* August 10 – Diogo Dias discovers an island which he names St Lawrence ( after the saint's day on which it was first sighted ), later to be known as Madagascar

* The Dutch in the Cape Colony start to import slaves from India and South-East Asia ( later from Madagascar ).

* 1500 — Diogo Dias discovered an island they named after St Lawrence after the saint on whose feast day they had first sighted the island later known as Madagascar

Today, the people of Madagascar can be considered as the product of mixing between the first occupants, the vahoaka ntaolo Austronesians ( Vazimbaand Vezo ) and those arrived later ( Hova neo-Austronesians, Persians, Arabs, Africans and Europeans ).

The island's West clan chiefs began to extend their power through trade with their Indian Ocean neighbors, first with Arab, Persian and Somali traders who connected Madagascar with East Africa, the Middle East and India, and later with European slave traders.

It was later introduced to Madagascar which has become a major producer.

Australia was struck first around 45, 000 years ago, followed by Tasmania about 41, 000 years ago ( after formation of a land bridge to Australia about 43, 000 years ago ), Japan apparently about 30, 000 years ago, North America 13, 000 years ago, South America about 500 years later, Cyprus 10, 000 years ago, the Antilles 6000 years ago, New Caledonia and nearby islands 3000 years ago, Madagascar 2000 years ago, New Zealand 700 years ago, the Mascarenes 400 years ago, and the Commander Islands 250 years ago.

After basic military training in secondary school in 1966, Sankara began his military career at the age of 19, and a year later was sent to Madagascar for officer training at Antsirabe where he witnessed popular uprisings in 1971 and 1972 against the government of Philibert Tsiranana and first read the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, profoundly influencing his political views for the rest of his life.

This had been exacerbated by later British operations against Vichy-controlled territories at Dakar, Syria and Lebanon, and the invasion of Madagascar.

This agreement, which was later revoked by Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony, was key to establishing France's claim over Madagascar as a protectorate and, in 1896, as a colony.

The pair later journeyed to Baltistan ( Where the Indus is Young ), Peru ( Eight Feet in the Andes ), and Madagascar ( Muddling through in Madagascar ).

Many Western styles of popular music, including rock, gospel, jazz, reggae, hip-hop and folk rock, have also gained in popularity in Madagascar over the later half of the 20th century.

He graduated in 1963, later becoming a career diplomat making his first service in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

The word " lemur " derives from the word lemures ( ghosts or spirits ) from Roman mythology and was first used to describe a slender loris due to its nocturnal habits and slow pace, but was later applied to the primates on Madagascar.

Rajoelina's government initially barred Zafy and others from returning to Madagascar after the talks, but later he was allowed to return.

In 1830 migrants from Madagascar led by Ramanetaka, who later changed his name to Abderemane, took over the island and established the sultanate of Mwali.

At the war ’ s end, Madagascar ceded Antsiranana ( Diégo Suarez ) on the northern coast to France and paid 560, 000 gold francs to the heirs of Joseph-François Lambert, a Frenchman who had been promised lucrative trade privileges under King Radama II that had later been revoked.

Tippi later moved with her parents to Madagascar and then to France, where she became a celebrity.

Currently, the area is split up into two areas ( Madagascar Madness and Faire Faire Away ) with a third area themed to Kung Fu Panda due to open later in the year.

The song would later be used in DreamWorks ' 2005 animated film Madagascar, making it a hit once again.

* 1972's Tropical Storm Dolly, a system that developed off the coast of Madagascar that later grazed Réunion

Two years later, a chart already showed an elongated island east of Africa that bore the name Madagascar.

One year later, another English colonial expedition attempted to settle southern Madagascar, resulting in the death of most of the colonists.

Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from India around 88 million years ago, allowing plants and animals on the island to evolve in relative isolation.

It is sometimes split into two species: Madagascar Harrier ( Circus macrosceles ) and Réunion Harrier ( C. maillardi ).

The origin of the disjunct distribution goes back to about 100 million years ago, during which time India, the Seychelles and Madagascar formed a single landmass which split due to continental drift.

Although there is still much debate about the origins of lemurs on Madagascar, it is generally accepted that a single rafting event, similar to the one that brought New World monkeys to South America, occurred around 50 – 80 million years ago and allowed ancestral lemurs to cross the Mozambique Channel and colonize the island, which had already split from Africa ( while it was joined to the Indian subcontinent ), approximately 160 million years ago.

Due to continental drift, the India Plate split from Madagascar and collided with the Eurasian Plate resulting in the formation of the Himalayas.

Triadobatrachus massinoti, from the Early Triassic of Madagascar

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.

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

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.

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.

They are derived from the Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus ( formerly known as Vinca rosea ).

The Ilois, now called Chagos Islanders or Chagossians since the late 1990s, were descended primarily from slaves brought to the island from Madagascar by the French between 1793 and 1810, and Malay slaves from the slave market on Pulo Nyas, an island off the northwest coast of Sumatra, from around 1820 until the slave trade ended following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.

The island hosts introduced bird species from many different regions, including Cattle Egrets ( Bubulcus ibis ), Indian Barred Ground Dove, also called the Zebra Dove ( Geopelia striata ), Turtle Dove ( Streptopleia picturata ), Indian Mynah ( Acridotheres tristis ), Madagascar Fody ( Foudia madagascariensis ), and chickens ( Gallus gallus ).

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.

The island is located off the east coast of Africa, to the north of Madagascar, and boasted a high standard of living, an excellent economy, and freedom from the political and racial turmoil that characterized neighboring nations.

By the 18th century, the cape colony had grown, with slaves coming from Madagascar, Mozambique, and Indonesia.

The socio-economic diversity of these regions ranges from the Stone Age societies in the interior of Madagascar, Borneo or Papua New Guinea to the high-tech lifestyles of the city-islands of Singapore and Hong Kong.

* 1960 – Madagascar gains its independence from France.

* Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Madagascar from France in 1960

Initial human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BCE and 550 CE by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo.

As a result of the island's long isolation from neighboring continents, Madagascar is home to an abundance of plants and animals, many found nowhere else on Earth.

The drugs vinblastine and vincristine, used to treat Hodgkin's disease, leukemia and other cancers, were derived from the Madagascar periwinkle.