Antambahoaka

Antambahoaka

Elder of an Antambahoaka village, 1908
Total population
(c. 50,000)
Regions with significant populations
Madagascar
Languages
Malagasy
Related ethnic groups
Other Malagasy groups, Austronesian peoples

The Antambahoaka are the least numerous ethnic group in Madagascar, numbering around 50,000 in 2013. They inhabit a small region along the southeastern coast of Madagascar near Mananjary and share their origins with the partially Arab Antaimoro people, from whom the group split in the 15th century under a leader named Ravalarivo. Very little is known about the history of this group after its founding. The Antambahoaka speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages, spoken in southern Borneo.

The Antambahoaka are widely known for their Sambatra festival, a ritual group circumcision ceremony that occurs every seven years. This festival has been the focus of two short films released in 2008 and 2010. Their society is highly homogenous with little external migration and a strong sense of unified identity. Patriarchy, ancestor veneration and adherence to ancestral taboos (fady) are core elements of their social structure. There is a long-standing taboo against raising twins that historically led them to be killed immediately after birth or left to die of exposure in the forest. Human rights groups and the Malagasy government are working to provide support for twins and their parents in the effort to put an end to this tradition.

The Antambahoaka are the least numerous ethnic group of Madagascar, numbering around 50,000 people in 2013. Like the Antaimoro from which they are derived, the Antambahoaka have Arab ancestry and bear some Arab physical features. The largest Antambahoaka town, Mananjary, is located on the southeastern coast.

The Antambahoaka share their origins with the Antaimoro people, who believe they are the descendents of an Arab named Raminia who migrated from Mecca to Madagascar between the 10th and 12th centuries. Oral tradition offers two explanations for Raminia's emigration. It is commonly said that he left to escape an increasingly rigid application of Islamic law; others attribute the departure to his search for fertile land to cultivate. The Antambahoaka split off from the Antaimoro in the fifteenth century when an Antaimoro named Ravalarivo established a new community called Masindrano that later grew to become the town of Mananjary; the neighborhood of Masindrano exists to the present day. Among some Antambahoaka it is said that Ravalarivo came to be called Ratiambahoaka (beloved by his people), and the community he founded derived its name from a deformation of this title - Antambahoaka. Very little is known about their history from the 16th to the 18th centuries.