Antananarivo

Antananarivo (äntänänärē`vō) or Tananarive (tänänärēv`), city (1993 pop. 675,669), capital of Madagascar. Antananarivo is Madagascar's largest city and is its administrative, communications, and economic center. It is the trade center for a productive agricultural region, whose main crop is rice. Railroads connect Antananarivo with Toamasina, the country's chief port, and Antsirabe. Its manufactures include food products (especially meat), beverages, cigarettes, and textiles. Antananarivo was founded c.1625 as a walled citadel. In 1797 it was made the fixed residence of the Merina rulers. The conquests of the Merina king Radama I (reigned 1810–28) made Antananarivo the capital of almost all Madagascar. The city was captured by the French in 1895 and incorporated into their Madagascar protectorate. The city is built on the slopes of a ridge that rises to c.4,700 ft (1,430 m). At the top of the ridge is the former Merina royal residence (destroyed by by fire in 1995); below, in descending order, are the administrative and financial areas and the commercial quarter. The Univ. of Madagascar (1961) and the Collège Rural d'Ambatobe are there as well as a Pasteur Institute and an astronomical observatory.

---

Antananarivo

 formerly Tananarive

City (pop., 2001 est.: 1,403,449), capital of Madagascar. Located in central Madagascar Island, and rising to an elevation of 4,694 ft (1,431 m), the city was founded in the 17th century and was controlled by the Merina from the early 1790s until the end of the 19th century. The French made it the capital of their colony when they took control of the region at the end of the 19th century and renamed it Tananarive. The name became Antananarivo after the 1972 revolution. The University of Madagascar (1961) is located there, as are tobacco- and food-processing plants. A railway connects it with Toamasina, the island's chief port.