page_title: Andrianampoinimerina
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Andrianampoinimerina / Governance of the Kingdom of Imerina / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Zoma Tananarive
context_page_description: Andrianampoinimerinā ruled the Kingdom of Imerina from 1787 until his death. His reign was marked by the reunification of Imerina following 77 years of civil war, and the subsequent expansion of his kingdom into neighboring territories, thereby initiating the unification of Madagascar under Merina rule. Andrianampoinimerina is a cultural hero and holds near mythic status among the Merina people, and is considered one of the greatest military and political leaders in the history of Madagascar.
  Andrianampoinimerina took power upon deposing his uncle, King Andrianjafy, who had ruled over Imerina Avaradrano. Prior to Andrianampoinimerina's reign, Imerina Avaradrano had been locked in conflict with the three other neighboring provinces of the former kingdom of Imerina that had last been unified under King Andriamasinavalona a century before. Andrianampoinimerina established his capital at the fortified town of Ambohimanga, a site of great spiritual, cultural and political significance that was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. The king's original royal lodgings can still be visited at Ambohimanga today.
context_section_description: Under Andrianampoinimerina, regulations were established to manage trading in slaves and other commodities.  Estimates put the number of slaves traded by the king at around 1,800 per year, mainly in exchange for firearms and principally to French merchants who sold them on to Mauritius and Reunion. This brought order to the kingdom's economy, enriched the crown, and enabled the king to monopolize trade in certain particularly lucrative goods, thereby weakening opportunities for political rivals to amass enough wealth and influence to unseat him. While this soured his relationship with certain andriana, it increased his popularity among the commoner and slave classes.  His practice of commonly deciding in favor of commoners in disputes with nobles further strengthened his image as a fair ruler.
  Andrianampoinimerina regulated commerce and the economy by creating official markets (tsena) and standardizing market scales (fandanjana) and other units of measurement, including length and volume. King Andrianampoinimerina established the first marketplace in Antananarivo on the grounds today occupied by the Analakely market's tile-roofed pavilions, constructed in the 1930s. Andrianampoinimerina decreed Friday (Zoma) as market day, when merchants would come to Analakely to erect stalls shaded with traditional white parasols. This sea of parasols extended throughout the valley, forming what has been called the largest open air marketplace in the world. Traffic congestion and safety hazards caused by the ever-growing Zoma market prompted government officials to split up and relocate the Friday merchants to several other districts in 1997. Prosperity for the masses in Imerina increased throughout Andrianampoinimerina's reign, leading to growth in population density.
caption: The historic Zoma market, said to be the largest outdoor market in the world, was established in the Analakely neighborhood of Antananarivo by Andrianampoinimerina and ran continuously until being disbanded in 1997.
exif: {"Image Software": "ArcSoft PhotoImpression 6", "Image DateTime": "2009:01:16 13:35:35", "Image ExifOffset": "96", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "980", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "980"}