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.

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.

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

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.

Widespread distribution of Permo-Carboniferous glacial sediments in South America, Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, Antarctica and Australia was one of the major pieces of evidence for the theory of continental drift.

The Dodo ( Raphus cucullatus ) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

In 1895, a battalion, formed by the First and Second Foreign Regiments, was sent to the Kingdom of Madagascar, as part of an expeditionary force whose mission was to conquer the island.

Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting socio-political alliances.

Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles.

In 2012, the population of Madagascar was estimated at just over 22 million, 90 percent of whom live on less than two dollars per day.

However, the island's appellation " Madagascar " is not of local origin but rather was popularized in the Middle Ages by Europeans.

In 1890, the British accepted the full formal imposition of a French protectorate on the island, but French authority was not acknowledged by the government of Madagascar.

During the Second World War, the island was the site of the Battle of Madagascar between the Vichy government and the British.

Madagascar was admitted to the Southern African Development Community in 2004.

In 1990, Madagascar was designated as a priority aid recipient, and assistance increased from $ 15 million in 1989 to $ 40 million in 1993.

In March 2005, Madagascar was the first beneficiary of development aid offered by the United States in a plan aimed at rewarding countries determined by Washington to be putting forth market reforms and advocating democracy.

France's exile of the highly respected Sultan Mohammed V to Madagascar in 1953 and his replacement by the unpopular Mohammed Ben Aarafa, whose reign was perceived as illegitimate, sparked active opposition to the French protectorate both from nationalists and those who saw the sultan as a religious leader.

On the coast between several native ports of call and Madagascar a large surreptitious trade in slaves was carried on until 1877, supplying slaves for Arabia and the Ottomans.

It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar.

The remainder was primarily imported from Madagascar.

The original distribution of the family was the southeastern United States to north of Rio de la Plata, Argentina, and central and southern Africa, including Madagascar.

Amongst the most significant taxes levied on imports was a requirement for all ships trading with Madagascar to deliver one slave.

Roughly half the population of Madagascar was enslaved.

Deep bays and well-protected harbors have attracted explorers, traders, and pirates from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East since ancient times ; thus, the area has served as an important bridge between Madagascar and the outside world.

One can only assume that the island of Madagascar played an important role in trade, particularly that of spice trade ( especially the cinnamon ) and timber between Southeast Asia and Middle East, directly or through the African coast and Madagascar.

During this early period, Madagascar served as an important transoceanic trading port for the east African coast that gave Africa a trade route to the Silk Road and served simultaneously as a port for incoming ships.

Some examples of important biodiversity and / or high endemism ecosystems are: El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, Costa Rican and Nicaraguan rainforests, Brazilian and Venezuelan Amazon Rainforest territories, Madagascar dry deciduous forests, Waterberg Biosphere of South Africa and eastern Madagascar rainforests.

Madagascar contains several important biospheres, as its Biodiversity and ratio of endemicism is extremely high.

They are important and conspicuous trees in many of their native ecosystems, such as lowland dry forests of the former Maui Nui in Hawaii, Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests, Kathiarbar-Gir dry deciduous forests, Louisiade Archipelago rain forests, Madagascar lowland forests, Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests, New Guinea mangroves or South Western Ghats montane rain forests.

Also extremely important in the War was the participation of French colonial troops, including the Senegalese tirailleurs, and troops from Indochina, North Africa, and Madagascar.

A wide range of different fruit is taken by the family, and they are among the most important avian dispersers of seeds, as there are very few other frugivorous birds in the forests of Madagascar.

Mahajanga is a seaport, the most important one in Madagascar after Toamasina.

The distribution of this species throughout Africa and Madagascar has followed the Bantu in their migrations, as it has been an important item in their diet since time immemorial.

) are important icons in certain parts of Africa, Australia and Madagascar, noted for their immensely stout trunk development, a mechanism for enhancing water storage.

Diospyros species are important and conspicuous trees in many of their native ecosystems, such as lowland dry forests of the former Maui Nui in Hawaii, Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests, Kathiarbar-Gir dry deciduous forests, Louisiade Archipelago rain forests, Madagascar lowland forests, Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests, New Guinea mangroves or South Western Ghats montane rain forests.

Control of rubber vine has relied on importing biological agents from its native habitat in southwestern Madagascar, the most important of which is the " rubber vine rust " ( Maravalia cryptostegiae ).

Alluaudia is a genus of six species of flowering plants endemic to Madagascar, where they form an important component of the Madagascar spiny forests.

Didiereaceae is a small family of just four genera and 11 species of flowering plants endemic to south and southwest Madagascar, where they form an important component of the Madagascar spiny forests.

A revision of the species in Madagascar and the other western Indian Ocean islands is in preparation, where the genus has an important centre of diversity.

Andrianampoinimerina conquered Antananarivo in 1792, and subsequently, he moved the capital of the Merina empire there ; however, Ambohimanga remains among the most important spiritual and cultural sites in Madagascar.

The written history of Madagascar began with the Arabs, who established trading posts along the northwest coast by at least the 10th century and introduced Islam, the Arabic script ( used to transcribe the Malagasy language in a form of writing known as sorabe ), Arab astrology and other cultural elements.

The written history of Madagascar begins in the 7th century when Omani Arabs and Shirazi Persians established trading posts along the northwest coast and introduced Islam, the Arabic script ( used to transcribe the Malagasy language in a form of writing known as sorabe ), Arab astrology and other cultural elements.

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.

At the zenith of its power in the 15th C., the Kilwa Sultanate claimed authority over the city-states of Malindi, Mvita ( Mombasa ), Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Mafia Island, Grande Comore | Comoro, Sofala, and the trading posts across the channel on 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.