Madagascar

Madagascar (: Madagasikara), officially the Republic of Madagascar (Malagasy: Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, : République de Madagascar), is an in the , approximately 400 kilometres (250 miles) off the coast of across the . At 592,800 square kilometres (228,900 sq mi) Madagascar is the world's , after . The nation is home to around 30 million inhabitants and consists of the island of (the in the world), along with numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the , Madagascar split from the around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a ; over 90% of is endemic.
Human settlement of Madagascar occurred during or before the mid first millennium AD by , presumably arriving on from present-day . These were joined around the 9th century AD by migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel from East Africa. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The is often divided into 18 or more subgroups, of which the largest are the of the central highlands.
Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting sociopolitical alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the by a of Merina . The monarchy ended in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the , from which the island gained independence in 1960. The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, termed republics. Since 1992, the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at . However, in a , president was made to resign and presidential power was transferred in March 2009 to . Constitutional governance was restored in January 2014, when was named president following a deemed fair and transparent by the international community. Madagascar is a member of the , the (AU), the (SADC), and the .
Madagascar belongs to the group of , according to the United Nations. and are both official languages of the state. is predominant religion in the country, but a significant minority still practices . and agriculture, paired with greater investments in education, health, and private enterprise, are key elements of Madagascar's development strategy. Under Ravalomanana, these investments produced substantial economic growth, but the benefits were not evenly spread throughout the population, producing tensions over the increasing cost of living and declining living standards among the poor and some segments of the middle class. The economy was weakened by the , and as of 2017, quality of life remains low for the majority of the Malagasy population.
== Mappers from Madagascar ==
Mapper	Mapper 	Region 	Subscribers
Icon 	Mapper name	Region name	Number of subscribers
== List of fictive nations located in Madagascar ==
Country	Country 	Capital	Population	Area in km²	Currency
 	Antankarana	 	7,208,753 	59,401 	Złoty
== Future ==
=== Zarexian Mapper ===
Madagascar remains one of the poorest nations in the world. It has the sixth highest rate of in the world, with nearly half of all Malagasy children under the age of five suffering from chronic malnutrition and it's among the nations with the highest levels of child illiteracy. Only about 13 percent of the population has access to .
In future the country will face even greater challenges because of . Madagascar is already frequently exposed to events, such as tropical storms, and . While it's renowned for its luscious , some of this is under threat including critically-endangered , its rare and ruby-coloured trees, and several species.
 and trafficking of its abundant natural wealth remains a national concern.
Considering all of those factors I doubt Madagascar will have a bright future as it ranks 147th in the and foreign powers tend to exploit empoverished nations, just like did in Mozambique right across the .
Category:Countries
Category:Countries in Africa
Category:Countries in Southern Africa