4.5 Dating the First Settlement of Madagascar
79
We are left with the possibility of an early establishment of the Cinnamon Route
and an early first-wave discovery and colonization or colonizations of Madagascar
in the Lapita period or a later second-wave establishment of the Cinnamon Route
and a later associated settlement or settlements of Madagascar after 360 BC or
the more likely possibility that both may have occurred. That the initial settlement
was by Spice Islanders seems certain and that it was early seems likely, given the
96.2% incidence of the Polynesian motif amongst individuals carrying the Asian as
opposed to the African 9-bp deletion. The total replacement of Spice Island ancestral
Y chromosome haplogroups by those from the Barito River area of Borneo, as we
have commented, suggests later invasion. Indeed, there may have been a sequence
of second-wave invasions, with the last male invaders violently removing all Y chromosomal evidence not only of the earliest Spice Island settlers but of all subsequent
colonists and invaders.
The place that the Cinnamon Route and the colonization of Madagascar hold in
the likely sequence of events in Spice Island maritime history supports the likelihood
that Madagascar was first settled before 1000 BC. There is archaeological evidence
that Spice Island explorers reached southern California before 1000 BC (see
Chapter 6). The distance from the Spice Islands to southern California is roughly
the same as that from the Spice Islands to Rhapta. But it seems likely that spice
trading would have given an impetus to the prior establishment of the Cinnamon
Route. Given that a rest stop at Madagascar was vital to the safe and practical
sailing of the route, a colonization of Madagascar before 1000 BC seems likely.
Further colonizations of Madagascar in response to destabilizations of the spice
trade in the Spice Islands and Island Southeast Asia are also conceivable. This is
especially so after AD 76 when the concerted efforts of foreign traders to take control of the indigenous maritime spice trade may well have prompted migrations to
Madagascar, for tradition tells us that conflicts in this period led to later migrations from the Spice Islands to two other distant migration targets, New Zealand
and Hawaii. The significant size and probable low population of Madagascar would
have made it attractive to migrants. The fact that there are four ethnic populations in
Madagascar (Bezanozano, Betsillo, Merina and Sikanaka) may imply a history of
multiple migrations comparable to those which tradition records for New Zealand
and Hawaii.
Since no stone tools have been found on Madagascar, it seems likely that evidence of an earlier Neolithic Spice Island colony has been lost and that the Iron Age
technology of second-wave colonists and possibly their Barito-based language overlaid the culture and language of the descendants of first-wave Neolithic colonists. It
is curious that most of the earliest indirect evidence appears to come from sites in
the interior. One would expect the earliest settlement sites for spice-trading mariners
to be coastal, located at the best harbours. That this is not the case perhaps supports
the likelihood that evidence for the earliest first-wave Neolithic coastal settlements
has either been buried or lost through erosion or tsunami inundation or is yet to be
found.
Whatever the date for the first settlement of Madagascar may prove to be, it
is clear that only cold-adapted, famine-resistant mariners could have sailed the
79
We are left with the possibility of an early establishment of the Cinnamon Route
and an early first-wave discovery and colonization or colonizations of Madagascar
in the Lapita period or a later second-wave establishment of the Cinnamon Route
and a later associated settlement or settlements of Madagascar after 360 BC or
the more likely possibility that both may have occurred. That the initial settlement
was by Spice Islanders seems certain and that it was early seems likely, given the
96.2% incidence of the Polynesian motif amongst individuals carrying the Asian as
opposed to the African 9-bp deletion. The total replacement of Spice Island ancestral
Y chromosome haplogroups by those from the Barito River area of Borneo, as we
have commented, suggests later invasion. Indeed, there may have been a sequence
of second-wave invasions, with the last male invaders violently removing all Y chromosomal evidence not only of the earliest Spice Island settlers but of all subsequent
colonists and invaders.
The place that the Cinnamon Route and the colonization of Madagascar hold in
the likely sequence of events in Spice Island maritime history supports the likelihood
that Madagascar was first settled before 1000 BC. There is archaeological evidence
that Spice Island explorers reached southern California before 1000 BC (see
Chapter 6). The distance from the Spice Islands to southern California is roughly
the same as that from the Spice Islands to Rhapta. But it seems likely that spice
trading would have given an impetus to the prior establishment of the Cinnamon
Route. Given that a rest stop at Madagascar was vital to the safe and practical
sailing of the route, a colonization of Madagascar before 1000 BC seems likely.
Further colonizations of Madagascar in response to destabilizations of the spice
trade in the Spice Islands and Island Southeast Asia are also conceivable. This is
especially so after AD 76 when the concerted efforts of foreign traders to take control of the indigenous maritime spice trade may well have prompted migrations to
Madagascar, for tradition tells us that conflicts in this period led to later migrations from the Spice Islands to two other distant migration targets, New Zealand
and Hawaii. The significant size and probable low population of Madagascar would
have made it attractive to migrants. The fact that there are four ethnic populations in
Madagascar (Bezanozano, Betsillo, Merina and Sikanaka) may imply a history of
multiple migrations comparable to those which tradition records for New Zealand
and Hawaii.
Since no stone tools have been found on Madagascar, it seems likely that evidence of an earlier Neolithic Spice Island colony has been lost and that the Iron Age
technology of second-wave colonists and possibly their Barito-based language overlaid the culture and language of the descendants of first-wave Neolithic colonists. It
is curious that most of the earliest indirect evidence appears to come from sites in
the interior. One would expect the earliest settlement sites for spice-trading mariners
to be coastal, located at the best harbours. That this is not the case perhaps supports
the likelihood that evidence for the earliest first-wave Neolithic coastal settlements
has either been buried or lost through erosion or tsunami inundation or is yet to be
found.
Whatever the date for the first settlement of Madagascar may prove to be, it
is clear that only cold-adapted, famine-resistant mariners could have sailed the