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I'm Mort from the Penguins of Madagascar. When I'm not making my amazing movies, I'm relaxing at the beaches in Madagascar.

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Madagascar is an island located off the eastern coast of Africa. It is the forth largest island country. Madagascar is known for its lemurs, baobab trees, and vanilla. The island is has a lot of biodiversity, however it's threatened by deforestation which threatens all the species.

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Madagascar is located at 18.7669° S, 46.8691° E and is roughly 400 km off the coast of east Africa. The capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo.

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Madagascar is a country in stage 2 of the demographic transition model. They have very high birth rates that outweigh the death dramatically. They don't show a sign of stopping soon with their trend of high birth rates but it may slow some time in the next 20 years.

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Some of the push factors for Madagascar are drought and soil degradation. One pull factor is economic activity in urban areas. Besides that there isn't much of a reason to immigrate to Madagascar.

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Madagascar's culture has been secluded and developed isolated since it is an island. They have many unique folk culture aspects. One of the most popular folk cultures of Madagascar is called Famidihana. It's a practice where people wrap the remnants of deceased loved ones in silk and then dance around them. Pop culture hasn't heavily affected Madagascar because of their isolation and low level of development. They do practice Christianity which is related to pop culture because it is a major religion not from there and the way it diffused.

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Malagasy is the most widely spoken language in Madagascar. Madagascar has 2 official languages: Malagasy and French. They speak French in Madagascar because France colonized Madagascar. Malagasy belongs to the Austric language family.

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Christianity and Islam both diffused to Madagascar through contagious diffusion and missionaries. Madagascar has retained its indigenous beliefs very well since 52% still have their indigenous religion.

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Most of the population is Malagasy which is the indigenous ethnicity. There is some French from the remnants of being colonized by France.

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In 1947, many natives of Madagascar started to revolt against the French government and fight against them. The fighting stopped in 1948 after about 30,000 casualties. Eventually in 1960, representatives from Madagascar met with leaders in France and discussed a peace treaty. Madagascar became an independent nation on June 26, 1960.

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Madagascar has never had any border changes.

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As of the moment there are no conflicts going on in Madagascar. Politics of Madagascar takes place in a system of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic. The President of Madagascar is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Madagascar is head of government. Madagascar is a Unitary state.

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Rice is a very important food in Madagascar. It is eaten 3 times a day for each meal with all of their other dishes. The people of Madagascar are also one of the biggest consumers of rice in the world. Many vegetables and fish are also eaten very commonly. One very popular dish is Lasopy. It is a vegetable soup and is served predominately as a starter for meals. Most other dishes include some meat along with vegetables.

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Slash and burn agriculture, terracing, and rice paddies are very common agricultural practices in Madagascar. Slash and burn is still used because many of the farmers don't know of better methods for their land. Rice is the most popular crop her and accounts for 50% of the land use for agriculture. This explains why rice paddies and terracing are very common. Their largest export crop is vanilla and they are the largest producer of it in the world.

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In Madagascar, there are 2 seasons: a hot, rainy season from November to April and a cooler, dry season from May to October. The temperature in Madagascar is very consistent throughout the year and only dropping a few degrees during the colder months.

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Madagascar has no world or megacities. Antananarivo s significant because it is the capital and most populous city in Madagascar.

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AS Adema is the biggest soccer organization in Madagascar. Its HQ is in Antananarivo.

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Migration and how it's dealt with hasn't been taken account much in cities in Madagascar. This has caused an influx on people in cities even though there isn't adequate resources to deal with all of them. Because of all this 72% of residents in the city live in informal housing. There are also many issues with infrastructure in Madagascar. 65% of residents don't have access to energy, 60% don't have access to public transportation, and 40% lack access to drinkable water.

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Most Malagasy people still believe in gender norms and women are seen as secondary. 90% of Malagasy people believe that women should have more traditional roles in society, the workforce, and at home. The GEI (Gender Equality Index) of Madagascar is 72.5%.

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Madagascar has an HDI of 0.528.

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The largest sector of the economy in Madagascar is the service sector with 49.63% of the GDP. This sector contributes very highly to the GDP because the service sector stimulates the economy heavily. The least popular economic sector is the intellectual sector because there isn't a high amount of employment in this field and this field doesn't tend to contribute much to the GDP. The largest industry in Madagascar is agriculture. This is the largest because of the amount of crops grown in Madagascar not only to feed the citizens but also for export.

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https://www.britannica.com/place/Madagascar/Agriculture-forestry-and-fishing

https://borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-agriculture-in-madagascar/

https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country/madagascar/climate-data-historical#:~:text=In%20Madagascar%2C%20two%20seasons%20are,maximum%20of%203%2C700%20mm%20annually.

https://ec.europa.eu/international-partnerships/stories/supporting-next-generation-sustainable-and-inclusive-urban-development-planning-madagascar_en#:~:text=As%20a%20result%2C%20cities%20in,water%20and%20basic%20sanitation%20facilities.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gender-equality-by-country

https://globaledge.msu.edu/blog/post/54526/an-overview-of-madagascars-economy

https://www.statista.com/statistics/460387/share-of-economic-sectors-in-the-gdp-in-madagascar/

https://www.usaid.gov/madagascar/back-on-the-path-to-democracy

https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/sub-saharan-africa-region/french-madagascar-1946-1960/

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/MDG/madagascar/immigration-statistics#:~:text=Madagascar%20immigration%20statistics%20for%202015,a%2010.69%25%20increase%20from%202000.

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Madagascar is dealing with deforestation caused by slash and burn agricultural practices. Many subsistence farmers still use this technique because it's easiest for them and there is already a low availability of farmland/forest land in the country. These farmers either don't realize or don't care about the harm that they cause on the environment.

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Madagascar is a periphery country. It is periphery because of its low development and economic output. They have a very low HDI and the infrastructure in their cities isn't widespread. Even though Madagascar isn't exploited by another country or used solely for a product, it is still periphery because of its low developement.

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You should go to Madagascar because of the beautiful sights. Madagascar is full of gorgeous beaches that would be amazing to visit. Also, the forests in Madagascar are home to millions of unique and amazing species. The Lemurs are y personal favorite because who wouldn't want to see one of them in person since they're so cute. Another reason to go is to learn and experience the unique Malagasy culture firsthand.

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Cyclone Batsirai recently destroyed a lot of homes and buildings in Madagascar. It was the largest cyclone to hit Madagascar since 2017. The cyclone destroyed over 91,00 homes and killed about 120 people. It caused 53.3 million dollars (USD) worth of damage, and Madagascar is still recovering from it.