- Madagascar, also known as the Malagasy Republic, lies some 400 kilometres off the East coast of Africa.
- Diego Dias, the Portuguese explorer, first sighted Madagascar at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
- Approximately 50% of the country's population practice traditional religion, which tends to emphasize links between the living and the dead. The Merina in the highlands particularly tend to hold tightly to this practice. They believe that the dead join their ancestors in the ranks of divinity and that ancestors are intensely concerned with the fate of their living descendants.
- Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island, with 4,828 km of coastline . Scientists think it broke off from the African continent about 160 million years ago.
- The country is also referred to as the Red Island, due to the red color of its soil.
- Nearly half of the land of Madagascar is covered with forest.
- There are two seasons: a hot, rainy season from November to April, and a cooler, dry season from May to October.
- Malagasy is the official language, but French is used in business and government.
- Just over 18.5 million people live in Madagascar. The fertility rate is at about 5 children per woman.
- The highest mountain is Maromokotro at 2,876m.
- Ninety percent of the plants and animals found on the island of Madagascar evolved there and nowhere else.
- There are 3,000 endemic species of butterfly in Madagascar.
12 interesting facts about Madagascar
