The tompon-tany and the tompon-drano in the History of Central and Western Madagascar

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 61-76
Author(s):  
Finn Fuglestad

At some undefined time in the fairly recent past central and western Madagascar witnessed a conceptual 'revolution' which had far-reaching political consequences. The religious beliefs and symbols which constituted the main ingredients of this 'revolution'--and probably also the people who propagated them--were in some way connected with the Zafindraminia-Antanosy and the Anteimoro of the southeastern and eastern coast. It is quite clear that these and similar groups had been strongly influenced by Islam and that they practiced what could perhaps be described as a corrupt or diluted Islam or a syncretic 'pagan' Muslim religion. (It is significant that as their name indicates the Zafindraminia claim descent from Raminia who they hold to have been the mother of Muhammad.) One of the main ingredients of this religion was the cult of the ody or guardian amulets, objects usually made of wood which are strikingly reminiscent of the so-called “charms” or “gris-gris” sold by Muslim clerics over much of Africa. Another ingredient is represented by the institution of ombiasy. The ombiasy (the main manufacturers of ody) whom the Frenchman Etienne de Flacourt at Fort-Dauphin in the seventeenth century took to be Muslim clerics were originally the “priests” (or the “devins guérisseurs,” according to Hubert Deschamps) of the Anteimoro and the Zafindraminia-Antanosy. Subsequently this institution was disseminated throughout nearly the whole of Madagascar. Yet another ingredient was the system of divination known as sikidy, which also spread to other parts of Madagascar, including Imerina and the Sakalava country.These beliefs, symbols, and institutions deeply influenced the people of the west coast (the present-day Sakalava country) and of central Madagascar (Imerina and Betsileo country).

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faaeza Jasdanwalla

Abstract This paper discusses the political history of the Indian princely state of Janjira on the west coast of India. It was ruled by Sidis (Africans) from the early seventeenth century until the merger of princely states immediately after the independence of India in 1947. The Sidi rulers of Janjira were of African origin, having initially entered India as traders and serving in administrative capacities with the medieval Deccan kingdoms. The emphasis of this paper will be on the manner in which the rulers of Janjira were elected by a group of African Sidi chiefs or Sardars from amongst them for almost two centuries, as opposed to relying on hereditary primogeniture as a system of succession, and the implications that such a system had on the history of Janjira.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-303
Author(s):  
Tarald Rasmussen

AbstractThe Reformation came to Norway along with Danish annexation of political and ecclesiastical power. For this reason, Norwegian history writing seldom appreciated the history of the Norwegian Reformation, and preferred to look further back to the history of the Middle Ages in search of national, as well as religious, roots of Norwegian Christianity. This was already the case in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century Norwegian historical writing. In nineteenth century historical research, the strategy was underpinned by focussing on the medieval period of Christianization: Norwegian Christianity was imported from the West, from England. Here, the Pope was not at all important. Instead, some key Reformation values were addressed in a kind of “proto-Reformation” in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The King was the ruler of the church; native, Old Norse language was used and promoted; and the people (strongly) identified themselves with their religion.


Itinerario ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-195
Author(s):  
R.J. Barendse

The history of Indian shipbuilding is a relatively well-studied topic. There are two strands of literature on Indian shipping. First there is the Indian: R.N. Mukherjee (1923) is, in spite of some minor criticism which could be levelled at it, still the basic work on the topic. Among the more recent contributions should be mentioned those of L. Gopal and J. Qaisar. The second strand is Portuguese. Much of the Portuguese work on ‘Portuguese’ shipbuilding in the sixteenth century deals with shipbuilding in Goa. Now, was this ‘Portuguese’ shipbuilding or ‘Indian’ shipbuilding? ‘European’ and ‘Indian’ technology were so closely interlinked on the west coast of India that it is impossible to make a clear distinction. The seminal contributions on this topic are the already very well-established works of Commodore Quirinho da Fonsequa and of Frazāo de Vasconselhos. Their articles, which have appeared in several Portuguese journals, very much deserve an English translation. More recently the important work by A. Marques Esparteiro on the ships used in the carreira da Índia has appeared.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou Yuxin

Abstract The Wukan Incident attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world, and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In both the media and academia, the focus has very much been on the temporal level of the Incident. The political and legal dimensions, as well as the implications of the Incident in terms of human rights have all been pored over. However, what all of these discussions have overlooked is the role played by religious force during the Incident. The village of Wukan has a history of over four hundred years, and is deeply influenced by the religious beliefs of its people. Within both the system of religious beliefs and in everyday life in the village, the divine immortal Zhenxiu Xianweng and the religious rite of casting shengbei have a powerful influence. In times of peace, Xianweng and casting shengbei work to bestow good fortune, wealth and longevity on both the village itself, and the individuals who live there. During the Wukan Incident, they had a harmonizing influence, and helped to unify and protect the people. Looking at the specific roles played by religion throughout the Wukan Incident will not only enable us to develop a more meaningful understanding of the cultural nature and the complexity of the Incident itself, it will also enrich our understanding, on a divine level, of innovations in social management.


2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
Michel Duquet

Abstract The seventeenth century saw the early stages of significant trading on the west coast of Africa as well as the establishment of permanent settlements in North America by Dutch, French and English explorers, merchants, colonists and missionaries in a period marked by the imperial contest that had been set in motion on the heels of the discovery of America in 1492. The travelers who wrote about their voyages overseas described at length the natives they encountered on the two continents. The images of the North American Indian and of the African that emerged from these travel accounts were essentially the same whether they be of Dutch, French or English origin. The main characteristic in the descriptions of African native populations was its permanent condemnation while representations of the Indian were imbued with sentiments ranging from compassion, censure and admiration. The root causes for this dichotomy were the inhospitable and deadly (to Europeans) tropical environment of Africa’s West Coast and the growing knowledge of local societies that Europeans acquired in North America. The analysis of the contrasting images of natives on both sides of the Atlantic and the context within which they were produced are the focus of the paper.


2020 ◽  
pp. 19-25
Author(s):  
MARINA A. KHAYMURZINA ◽  

The name of the people reflects a lot - the history of inter-ethnic relations, cultural and language contacts, religious beliefs. The difficulty of studying the origin, sound and meaning of a name is due to the lack or insufficiency of language material. There are various hieroglyphic records of the Jurchen ethnonym. Such diversity is determined by time, place, local language and the choice of Chinese characters to fix the name of this community. However, the sound of all hieroglyphic records of the Jurchen name is almost identical. The word Jurchen is also recorded in Jurchen language. Available information indicates that the meaning of the Jurchen name is «gold». The meaning as «Eastern falcon/eagle» is also take a place, it reflecting the cultural characteristics of the Jurchens, their ethnic spirit and primitive religious beliefs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9s4 ◽  
pp. 58-89
Author(s):  
David Veevers

This article adopts the concept of securitisation to understand the failure of the English East India Company�s attempt to build a territorial empire on the island of Sumatra in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Securitisation formed a key component of European colonialism, involving the creation of fortified and militarised borders both to exclude groups from entering newly defined territorial spaces, but also as a way to control goods, labour and resources within those spaces. Ultimately, this form of imperialism failed on the west coast of Sumatra, where a highly mobile society participated in a shared political culture that made any formal boundary or border between Malay states too difficult to enforce. Trading networks, religious affiliations, transregional kinship ties, and migratory circuits all worked to undermine the Company�s attempt to establish its authority over delineated territory and the people and goods within it.


Author(s):  
Noah Millstone

This essay traces the development of a particular way of writing the history of parliament: the politic history. A creation of the late Renaissance, politic histories preferred to explain events neither through divine intervention, nor through imperceptible forces and contingency, but rather through human intentionality. Following classical and contemporary models such as Tacitus, Commynes and Guicciardini, English politic historians wove narratives of vice, secrecy and dissimulation. The essay explores how, in the early seventeenth century, historians appropriated the modes of politic composition and applied them to new institutional settings: university elections, church councils and especially parliaments. It concludes with an analysis of the most impressive politic history of the early Stuart parliament, Sir John Eliot’s Negotium posterorum. Composed during Eliot’s imprisonment after 1629, the Negotium posterorurm is clearly the first part of a formal, politic history of Charles I’s reign, heavily modelled on Tacitus and with parliament as its central stage. Eliot’s project suggests how politic narration could be applied to the recent past, helping to produce historicised accounts of the present.


Author(s):  
Jeremy Cohen

This chapter investigates the idea of the 'Jewish contribution' that was borne on Jews, non-Jews, and the interaction between them in modern times, from the seventeenth century to the present. It determines what role 'Jewish contribution' has played in 'Jewish self-definition' and how it has influenced the political, social, and cultural history of the Jews. It also discusses the biblical heritage that Jews, Christians, and Muslims share that highlights the people of the book and the impact of biblical monotheism on the history of religions. The chapter looks at the survival of the Jews as a distinct ethnic group and a multinational religious community that wrestles with the phenomenon to understand the reasons for their survival. It mentions the tragedy of the Nazi Holocaust and the re-establishment of the Jewish state in its wake that piqued the curiosity of the world.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2B) ◽  
pp. 517-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Gallagher ◽  
E J McGee ◽  
P I Mitchell

Data on radiocarbon (14C), 137Cs, 210Pb, and 241Am levels in an ombrotrophic peat sequence from a montane site on the east coast of Ireland are compared with data from a similar sequence at an Atlantic peatland site on the west coast. The 14C profiles from the west and east coasts show a broadly similar pattern. Levels increase from 100 pMC or less in the deepest horizons examined, to peak values at the west and east coast sites of 117 ± 0.6 pMC and 132 ± 0.7 pMC, respectively (corresponding to maximal fallout from nuclear weapons testing around 1964), thereafter diminishing to levels of 110–113 pMC near the surface. Significantly, peak levels at the east coast site are considerably higher than corresponding levels at the west coast site, though both are lower than reported peak values for continental regions. The possibility of significant 14C enrichment at the east coast site due to past discharges from nuclear installations in the UK seems unlikely. The 210Pbex inventory at the east coast site (6500 Bq m−2) is significantly higher than at the west coast (5300 Bq m−2) and is consistent with the difference in rainfall at the two sites. Finally, 137Cs and 241Am inventories at the east coast site also exceed those at the west coast site by similar proportions (east:west ratio of approximately 1:1.2).


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