The eastern coast is hot, very wet, subject to cyclones, and densely clad with rain forest. The south and west are drier, and the centre mild. Here, on upland plateaux, there is fine grazing. Mining of chrome ore is significant, and there are bauxite deposits. An oil refinery produces petroleum-based products.
Industry is limited mostly to food-processing.
The Madagascan people are of Indo-Melanesian and Malay descent, mixed with some Bantu, Arabs, Indians, and Chinese. The time of arrival of different groups is controversial. Arab traders were probably visiting by the 10th century. In 1500 a Portuguese sea captain, Diego Dias, chanced on the island, calling it Sao Lourenco. However, Marco Polo had already named it Madagascar from hearsay knowledge, and this name endured.