The Rise of Power and the Evolution of Human Geography in the Slave Trade in Madagascar

Being one part of the African slave trade, the slave trade in Madagascar is similar to that of the Transatlantic area. Both are destructive commercial activities that cause population loss and exacerbate social unrest and ethnic conflicts. The Kingdom of Imerina, located at Madagascar’s central plateau, thrived in the destructive slave trade by combining its trade dominance with the cultural system and created a new regime. However, different from the slave trade in most African regions, the rise of the Imerina dynasty did not lead to a shift of political and economic center to the coastal area but took on an inland-centered pattern. A comparison between the slave trade in Madagascar and the transatlantic area shows that the human-geographical patterns formed by the slave trade have their own unique historical and geographical attributes, and conclusively justify that the slave trade does not necessarily lead to preferential development of coastal areas.