Queen Rafohy (died 1540) was a

Vazimba The Vazimba (Malagasy ), according to popular belief, were the first inhabitants of Madagascar. While beliefs about the physical appearance of the Vazimba reflect regional variation, they are generally described as smaller in stature than the aver ...

queen who ruled at

Alasora Alasora is a rural commune in Analamanga Region, in the Central Highlands of Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Antananarivo Avaradrano. It is located in the East of Antananarivo. The sacred Hill of Alasora is situated in this municipa ...

in the central Highlands of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

from 1530 until her death in 1540. Her name means "The Short One." She succeeded upon the death of Vazimba Queen Rangita, who by different accounts was either her mother or her adoptive sister. This confusion in the oral tradition extends to the two women's very identities - according to different accounts, Rafohy may have been the mother of Rangita, and Rangita may have been the mother of the famed king

Andriamanelo Andriamanelo (Floruit, ''fl.'' 1540–1575) was king of Twelve sacred hills of Imerina#Hill of Alasora, Alasora in the central highlands region of Madagascar. He is generally considered by historians to be the founder of the Kingdom of Imeri ...

. The mother of Andriamanelo (Rafohy or Rangita) married twice: while her first marriage eventually produced one son, the second marriage with a Merina named Manelobe produced a daughter and her eldest son whom she designated to succeed her upon her death. This designated heir, King

(1540–1575) became the first King of

Imerina The Merina Kingdom, or Kingdom of Madagascar, officially the Kingdom of Imerina (–1897), was a pre-colonial state off the coast of Southeast Africa that, by the 19th century, dominated most of what is now Madagascar. It spread outward from I ...

by ultimately turning against the Vazimba and leading a military conquest that would drive them from the Highlands. In accordance with vazimba custom wherein the bodies of the dead were submerged in sacred bodies of water - occasionally after being placed within coffins made from hollowed-out logs - it is said that upon Rafohy's death, her body (like that of Rangita) was submerged in a bog within a silver coffin shaped like an outrigger canoe.Kent, R.K. ''Early Kingdoms in Madagascar: 1500-1700.'' Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafohy History of Madagascar Queens regnant of Madagascar 16th-century women rulers 16th-century monarchs in Africa Vazimba people