LET'S DO THIS.
THE FLAG OF MADAGASCAR REPRESENTS THE FORMER RULING KINGDOM & NEW INDEPENDENCE FROM FRANCE.
The red, green and white of the Malagasy flag is reminiscent of Christmas, but has absolutely nothing to do with it.
I'm so great at segues.
Anywhoo...I mentioned the Merina Kingdom in a previous post. They ruled over Madagascar for almost a century before France's invasion and colonization. One of the first kings is pictured below. As you can see, he's wearing a white and red tunic; these were the colours of the Merina Kingdom which are represented on the flag. Cool! The red and white are also the colours of the Indonesian flag, which is likely the region where many of the original settlers of Madagascar were from.
 |
| King Andrianampoinimerina |
The green on the flag represents the Hova caste from the pre-colonial Kingdom days. These were the middle-class, common folk, many of whom later led an uprising against the French to gain independence.
MADAGASCAR ALMOST BECAME A GIANT CONCENTRATION CAMP.
I bet you think I'm exaggerating. I'm really not. Just before the Nazis conquered France in 1940, there was a plan to utilize the island of Madagascar, still a French colony at the time, as a site for the mass-deportation of Jews from Europe. Assuming they would sweep through England as easily as they did France, the plan involved use of the commandeered British merchant fleet to transport Jews en-mass to Madagascar, where they'd be governed by the SS.
 |
| A propaganda poster outlines the plan... |
Of course, the Brits were not so feeble as expected, and this plan never came to fruition. The Nazi's alternative solution, as it turned out, was all too terrible.
No comments:
Post a Comment