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Only 10% of the roads are paved and 90% of the roads are just dirt and mud.

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Tourism is growing at an average rate of 11% each year. Also in the 1990's tourism was the 2 largest export earner. But most of it is not very developed leading it to not be as successful as it could be. It created 206,000 jobs for the people of Madagascar. The main tourist are French because of the cultural and historical links between countries. Highly educated people are interested in the wildlife like Lemurs and the unique birds. Because of tourism in 2007 alone the GDP grew 6.3% that year.

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By Zachary Mattes

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(Click it to zoom in)

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By Brendan Yost

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10 Amazing Facts about Madagascar - Fun Facts for Kids | Educational Videos by Mocomi

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What concerns between groups of people exist

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What concerns between groups of people exist

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There are not really any social problems between the different groups of people in this country. The government is not very strong and very corrupt so that may affect different groups of people.

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Nearly 80% of the world's vanilla is produced in Madagascar.

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Lemurs are only found in Madagascar and there are over 100 different species of lemurs. (Below is a Mouse Lemur)

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Scientists say that Madagascar broke off from Africa 160 million years ago.

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Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo.

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Some problems that occur in Madagascar are droughts, periodic cyclones, and locust infestation. Madagascar also has very high rates of HIV and AIDS. The people of Madagascar also has very poor education and corruption in the government keep this country very poor. If Madagascar didn't have these problems Madagascar would be in a better position because these problems like cyclones can prevent an economy grow and furthermore make people get out of poverty.

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There are many different groups of people who make up this population. Of the 25 million people who live in Madagascar, 95% of the people classify as Malagasy. Of that 95% about 26% are Merina, 15% are Betsimisaraka, and the rest are other small ethnic groups. The other 5% left are whites, Asians, and French. This country is a very diverse country with its many different groups of people. MAny people call it the 8th Continent because it makes up more than 5% of the world biodiversity.

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The island of  Madagascar got settled pretty late. It wasn’t until about 100 AD that people from the Sunda Islands started to settle here. Also, the Indonesians settled here too. Because humans didn't settled her for more than 300,000 years, animals had time to evolve. They are roughly 175,000 animal species that are only found in Madagascar.
First, it was seen by the Portuguese when trying to find a new route to India. It wasn’t until the 16th century that another country settled here. They saw the island and started a colony. Britain also tried to build a settlement. The Portuguese tried to spread Christianity to the Malagasy people living on Madagascar. The french had the longest lasting settlement, Fort Dauphin which lasted for 30 years. Once the french lost in a massacre they lost control of the island.
The island by the mid 17th century was ruled the Sakalava tribes. They ruled over the west and north areas of Madagascar. The decline of the tribes became in the 18th century and soon it was the Merina family that took over which originated from the central plateau. They expanded the boundaries of their kingdom over ⅔ of the island. During this era, Christianity was banned and over 200 Christians were persecuted because people thought it was wrong. By the 1880’s the Europeans had taken a new approach with colonialism.

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Madagascar is getting affected by the plague and it is spreading rapidly. Madagascar has the highest number of disease cases in the world because of unsanitary conditions. They are no recent wars except for the ones against Frances in the late 1950's.

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Its political problems include weakening of rule, people becoming insecure, natural resources are being exploited, while it's government is corrupt. The political crisis has made the economy drop. This is because of an unconstitutional change of government.

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The French saw Madagascar as one of Britain's friends so they saw an opportunity and sent in the military to take control. They abolished slavery but made them work on French-owned plantations. This made the colonial administration good money. After a few wars, it gained its independence from France in 1960 because of decolonization. Many of the wars had deeply scared the population because it was really hard for them to rebuild the new country.

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Many of the forests and other areas are being taken down for use of humans which is ruining some of the wildlife in these areas. Also there are a lot of agricultural fires, eroding soil degradation and over-hunting.

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Steep Narrow escarpments line the eastern coast. The remaining tropical forest is located here. On the west coast, it is lined with swamps of mangroves. These then lead to deep bays. At the north, there is the Tsaratanana Massif which contains Madagascar's highest point which is Maromokotro at 9,435 feet.
Madagascar is 1000 miles north to south.
There are lots of rivers one of which goes through the capital. There are very few lakes in Madagascar.
The climate is very diverse. The west coast is Savannah, really dry. The central contains central highlands because they are some high peaks there including Maromokotro. The Southwest coast contains Arid climate. The east coast is wet and also contains forests. Madagascar is located to the east of Mozambique. It is located about 740 miles from Mozambique.