| The dissertation argues that leaders in Madagascar used violence to dominate global trade during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Chapters in An Empire in the Indian Ocean describe how coping with new trading opportunities led to increasingly coercive forms of acquisition and domination, as well as the creation of the first expansive empire in the East African region. The dissertation uses maritime records from European trading companies to reveal how the Sakalava monopolized the movement of commodities within Madagascar. In the wake of new resource demands, the shores of Madagascar became important supply stations for European vessels crossing the oceans. Sakalava kings and queens controlled the trade of cattle, slaves, and rice through the use of force. They also formed alliances with other states throughout the island. As European interest in the resources of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean increased during the eighteenth century, the Sakalava Empire came under attack by rival empires. These rivals cut off Sakalava expansion on both land and sea. By the close of the nineteenth century, the empire had crumbled and being Sakalava no longer meant subjection to a certain king or ruler. Instead, it represented a way of seeing the world and understanding the past, as well as the future. |
