#3 - Madagascar

I have realized something about this blog.  I am only able to get on at night and since this blog is suppose to highlight a country a day, it seems kind of silly to post that country at the end of the day.  So tonight you get an extra special to-for-the-price of one.  Madagascar is the country that was suppose to be for Thursday.  So I am posting it now and I hope you enjoy, but I will also post tomorrows blog tonight and will post the next days country the night before.  I think this will work better.  So with no further adieu, here is the former French colony of Madagascar.

Everyone knows Madagascar, it was a great movie right?  Well, more than a movie, Madagascar is an island to the east of the southern tip of Africa.  It was uninhabited until sometime between 200 BC and 500 AD when it was colonized both by Bantu migrants from Africa and early Polynesian migrants on outrigger canoes.  These groups joined to form the Kingdom of Madagascar that remained independent until a war with France forced Madagascar to become a colony of France.

The economy of Madagascar is primarily agricultural with coffee and vanilla being the primary exports.  Interestingly, when Coke switched to "New Coke" in the mid 1980s (a recipe that used less vanilla) the economy of Madagascar took a big hit.  But as we all know that downturn was short-lived when Coke switched back to Coke Classic.

Currently the per capita GDP is a meager $393 per person per year.  Much of the money is controlled by the owners of huge coffee and vanilla plantations.  The rest of the country survives on an underfunded education system and a healthcare system that endures a infant mortality rate of 74 per 1000 live births.

In recent years, the political climate has been stable, but that is far different from the many years since its Independence in 1960.  Much of Madagascars political history has been marked by coup d'etats, military regimes and despots posing as republics.  This has given Madagascar a long way to go to improve their economy and the situation of their people.