HISTORICAL NOTES: MADAGASCAR - AMERICA RELATIONS

Although no specific historical work has been dedicated to this subjec to date, it is suspected that a number of Malagasy arrived as captives to New England during the 17th century, and then again in smaller numbers to New York and Massachusetts during the 18th century. David Eltis et al (Harvard DuBois Institute) have recorded the arrival of a few ships from Madagascar to New York with slaves from Madagascar. However, closer investigation of the China Sea Trade and the Indian Ocean Trade of the Yankee traders of the northeastern United States may very well uncover more information about early slaves from Madagascar. Of course, later in the 19th century Malagasy sometimes arrived as sailors and mariners who worked on ships sailing the Indian Ocean routes. Some of these ships were American, and others sailed to America under other national flags.

We know that regular exchanges with Madagascar did not probably begin until the end of the war between the USA and England (sic the revolutionary war), except during 1812 and 1814, when American voyages were completelly interrupted (due to the napoleonic gov't in France - my notes ww). First Eye Witness accounts of American- Malagasy commerce and exchanges: Bennet and Brooks think that American trade with Malagasy ports picked up again around 1817. (note:there was trade with Mauritius before,right after the revolutionary war, when people occasionally stopped on the Malagasy coast; ww) The accoutns which we have access to, however, are a little bit later than 1817. According to a report from the Boston Herald covering a visit of the Malagasy diplomatic mission to Salem in 1883, trade with Madagascar was opened by the company Nathaniel Rogers and Brothers, in Salem. The ship Beulah, commended by Charles Forbes, returned to Mocha in April 1820 after having stoped in Madagascar for a small cargo of tallow. The brig Thetis was the first to bring from Madagascar a cargo full of 216,599 pounds of tallow. Robert Brookhouse of Salem was also a pioneer in Malagasy-American trade. The commander of the ship Black Warrior, John Bertram, also of Salem, was the first to bring to America, in 1832, a grand quantity of copal, which was to become in the future an object of significant importance in import for the States. (pp 4 - 5) In 1824 James Hastie reported in his journal of 30 june tht he saw three brigs from America at Majunga on the west coast (p 6).... When it arived in Majunga in February, 1827, the ship Spy found two other American ships at port in Majunga - the Laura Morgan and the Susan Burchmore.... At the time of its arival in Majunga the 20 of June, 1828, the brig Vrginia, having sailed directly from Salem in 99 days, found another brig from Salem already there, the Talent Johnson. pp 7 - 8 ...By an accord signed on 16 June, 1840, Marks (Vincent Marks of Salem) became for a while the representative oin Majunga for David Pingree, John G. Waters, George WEst Jr. and Richard Waters, all merchants of Salem. p 9 footnote 32, referring to the Book Hisstoire de Madagascar by Hubert Deschamps: In the beginning the slave trade in Madagascar began with the Arabs--the taking os slaves in the 16th century by Prtuguese and Dutech is comparatively incidental. It is with the installation of the Dtuch at Mauritius, at Batavia, and on the Cape (of Good Hope, S. Africa) that the slave trade became really useful. In the 18th century, with the demands of the French West Indies and the Indian Ocean Islands, the English and especially the French would outdo the Dutch...The commerce in slaves was mixed in with the commerce of other merchandise...discussions with chiefs over price, competing buyers, and different national interest. The ships that are historically known for this between 1506 to 1776 are of about 100 in quantity. In counting a mean of about 200 slaves by boat, one gets a total of 20,000 slaves taken from Madagascar in three centuries by the Europeans..the principal destinations were Comoros, the Red Sea, Mauritius, The Cape of Good Hope, the British West Indies, and Brazil... Slaves coming into the US were offically prohibited in 1807(coming directly from Africa).

From 1719 to 1725 more than 1,000 Malagasy slaves arrived to the Commonwealth of Virginia through the ports of Rappahannock and York rivers. The Prince Eugene of Bristol came into York River district of Virginia on May 18, 1719 carrying 340 Malagasy; the Mercury of London arrived at the district of Rappahannock River on May 17, 1720 with 466 Malagasy; and were followed by the Rebecca Snow, the Gascoigne Galley, the Henrietta, and the Coker Snow. The Prince Eugene, Rebecca Snow, and Gascoigne Galley apparently made directly from Madagascar for Virginia, where the Prince Eugene had sold her licensed cargo in 1719. The Henrietta stopped in Pernambuco, Brazil before continuing to Barbados and Virginia. Three of the Madagascar vessels arrived in Virginia over a period of only six weeks, entering at York River as follows: The Gascoigne Galley with 133 slaves, on May 15, 1721; the Prince Eugene (on a second trip) with 103 slaves in June, and the Henrietta with 130 slaves later that month. Platt states that the total number of Malagasy brought into Virginia between 1719 and 1721, comes to 1, 231 when the 340 slaves brought on the Prince Eugene's previous voyage and the 466 brought by the Mercury in 1720 are counted in. (Platt: 1969:567)