Talk:Madagascar/Archive 2

Tagging article issues
Recently an editor added tags for neutrality, quality of references, outdated content and multiple issues, but did not elaborate on these issues on the talk page. Given that this is a Featured Article with extensive references that has undergone a rigorous review process for neutrality and quality, any such concerns need to be explained on the talk page for the tags to be considered anything other than spam. Please share specific issues and concerns on the talk page. - Lemurbaby (talk) 01:58, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

Ethnic Term "Merina"
Editors of this article will have to deal with the fact that the ethnonym "Merina" did not exist (was not used at all) until the twentieth century. In other words, it cannot be used to refer to any group of people before the twentieth century. Many other ethnonyms (eg. Sakalava, Betsileo, Betsimisaraka) existed before the twentieth century, but "Merina" did not. Today, "Merina" is largely a term employed by foreigners and by certain urban elites in Madagascar (those with whom most foreigners come into contact). The use of the ethnonym when referring to the 20th and 21st centuries is problematic (given its uneven embrace among the people indigenous to Imerina), but at least acceptable since the usage exists among some people in Madagascar and among most non-Malagasy.

Imauser3 (talk) 18:44, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

Arrival of Humans
The currently accepted timeline appears to be inaccurate. I found a couple of recent peer reviewed articles suggesting evidence of human activity dating as far back as 2000 BC:

Dewar, R. E., Radimilahy, C., Wright, H. T., Jacobs, Z., Kelly, G. O., & Berna, F. (2013). Stone tools and foraging in northern Madagascar challenge Holocene extinction models. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(31), 12583-12588. http://www.pnas.org/content/110/31/12583.abstract

Gommery, D., Ramanivosoa, B., Faure, M., Guérin, C., Kerloc’h, P., Sénégas, F., & Randrianantenaina, H. (2011). Les plus anciennes traces d’activités anthropiques de Madagascar sur des ossements d’hippopotames subfossiles d’Anjohibe (Province de Mahajanga). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 10(4), 271-278. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631068311000236

This would affect the History of Madagascar article as well, of course.

IRua (talk) 03:46, 23 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks, and done. Next time if you have sources, please make the additions yourself.  If you're not sure how to do the referencing, look at the rest of the material in that section for examples.  You can also ask here for help. –  Maky  « talk » 08:06, 23 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you Maky, I'll keep that in mind. Yeah I didn't know how to do it, but you're right I could figure it out from investigating the existent format. IRua (talk) 20:33, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

Can you tell me about the origin and evolution of human beings. Niraj2157 (talk) 01:15, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Island of the moon
The 'Island of the moon' was a name used for Madagascar by European explorers, a cited fact mentioned at the "history of …" article. There is another citation in the redirect page history [!] and a mention in Joseph Jacobs' The story of geographical discovery, p. 89. The name links here, I wondering whether a mention is deserved or the redirect changed. cygnis insignis 20:15, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, I will keep it in my mind Niraj2157 (talk) 01:16, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Beads
Starting in the 12th century, beads from the Indian Ocean, such as red coral, and red glass, were used as currency. Benjamin (talk) 11:49, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. Community Tech bot (talk) 04:58, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
 * National Anthem of Madagascar by US Navy Band.ogg

Please fix flag
The flag is not red and green: the white portion to the left is omitted. Actually, it's there, but it's invisible because we need a THIN BLACK FRAME around the flag so it can be seen. Can someone please attend to this? I don't have permission to upload images. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:589:4B00:7AB:3D9E:EF01:569B:DD92 (talk) 13:28, 5 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done I swapped in a version with a border around it. Largoplazo (talk) 17:02, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

Maurice Benyovszky's colonization attempts
A new user, User:AvaEve, added to the article a talk page-type request (which was removed) to say something about the Polish/Hungarian explorer Maurice Benyovszky's stabs at colonization in Madagascar. In the overall context of the history of Madagascar, I don't know whether his exploits rate inclusion here but I thought I'd bring him up here to see if anyone thinks the article should mention them. (AvaEve, talk pages like this are where one comments on the state of the corresponding article and makes suggestions for improvement.) Largoplazo (talk) 10:50, 31 July 2019 (UTC)

Typo in province name?
The province listed as Antsinanana, I think should be Antsiranana. This is based on Google searches for Antsiranana and for Madagascar. Can you check, verify it, and then change the name if I am right?

Maggie.Jacobs (talk) 18:06, 2 April 2020 (UTC)

Suggestion for section on science and technology
Hi, just a suggestion, many country articles have sections or subsections for 'science and technology', this could be a section on this article as well. The UNESCO Science Report may be a good place ot start and can copied from directly using these instructions. Thanks John Cummings (talk) 12:36, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

Landmasses did not break apart during our lifetimes
In the section Geography: "The prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana separated the Madagascar–Antarctica–India landmass from the Africa–South America landmass around 3 years ago. Madagascar later split from India about 88  years ago during the late Cretaceous period allowing plants and animals on the island to evolve in relative isolation."
 * Thanks, have reverted the vandalism. IdreamofJeanie (talk) 01:09, 29 September 2021 (UTC)

Humans arrived in out-rigger canoes?
2000 years ago the Indian Ocean trade was carried out with large ships capable of carrying up to hundreds of people. See Indian Ocean Trade and the Austronesian maritime trade network. Why does this article talk about out-rigger canoes when canoes were not the means of transportation over the ocean at that time? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.92.68.144 (talk) 14:39, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 13:27, 12 December 2022 (UTC)
 * National anthem of the Madagascar.ogg