Rajoelina has since ushered in a Fourth Republic and rules Madagascar as the President of the High Transitional Authority without recognition from the international community.

On August 4, 2009, Ratsiraka met with President of the High Authority of Transition of Madagascar Andry Rajoelina, as well as Ravalomanana ( who had himself been ousted and forced into exile ) and Zafy, in crisis talks mediated by former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano and held in Maputo.

Mauritius also contains substantial populations from continental Africa, Madagascar, France, Great Britain, China, South Africa, among other places.

Madagascar has been called the " Great Red Island " because of the prominence of red lateritic soils.

Andrianampoinimerina's son Radama I ( Radama the Great ) assumed the throne during a turning-point in European history that had repercussions for Madagascar.

Radama I " the Great " ( 1793 – 1828 ), the first king of greater Madagascar from 1810 to 1828, united two-thirds of the island under his rule.

The influence of instruments and musical styles from France and Great Britain began to have a significant impact on music in Madagascar by the 19th century.

* Great Rift Valley ( geographical concept ), a series of connected rifts from Madagascar to Syria

The islands of Réunion and Madagascar also have higher peaks and are between the Great Dividing Range and Africa.

France was expansive during all but the end of the 17th century: the French began trading in India and Madagascar, founded Quebec and penetrated the North American Great Lakes and Mississippi, established plantation economies in the West Indies and extended their trade contacts in the Levant and enlarged their merchant marine.

In particular, he violently opposed the establishment of French colonial rule in Madagascar and the Great Powers ' dismemberment of China.

In Subsaharan Africa, laurel forests are found in the Cameroon Highlands forests along the border of Nigeria and Cameroon, along the East African Highlands, a long chain of mountains extending from the Ethiopian Highlands around the African Great Lakes to South Africa, in the Highlands of Madagascar, and in the montane zone of the São Tomé, Príncipe, and Annobón moist lowland forests.

*** Other Reptiles-White line gecko, African fat-tailed gecko, Leopard Gecko, Standing's Day Gecko, Madagascar giant day gecko, Tokay Gecko, Nile Monitor, Crocodile Monitor, Gila Monster, Eastern glass lizard, Frilled Lizard, Sudan plated lizard, Blue Spiny Lizard, Northern Blue-tongued Skink, Broadhead Skink, Solomon Islands Skink, Great Plains Skink, Panther chameleon, Green Iguana, Green crested basilisk, Common snakeneck turtle, Spiny Softshell Turtle, African spurred tortoise, Alligator Snapping Turtle, and the American Alligator.

In September 2006, amusement park Six Flags Great America announced that it would be granting unlimited line-jumping privileges for all rides to anyone who could eat a live Madagascar hissing cockroach as part of a Halloween-themed FrightFest.

One Governor of this colony, Etienne de Flacourt, published the History of the Great Isle of Madagascar and Relations, which was the main source of information on the island for Europeans until the late 19th century.

One of the survivors, Etienne de Flacourt, published a History of the Great Island of Madagascar and Relations, which was for a long time the main European source of information about the island.

* The Great Island is the common nickname for the African island nation of Madagascar.

France was expansive during all but the end of the seventeenth century: the French began trading in India and Madagascar, founded Quebec and penetrated the North American Great Lakes and Mississippi, established plantation economies in the West Indies and extended their trade contacts in the Levant and enlarged their merchant marine.

It is located in the southern Mozambique Channel, about half-way between Madagascar ( which is to the east ) and Mozambique, and northwest of Europa Island.

Also, similar hunting-out happened with the megafauna of New Zealand, Madagascar and many smaller islands around the world ( such as New Caledonia, Cyprus, Crete and Wrangel Island ), and at least in part, in the Americas — probably within a thousand years or so.

Europa Island () is a 28 km² low-lying tropical island in the Mozambique Channel, about a third of the way from southern Madagascar to southern Mozambique.

* Madagascar claims Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands and Juan de Nova Island

Island nations within the ocean are Madagascar ( the world's fourth largest island ), Comoros, Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka.

France annexed Madagascar in 1896 and declared it a colony the following year, dissolving the Merina monarchy and sending the royal family into exile on Reunion Island and to Algeria.

Tromelin Island (;, ) is a low, flat, island in the Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar ( geographic coordinates: ).

Soon, the tropical orchids were sent from Réunion Island to the Comoros Islands and Madagascar, along with instructions for pollinating them.

Between the 16th and 18th centuries, pirate activity in the coastal areas of Madagascar was common and the celebrated free pirate colony of Libertatia was established on Saint Mary's Island, originally populated by local Malagasy.

Sailors sometimes called Madagascar " Island of the Moon ".

Pirate luminaries such as William Kidd, Henry Every, John Bowen, and Thomas Tew made Antongil Bay and Nosy Boraha ( St. Mary ’ s Island ) ( a small island 12 miles off the north-east coast of Madagascar ) their bases of operations.

Malayo-Polynesian languages are now spoken across a huge area from Madagascar to Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand, but form only one branch of the Austronesian family, the rest of whose branches are found only on Taiwan.

Found in Northern, Central and South America, the Caribbean, southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, Northern, Central and East Africa, Madagascar and Reunion Island, the Arabian Peninsula, Central and southwestern Asia, India and Sri Lanka, the Moluccas and New Guinea through to Melanesia and Samoa.

In April, he toured Djibouti, Madagascar, Reunion Island, and Mauritius.

In the Penguins of Madagascar series, Coney Island played location of Dr. Blowhole's secret lair in Dr. Blowhole's Revenge as Kowalski had said, smelling a fake King Julien, " Salty Atlantic sea air, Roller coaster grease and all beef wieners, with mustard ," and Skipper translated it to Coney Island.

There are three subspecies ; the nominate L. d. discolor is found in Madagascar and Mayotte Island, L. d. intermedius on Anjouan, and L. d. gracilis of Grand Comoro.

The German ensign was raised and a shot fired across the bow of the Lundy Island, carrying sugar from Madagascar.

In the mid 1820s, the town of Kua on Juani Island was attacked by Sakalava cannibals arriving from Madagascar with 80 canoes, who ate many of the locals and took the rest into slavery.

There is no indication that elephant birds evolved outside Madagascar, and today, the Canary Island eggshells are considered to belong to extinct North African birds that may or may not have been ratites ( Eremopezus / Psammornis ), or even Pelagornithidae, prehistoric seabirds of immense size.

Boa is a genus of non-venomous boas found in Mexico, Central and South America, Madagascar and on Reunion Island.

Found in Mexico, Central America, South America, Madagascar and on Reunion Island.

A tale of a massive reservation in the Uplands to hold several million Jews A tale of a plan to ship all Jews to the island of Madagascar Stories of the depravity of the guards at Globocnik's camps struck a chord of terror at the mere mention of their names.

The group includes eight genera and about 85 species distributed in the temperate zones of Europe and Asia, Malaysia, India, Madagascar, Africa and the Pacific, from Australia and New Zealand to South America.

* 1897 – Franco-Hova Wars: The town of Anosimena is captured by French troops from Menabe defenders in Madagascar.

The genus is native to Africa, and is common in the Cape Province, the mountains of tropical Africa, the islands of Africa including Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula.

Ambergris can be found in the Atlantic Ocean and on the coasts of Brazil, Madagascar, the East Indies, The Maldives, China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the Molucca islands.

* 1897 – The town of Ambiky is captured by France from Menabe in Madagascar.

It is also found in pegmatite in Madagascar and in Brazil.

Madagascar continues to claim sovereignty over the islands.

Ethnographical fieldwork was carried out in places as diverse as New Guinea, Madagascar, Romania, Guatemala and Indonesia and there were excavations in the Near East, Egypt, Sudan and the UK.

Like all other lemurs, cheirogaleids live exclusively on the island of Madagascar.

Though Gondwana was still intact in the beginning of the Cretaceous, it broke up as South America, Antarctica and Australia rifted away from Africa ( though India and Madagascar remained attached to each other ); thus, the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans were newly formed.

Mauritania and Madagascar are the only remaining countries that do not use the decimal system ; instead, the Mauritanian ouguiya is divided into 5 khoums, while the Malagasy ariary is divided into 5 iraimbilanja.

Over the centuries, the Comoro Islands were settled by a succession of diverse groups from the coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Indonesia, and Madagascar.

On 25 July 1912, it was annexed to Madagascar as a province of that colony.

From 16 June 1940-1942 the colonial administration remained loyal to Vichy France ( from 1942, under Free French ), but 25 September 1942-13 October 1946 they were, like Madagascar, under British occupation.

During the middle of the 20th century the French reluctantly began to accede to reasonable requests, and in 1946 Comoros had become a separately administered colony from Madagascar.

The Comoros archipelago consists of four main islands aligned along a northwest-southeast axis at the north end of the Mozambique Channel, between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar.

The number of Comorians living abroad has been estimated at between 80, 000 and 100, 000 ; during the colonial period, most of them lived in Tanzania, Madagascar, and other parts of East Africa.

The number of Comorians residing in Madagascar was drastically reduced after anti-Comorian rioting in December 1976 in Mahajanga, in which at least 1, 400 Comorians were killed.

As many as 17, 000 Comorians left Madagascar to seek refuge in their native land in 1977 alone.

During his administration, he negotiated agreements to initiate or enhance commercial air links with Tanzania and Madagascar.

By the early 1990s, commercial flights connected Comoros with France, Mauritius, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Madagascar.

Most freight continues to be sent to Kenya, Reunion, or Madagascar for transshipment to Comoros.

The privately operated Comoran Navigation Company ( Société Comorienne de Navigation ) is based in Moroni, and provides services to Madagascar.