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Radama I Of Madagascar




In 1810 , he succeeded his father Andrianimpoinimerina as king of Merina , a small area in the central plateau of the island, around Antananarivo . An ambitious ruler, he first took over the Betsileo area in the southern part of the central highlands, then the Sakalava . By playing off competing British and French interests, he acquired British aid for his military, which he then used to conquer most of the rest of the island by 1824 .

Radama also encouraged social and political change; he organized a Cabinet , and invited the Protestant London Missionary Society to establish schools and churches. The Society also brought a Printing Press , and devised a written form of the Malagasy Language .

He officially abolished the Slave Trade in 1817 , although slave-dealing continued.

Radama was succeeded by his wife, Queen Ranavalona I .


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