MADAGASCAR

Madagascar stamps available online at Io Collezionista. Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world and holds about 5% of the known animal and plant species. The first contacts between the island and European navigators date to the 15th century, when the Portuguese Diogo Dias sighted it after straying from the usual route to Mozambique. Madagascar would remain under the control of local peoples until the first French expedition of 1885, which in effect made it a protectorate of the European state. Although independence came only in 1960, the Malagasy people tried more than once to rise against the colonial authorities, which responded by brutally repressing the revolts. The gravest episode came in 1947, when between 60,000 and 100,000 people lost their lives.