Tag Archives: Study in Madagascar

(République de Madagascar, Repoblikan’i Madagasikara). State of Southeast Africa (587,295 km²). Capital: Antananarivo. Administrative division: provinces (6). Population: 21,928,518 (2012 estimate). Language: French and Malagasy (official). Religion: animists / traditional beliefs 42%, Protestants 27%, Catholics 20%, Muslims 2%, others 2%. Monetary unit: ariary (5 iraimbilanja). Human Development Index: 0.498 (155th place). Borders: Indian Ocean. Member of: UN, AU, SADC and WTO, EU associate. According to COUNTRYAAH, Madagascar is a nation in Eastern Africa, the capital city of which is Antananarivo. The latest population of Madagascar is 27,691,029. REMZFAMILY: Lists and descriptions of main religions and beliefs in Madagascar, including religion demographics and statistics on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.
GEOGRAPHY
The island of Madagascar, fourth of the Earth by surface, is structurally presented as a large fragment of Precambrian rocks detached from the Gondwanian masses of Africa and the Deccan. During this episode, the rocky block that today forms the island found that characteristic structure revealed by its dissymmetry, with the two eastern and western sides having different slopes, one steep and the other sloping down, indicating a general inclination towards W suffered by the insular mass itself. The Precambrian crystalline rocks emerge in the central section of the island and over a large part of the eastern side; the western one, on the other hand, is characterized by sedimentary coverings, gradually more recent from the interior towards the coast; they begin with the Karroo type conglomerates continue with Mesozoic marine deposits, then with Cenozoic and Neozoic covers. The series of sedimentary formations ends with the recent floods. The central section is occupied by a vast plateau, located at an average altitude of 1000-1500 m; it presents ancient and mature forms, here and there enlivened by reliefs consisting of granite emergencies along fracture lines of the base and by cones and slabs of recent volcanic origin. These reliefs represent the major summits of the island, culminating at 2876 m with the Marokomotro, in the Tsaratanana massif, in the far north. Alongside the volcanic reliefs there are some depression areas, such as the one occupied by the Alaotra and Itasy lakes. The eastern side, steeper, with large cliffs carved into the crystalline base, it ends at the sea with a straight and sandy coast, but almost devoid of selvedge. The western one, sloping down to the coastal alluvial belt, is moved by the heads of the sedimentary formations that give rise to typical cuestas escarpments . Due to the asymmetry of the reliefs, the main rivers descend to the Mozambique Channel, such as the Betsiboka, the Tsiribihina, the Mangoki and the Onilahy; however, they have an irregular regime, with floods in the summer and low temperatures in the winter, and therefore are of little importance for inland navigation. The eastern side of the island is instead crossed by rivers with a fairly regular regime (Maningory, Mangoro, Mananara) given the constant rainfall; however, they are short, impetuous, frequently interrupted by rapids and waterfalls – a feature common to most Malagasy rivers – and with basins of limited extension. The climate has very different characters especially between the eastern and western sides. The first, well exposed to the Indian Ocean, is constantly under the direct influence of the SE trade wind which brings high rainfall, everywhere above 2000 mm per year, with maximum values ​​of 4000 mm in the coastal strip. On the plateau, the trade wind arrives impoverished of water and descends on the western side like a now dry wind. The impulses of the summer monsoon blowing from the NW between November and April. Thus, rainfall is still abundant in the north and central plateau, while it progressively decreases in the southwestern section, where less than 500 mm falls annually (350-400 in Toliara). As for temperatures, the values ​​vary between the coasts and the plateau. In Antananarivo they are mitigated by the altitude, but the annual temperature variations are relatively pronounced: from an average of 14.5 ºC in the cool month (July) to 21 ºC in the hottest month (January). The west coast has constantly high values: in Mahajanga it goes from 25 ºC to 27-28 ºC, while the east coast, cooled by the trade winds and the more reduced insolation, registers values ​​of 20 and 26 ºC respectively (Toamasina). These different situations correspond to very specific plant conditions.