Embassy of Madagascar

In the 1790s, Merina rulers succeeded in establishing hegemony over the major part of the island, including the coast. In 1817, the Merina ruler and the British governor of Mauritius concluded a treaty abolishing the slave trade, which had been important in Madagascar's economy. In return, the island received British military and financial assistance. British influence remained strong for several decades, during which the Merina court was converted to Presbyterianism, Congregationalism and Anglicanism

Radama I signed treaties with the United Kingdom outlawing the slave trade and admitting Protestant missionaries into Madagascar. On the face of it, the terms of these treaties seem innocuous enough, but Protestant missionaries would spread British influence as well as Christian charity; and outlawing the slave trade would weaken Réunion by depriving that island of slave laborers for its sugar plantations. In return for outlawing the slave trade, Madagascar received what the treaty called "The Equivalent": an annual sum of a thousand dollars in gold, another thousand in silver, stated amounts of gunpowder, flints, and muskets, plus 400 surplus British Army uniforms. The governor of Mauritius also sent military advisers who accompanied and sometimes led Merina soldiers in their battles against the Sakalava and Betsimisaraka. In 1824, having defeated the Betsimisaraka, Radama I declared, “Today, the whole island is mine! Madagascar has but one master.” The king died in 1828 while leading his army on a punitive expedition against the Betsimisaraka

The Malagasy people remember Queen Rasoaherina for sending ambassadors to London and Paris and for prohibiting Sunday markets. On June 30, 1865, she signed a treaty with the United Kingdom giving British citizens the right to rent land and property on the island and to have a resident ambassador. With the United States of America she signed a trade agreement that also limited the importation of weapons and the export of cattle.

The Government of Ranavalona I sent a delegation of seven people in Europe, led by Andriantsitohaina, comprising Andriantseheno, Ramanankoraisina, Ranera, Raharolahy, Rasatranabo, and Razedaoro acting as Chambellan to explain the decisions taken against the English diplomat and missionaries of the London Missionary Society. The embassy stayed in London from 09 February to 19 March 1837 and was received by the Head of the Foreign Office, The Right Honorable Vicount Palmerston, then by King William IV and his wife Queen Adelaide on 01 March, accompanied by a JJ Freeman former missionary in Madagascar.

Radama II (was in favor as well of diplomatic and cultural relations between Madagascar and the Uk), he was an artist and composer of many well-known and then very popular tunes such as: “mokatejy” deriving from the English “my cottage” and “sidikiny” deriving from “See the Queen”, later In his brief two years on the throne, King Radama II re-opened trade with Mauritius and Réunion, invited Christian missionaries[8] and foreigners to return to Madagascar, and re-instated most of Radama I’s reforms. His liberal policies angered the aristocracy, however, and Rainivoninahitriniony, the prime minister, engineered a coup d’état which resulted in the King's death by strangling. The cunning Rainivoninahitriniony or his equally cunning brother, Rainilaiarivory, would rule Madagascar from behind the scenes for the remaining 32 years of the Merina monarchy. First Rainivoninahitriniony and then his brother married Queen Rasoaherina, Radama II’s widow. Rainilaiarivony also married the last two queens of Madagascar, Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III