Toliara (also known as ''Toliary'', ; formerly ''Tuléar'') is a city in

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 Afric ...

. It is the capital of the Atsimo-Andrefana region, located 936 km southwest of national capital

Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "A ...

. The current spelling of the name was adopted in the 1970s, reflecting the

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

of the

Malagasy language Malagasy (; ) is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Malagasy is the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, brought to Madagascar by the settlement of Austronesian peoples from the Sunda islands around the 5th c ...

. Many geographic place names, assigned French spellings during the colonial period, were altered following Malagasy independence in 1960. The city has a population of 168,758 in 2018. As a port town it acts as a major import/export hub for commodities such as sisal,

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are us ...

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of '' Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

and

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small an ...

History

In the 17th century, French buccaneers landed in the bay of St. Augustine near the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reac ...

, and founded the city to maintain commercial relations. It was not until the colonial period, after 1897, when the city really grew: with the efforts of Joseph Gallieni to install French administrative services, previously isolated on the island of Nosy Ve, to form the regional capital. Tulear grew along a grid pattern of cross streets, with wide avenues and public monuments.

Population

Toliara has seen a population boom over the last two decades, due to a rural exodus that has brought over 200,000 citizens into urban centers in the region. The

Vezo The Vezo is the term the semi-nomadic coastal people of southern Madagascar use to refer to people that have become accustomed to live from sea fishing. The Vezo speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian ...

, nomadic fishermen, are the indigenous ethnic group. Today they are being dominated by migrants from the South (Mahafale, Masikoro, Antandroy) which make up more than half of the urban population. To these are added migrants from other urban regions, occupying positions in government and the private sector.

Religion

Toliara's cathedral is the archiepiscopal seat of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toliara The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toliara ( la, Toliarana) is one of five Metropolitan archdioceses with an Ecclesiastical province in Madagascar, yet depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. It cathedral ar ...

, one of five in the country, originally the Diocese of Tuléar since 1957, renamed with the city in 1989, promoted in 2003 to Metropolitan archbishopric.

Culture and sights

Regional cultural highlights include: * The Ifaty beach near Tulear is famous for its water and sands. * The Museum of Arts and Traditions of the South of Madagascar (in Cedratom) presents the life, crafts and funerary art of the people in the area. * The Regional Museum of the University of Toliara: this museum has a small ethnological collection and a huge egg of Aepyornis. * The Museum of the Sea, founded by Professor Rabesandratana, is hosted by the Oceanographic Institute and covers the local aquatic flora and fauna, including a coelacanth caught in 1995 near Anakao. * The

Antsokay Arboretum Arboretum d'Antsokay or Antsokay Arboretum is a botanical garden near the city of Toliara in Madagascar. About 900 plant species grow in the Arboretum, 90% of these endemic to Madagascar, 80% of them considered to have medicinal value and many th ...

: Established in 1980 at the initiative of the Swiss amateur botanist Petignat Hermann (1923-2000). This arboretum covers an area of 52 hectares, with more than 920 plant species, lemurs, radiated tortoises, snakes and chameleons. * A locally known shell market, on the waterfront, behind the French Alliance, sells shells and various handicraft products.

Education

The

University of Toliara The University of Toliara is historically the oldest center for higher education, founded in 1971 after the decentralization of the University of Madagascar center. The university campus is located in Maninday 5 km east of the city of Toliara, ...

is historically the oldest center for higher education, founded in 1971 after the decentralization of the

University of Madagascar The University of Madagascar was the former name of the centralized public university system in Madagascar, although the original branch in Antananarivo is still sometimes called by that name. The system traces its history to 16 December 1955, an ...

center. The university campus is located in Maninday 5 km east of the city, and teaches Humanities and Social Science, Science, Philosophy, and Management. The Fisheries and Marine Sciences Institute (IHSM) welcomes students from diverse backgrounds, and offers advanced training in fisheries, aquaculture, and the marine and coastal environment. Toliara has a Technical School and two grammar schools (Lycée Laurent Botokeky and Antaninarenina High School), private and religious schools such as Sacred Heart College, Tsianaloke Mahavatse, and the School of Notre Dame, and a French international school,

Collège Etienne de Flacourt In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children betwee ...

, which serves ''école primaire'' (primary school) and ''collège''.Collège Étienne-de-Flacourt
" AEFE. Retrieved on July 5, 2018.

Slogans

* Fiherena no maha-Toliara "the (river) Fiherena is the soul of Toliara" * Toliara tsy miroro "Toliara never sleeps"

Economy and production

The port played a key role during the "boom corn" years in the 1980s and 90s. Today, the arrival of migrants contributing to agricultural production (maize, cassava and rice) and livestock (cattle and goats) supplying the city markets with food, has contributed to the development of small informal businesses: particularly among the Mahafale and Masikoro communities. The city specializes in the import and export of various products including sisal, cotton, rice, peanuts and soap. Production of sea salt thrives, from salt marshes and landscaped places in coastal areas. The Bay of Toliara houses one of Madagascar's oil exploration sites. The sea floor is rich in minerals gemstones (about 200 km to the north lies the Ilakaka sapphire deposit has operated since 1999) and ground salt. More recently, Canadian companies begin operation of the ilmenite in the region of Tolanaro. Beyond this mining and production, the industrial sector has declined in recent decades, Tourism is a promising sector, thanks to the climate and natural assets of the hinterland (Ifaty Anakao, St Augustine). Calm shallow seas and shallow support scuba diving, and Toliara remains a main destination for tours to southern Madagascar.

Geography and climate

Toliara is located on a broad coastal plain, surrounded by dunes and mangroves, near the Tropic of Capricorn in the Mozambique Channel. A nearby barrier reef (the Great Reef) is 18 km long and 3 km wide. The beach area is extended by an underwater beach along the continental shelf that slopes gently seaward. To the north lies the Delta Fiherenana. Toliara is nicknamed the "City of the Sun" because it has a hot climate (24.3 °C average) and is semi-arid ( Köppen ''BSh''), with less than 400 mm annual rainfall. The city is constantly swept by a strong prevailing wind, the Tsio Katimo ("South Wind").

Infrastructure

The colonial legacy is still visible in the architecture and the urban landscape. Major road works and development were undertaken in 2003 to promote the development of the city. The University Hospital Centre CHU Mitsinjo Betanimena is located near the city center in the district of Tanambao. Another private health facility, St. Luke's Clinic, is located in the district of Sanfily on the road to the airport.

Transport

There is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

. Air Madagascar operates scheduled flights to here.

References

External links

* Se
Tulear on WikiMapia
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070929160859/http://www.fimfrance.com/_repository/files/2007-01_FS_exploration_petroliere.PDF {{Authority control Cities in Madagascar Populated places in Atsimo-Andrefana Regional capitals in Madagascar Populated coastal places in Madagascar Mozambique Channel