In 1947, a nationwide uprising against French colonial rule was initiated in Moramanga, a town in Bezanozano territory neighboring the Betsimisaraka. During the conflict, Betsimisaraka nationalists fought French and Senegalese soldiers in an unsuccessful attempt to regain control of the port at Tamatave, the island's most important trading port. Betsimisaraka fighters and civilians suffered very heavy losses and some of the worst human rights abuses, including execution by being thrown alive from airplanes.