caption father dynasty predecessor successor mother birth_place death_date death_place title birth_date image article_title name reign
idealized portrait painted around 1905 by ramanankirahina andriamiaramanjaka merina andrianjafy radama i ranavalonanandriambelomasina ikaloy 1810 1745 antananarivo king of imerina 1745 andrianampoinimerina.jpg andrianampoinimerina
 andrianampoinimerina ca. 1787 -- 1810
andrianampoinimerina

andrianampoinimerina -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- 1745 -- 1810 -rrb- 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 avarandrano -lrb- northern imerina -rrb- .
prior to andrianampoinimerina 's reign , imerina avarandrano 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 .
from this position , he progressively extended his domain first over all imerina and then over the greater highlands , absorbing the betsileo , sihanaka , bezanozano and bara territories .
having reigned for 23 years at the time of his death , andrianampoinimerina had successfully reunited imerina and vastly expanded the merina kingdom , with the intent to ultimately unify all of madagascar under merina rule .
his son and heir , radama i , continued the conquests andrianampoinimerina had begun , and over the next two decades largely achieved his father 's vision .
