Andrianjaka

Andrianjaka reigned over the Kingdom of Imerina in the central highlands region of Madagascar from around 1612 to 1630. Despite being the younger of King Ralambo's two sons, Andrianjaka succeeded to the throne on the basis of his strength of character and skill as a military tactician. The most celebrated accomplishment of his reign was the capture of the hill of Analamanga from a Vazimba king. There he established the fortified compound (rova) that would form the heart of his new capital city of Antananarivo. Upon his orders, the first structures within this fortified compound (known as the Rova of Antananarivo) were constructed: several traditional royal houses were built, and plans for a series of royal tombs were designed. These buildings took on an enduring political and spiritual significance, ensuring their preservation until being destroyed by fire in 1995. Andrianjaka obtained a sizable cache of firearms and gunpowder, materials that helped to establish and preserve his dominance and expand his rule over greater Imerina.

Many of the cultural practices that were to define Merina social and political life for centuries are credited to Andrianjaka. He designated the twelve sacred hills of Imerina that were to become the spiritual and political heartland of the Merina empire, contributing to the establishment of the kingdom's traditional boundaries; clans were assigned to specific regions within his kingdom, further defining the cultural landscape. He consolidated power through such measures as appropriating the folk tradition of sampy (community talismans), thereby ensuring all the powers traditionally attributed to these idols were under the control of the sovereign alone. Merina traditions related to the burial and mourning of sovereigns are also traced back to Andrianjaka's reign.

Early life Andrianjaka was the second son of Ralambo, ruler of the Kingdom of Imerina in the central highlands of Madagascar. As a young man, Andrianjaka married Ravadifo, a daughter of Prince Andriampanarivomanjaka. The marriage produced one daughter and one son, Andriantsitakatrandriana, who would rule after his father from 1630 to 1650. Andrianjaka was also actively involved in providing support to his father's military campaigns to expand and defend Ralambo's realm. Oral history describes an incident wherein Andrianjaka and Ralambo were engaged in the defense of Ralambo's capital at Ambohidrabiby, which was threatened by the advance of Antsihanaka warriors. Andrianjaka reportedly suggested an innovative defensive tactic to annihilate the enemy by filling the town's hadivory (defensive trenches) with cow dung and rice husks, lighting it on fire, and covering the smoldering embers with burnt rice stalks so that the area resembled a patch of land recently re-cleared for planting through tavy (slash and burn agriculture). The enemy troops reportedly marched into the trap, sinking into the embers and burning or suffocating to death.

Oral history provides two different accounts of Andrianjaka's succession to the throne of the Kingdom of Imerina. According to popular legend, Ralambo devised a test to determine which of his two sons was most fit to rule: he would summon them both to join him at his capital in Ambohidrabiby, and whichever of his two sons reached him soonest would inherit his kingdom. In one account of this legend, Andrianjaka was reportedly engrossed in strategizing a win in a difficult game of fanorona and so refused to admit audience to the royal messenger until after the game was over. During this delay, his older brother Andriantompokoindrindra received his father's message and rushed home; he was thus awarded Ralambo's title and kingdom. However, this tale continues, Andriantompokoindrindra's claim to power was rejected by the public, and he was soon forced to cede the throne to Andrianjaka. In an alternate account of the succession tale, it is Andriantompokoindrindra (not Andrianjaka) who was said to be preoccupied with the fanorona game —a version in keeping with the oral tradition that credits him with the game's invention and popularization at court —and his refusal to return to his father until after the game had finished led Ralambo to choose Andrianjaka as his successor. Ralambo's father, Andriamanelo, had established rules of succession by which Ralambo's first son by his first wife must rule after his father in order to fulfill a mandate established by his Vazimba antecedents Rafohy and Rangita.

His policies and tactics highlighted and increased the separation between the king and his subjects. Andrianjaka transformed social divisions into spatial divisions by assigning each clan to a specific geographical region within his kingdom. He made a demonstration of royal power by appropriating the local tradition of sampy (talismans), previously created by village chiefs and others for personal or local spiritual ends, restricting their number to twelve and declaring their creation a strictly royal prerogative.

Founding of Antananarivo

Around 1610 or 1625 according to various estimations, Andrianjaka commanded a garrison of 1,000 soldiers to seize the hill of Analamanga ("Blue Forest")—at above sea level, then the highest and most strategically important in the region —from its Vazimba inhabitants. He constructed a royal fortified compound (rova) on the hilltop as the capitol of a new town at the site which he named Antananarivo ("the city of the thousand") in honor of the thousand soldiers who aided in capturing and protecting the hill. Andrianjaka made Antananarivo the capital of his realm. From his position atop Analamanga, he was well-placed to exert control over the vast plains of Betsimitatatra below. Under his command the plains were gradually transformed into vast, surplus-producing rice paddies. This feat was accomplished by mobilizing large numbers of his able-bodied subjects to construct dikes that enabled the redirection of rainwater for controlled flooding of planted areas. Soon thereafter, two more houses were constructed; Andrianjaka also designated the construction space and design for a row of royal tombs. According to one account, the very first royal house constructed within the Rova of Antananarivo was named Besakana ("Great Breadth") and served as the personal residence of Andrianjaka. This account is contradicted by another source that states the second and third houses were called Masoandrotsiroa and Besakana, with the latter again characterized as Andrianjaka's personal residence, and in 1820 he designated the building as the first site to house what came to be known as the Palace School, the first formal European-style school in Imerina. Sovereigns were enthroned in this building and their mortal remains were displayed here before burial, rendering Besakana "the official state room for civil affairs... regarded as the throne of the kingdom."

Death and succession The rule of Andrianjaka continued uninterrupted until his death at the Rova of Antananarivo around 1630. He was the first king to be buried on the grounds of the Rova, his tomb forming the first of the Fitomiandalana. To commemorate his greatness, his subjects erected a small wooden house called a trano masina on top of his tomb. Future Merina sovereigns and nobles continued to construct similar tomb houses on their tombs well into the 19th century. According to oral history, the institution of lengthy formal mourning periods for deceased sovereigns in Imerina may also have begun with the death of Andrianjaka. He was succeeded by his son, Andriantsitakatrandriana.