Talk by Sander Adelaar

In this talk I combine evidence from historical linguistics and several other research disciplines in order to shed new light on the settlement of Madagascar by its current population some thirteen centuries ago.

I start out making a clear chronological distinction between the time of the earliest contacts between East Africa and insular South East Asia, the time Madagascar was settled by Indonesians and Bantus, and the period of continued cultural and trade relations between Madagascar and Southeast Asia after this settlement.

I then concentrate on the arrival of Indonesians and Bantus, including their identity and linguistic background. I discuss the possible (cultural and social) position of the Malagasy migrants in their original homeland in South Borneo, the various migration routes they followed and the number of migration waves that have been postulated. I also try to make sense of the seemingly contradictory evidence from historical linguistics and human genetics regarding the Asian roots of the current Malagasy.