Antananarivo Information Guide

The capital and largest city in Madagascar. It is also known by its French colonial shorthand form Tana. The larger urban area surrounding the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "Antananarivo-Capital"), is the capital of the Analamanga region and of the Antananarivo autonomous province. Unlike most capital cities in southern Africa, Antananarivo was already a major city before the colonial era. The city was founded circa 1625 by King Andrianjaka and takes its name (the City of the Thousand) from the number of soldiers assigned to guard it. For many years it was the principal village of the Hova chiefs and gained importance as those chiefs made themselves sovereigns of the greater part of Madagascar, eventually becoming a town of some 80,000 inhabitants. In 1793 Antananarivo was made the capital of the Merina kings. The conquests of King Radama I made it the capital of almost all of Madagascar. The royal residence of the monarchs was set up at the Rova of Antananarivo. Until 1869 all buildings within the city proper were of wood or rushes, but even then it possessed several timber palaces of considerable size, the largest being 120 ft (37 m) high. These crown the summit of the central portion of the ridge; and the largest palace, with its lofty roof and towers, is the most conspicuous object from every point of view. Since the introduction of stone and brick by the French in the early 20th century, the entire city has been rebuilt and now contains numerous European-style structures, including the royal palaces, the houses formerly belonging to the prime minister and nobles, the French residency, the Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and several stone churches. Museum of Ethnology and Paleontology is located in the city.

Location Antananarivo is situated in the center of the island length-wise, and 145 km (90 miles) away from the eastern coast. The city occupies a commanding position, being built on the summit and slopes of a long and narrow rocky ridge, which extends north and south for about 4 km (2 mi) and rising at its highest point to about 200 m (660 ft) above the extensive rice plain to the west, although the town is at about 1,275 m (4,183 ft) above sea level. It is Madagascar's largest city and the administrative, communications, and economic center. The city is located 215 km (134 mi) west-southwest of Toamasina, the principal seaport of the island, with which it is connected by railway, and for about 100 km (62 mi) along the coastal lagoons. Antananarivo is served by Ivato Airport.

The city was captured by the French in 1895 and incorporated into their Madagascar protectorate. After the French conquest of Madagascar when the city had a population of some 100,000, it was extensively remodelled as the population grew to 175,000 by 1950. Roads were constructed throughout the city, broad flights of steps connecting places too steep for the formation of carriage roads, and the central space, called Andohalo, was enhanced with walks, terraces, flower-beds and trees. Water, previously obtained from springs at the foot of the hill, was brought from the Ikopa River, which skirts the capital to the south and west.
After independence in 1960 the pace of growth increased rapidly. The city's population reached 1.4 million by the end of the 20th century. Industries include food products, cigarettes, and textiles.
The city is guarded by two forts built on hills to the east. Including an Anglican and a Roman Catholic cathedral (this is the see city of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Antananarivo), there are more than 5,000 churches in the city and its suburbs, built in 2008. Antananarivo hosts a campus of the University of Madagascar and the Collège Rural d'Ambatobe. Ivato Airport serves the city with several regional routes and flights to and from Paris, Johannesburg and Nairobi among other cities.
Michele Ratsivalaka succeeded Andry Rajoelina as mayor, who replaced Marc Ravalomanana as president during the 2009 Malagasy political crisis.
Climate
Antananarivo has a temperate climate. Under the Köppen climate classification, the city features a borderline subtropical highland climate (Cwb / Cwa). Owing to its high elevation of 1,300 to 1,400 metres (4,265 to 4,593 ft) above sea level, the city is known for its mild climate. Antananarivo receives practically all of its average annual 1,370 millimetres (54 in) between November and April. The dry season is usually warm and sunny, although it is sometimes chilly, especially during the nights, and in the mornings and evenings. Although frosts are rare in Antananarivo, they are more common at higher elevations. Means range from 22.2 °C (72.0 °F) to 15.3 °C (59.5 °F).

Central Madagascar includes the country's capital and largest city, Antananarivo, as well as a number of other places of interest for visitors, including Antsirabe, Andasibe and Fianarantsoa. This region offers cultural cities, bustling markets, great Antananarivo hotels, stunning lakes and diverse national parks as some of its main attractions. Central Madagascar offers some of the country's biggest cities and best attractions!

Antananarivo or Tananarivo Madagascar ’s capital
Capital of king Andrianampoinimerina (1785 - 1810) built at the site of Analamanga fortified village which he had just conquered, the city had been equipped towards 1780 with a garrison with thousand men and had been renamed “the city of the thousand”, literal meaning of the current name: Antananarivo. Today, it is familiarly called “Tana”.

Antananarivo or Tananarive
Dominated by the remnant of the imposing “Queen’s Palace” which was entirely built out of wooden by French Jean Laborde and surrounded by stone walls by the English missionary James Cameron, known in Malagasy under the name of “Manjakamiadana” (where one reigns in peace) and destroyed in 1995 by a case of arson but in the process of rehabilitation with the assistance of the international community. The city, terminus of the principal air line was until a recent date the single door of entry for visitors coming to Madagascar by plane, and represented only as one crossing point, so that one did not know much about it.
For strategic reasons, its first king had located the heart of the city at the top of a steep hill and the occupation other hills was only achieved during the nineteenth century, followed by the expansion on the surrounding fertile agricultural plain , an expansion which continues at the present time without true town-planning. The topography of the site explains why the old city is made out of narrow streets for pedestrian use tangled up on the heights and hillside, where one can easily get lost while the recent districts, built in the plain, tend to have a squared plan, especially in what is called the “cities”.
Residence of the government and economic center, Antananarivo is modernized to offer all the amenities and the facilities required as well by businessmen in visit as by the investors. Thanks to its many different level educational establishments, and to the dynamism of a young population avid of education, it also offers an important potential of human resources. Those should still increase for the near future years as the population under 15 years old does not cease increasing. The city has certainly lost for a few years some of its picturesque, in particular following the devolution of its Friday market with the white parasols, the “Zoma” that foreigners had baptised “the open largest market of the world”, but it still preserves, in particular in the Upper town, of the historical vestiges worthy of interest. Visitors who love sport can besides do the visit on foot by climbing one of its thousand staircases and alleys curving with cliff side, and enjoy at the same time the imposing panoramic view of the rice fields being spread out as far as the bluish hills of the four horizons.
If they wish, they can also benefit from the recent or renewed inherited installations from the Inter Island game of the Indian Ocean, in particular an Olympic swimming pool which, unfortunately, does not allow the lifting dives yet. But at a few minutes of this place, there is another smaller in size and equipped with a beautiful diving board. If not, walk is particularly healthy even with more than 1200 meters of altitude, with the proviso of not beginning in one of the two tunnels of the city, with the manifestly polluted air. If you however come between October and Mars, go neither too quickly nor for a long time because the heat is likely to dehydrate you more than necessary except if you have the chance to get soaked by one of our tropical downpours.
The appetite sharpened by these physical activities, tourists can taste the simple but abundant dishes offered by small popular restaurants or more required establishments offering a vast range of kitchens of all the countries, but leaning especially towards the Asian taste of Vietnam, China, Japan and Korea, or go as far as to test the native, nutritive but very simple dishes, and of a really moderate price.
Lastly, a broad range of lodging is offered there, from the luxurious hotels to the simplest but convivial guest house at reasonable price.
Here follow among so much of others are attractions which one can see in the town of Antananarivo:
Visit of the zoological and botanical gardens of Tsimbazaza: this park shelters representatives of fauna and endemic flora of Madagascar as well as a museum of paleontology and ethnology. Visit royal palace of Ambohimanga: located about 20mn from Tana on one of the large sacred hills of Antananarivo. One finds there the summer palace of queens of Madagascar with its old pieces of furniture, Andrianampoinimerina’ s royal case dated back towards 1787, showing the history, the dwelling and the way of life of an imminent King of his time. Visit of a Lemur Park, a crocodile farm, a butterfly farm . Visit of a Malagasy silk workshop the “lamba landy” . Dawdling in the crafts markets such as “artisanal market of Andravoahangy”, or “the artisanal market of the Route Digue”, these markets offer several and various articles of beauty at reasonable prices which one can bargain.