imerina in the central highlands.^[7] In the Merina military conquests between 1820 and 1853, captured Antesaka men were typically killed, but women and children were often taken as slaves back to Imerina. Over a million slaves were captured during this time, with the majority from the Antesaka, Antefasy, Antanosy and Betsileo ethnic groups.^[8]

France colonized Madagascar in 1895, and the Merina monarchy was disbanded in 1897. When several southern ethnic groups mounted the unsuccessful insurrection du sud rebellion against French colonial administration in 1904–05, the Antesaka refused to become involved.^[9]

Culture

Language

Antesaka speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages, spoken in southern Borneo.^[5]

Economy

Their principal economic activity is the cultivation of coffee, rice and bananas; women are ones primarily responsible for rice harvest, in accordance with local tradition.^[10] Those living along the coast often rely on fishing as a principal source of income.^[12] Many Antesaka have migrated since the colonial period to seek employment in other parts of the island. Beginning in 1946, the French colonial government organized transportation for Antesaka and Antandroy laborers to work sites in other parts of the island^[13] to work on plantations or mines. Annually, an estimated 40% of all Antesaka migrants resettled permanently outside their traditional territory in the early 1960s; these migrants typically sent cash back to their family members at home.^[14]

Notes

Bibliography

• Bradt, Hilary; Austin, Daniel (2007). Madagascar (9th ed.). Guilford, CT: The Globe Pequot Press Inc. ISBN 978-1-84162-197-5.
• Campbell, Gwyn (2013). Abolition and Its Aftermath in the Indian Ocean, Africa and Asia. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-77078-5.
• Campbell, Gwyn (2012). David Griffiths and the Missionary "History of Madagascar". Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-19518-9.
• Campbell, Gwyn (2005). An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750–1895: The Rise and Fall of an Island Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83935-8.
• Diagram Group (2013). Encyclopedia of African Peoples. San Francisco, CA: Routledge. ISBN 9781135963415.
• Finch, Michael (2013). A Progressive Occupation?: The Gallieni-Lyautey Method and Colonial Pacification in Tonkin and Madagascar, 1885–1900. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-967457-2.
• Ogot, Bethwell (1999). Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Paris: UNESCO. ISBN 978-0-85255-095-3.
• Thompson, Virginia; Adloff, Richard (1965). The Malagasy Republic: Madagascar Today. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0279-9.
• Yakan, Muhammad (1999). Almanac of African Peoples and Nations. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-1677-9.