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Malagasy Language
Malagasy ( ; ; Sorabe: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and dialect continuum spoken in Madagascar. The standard variety, called Official Malagasy, is one of the official languages of Madagascar, alongside French language, French. Malagasy is the westernmost Austronesian language, brought to Madagascar with the settlement of Austronesian peoples, Austronesian speakers from the Sunda Islands (about 7,300 kilometres or 4,500 miles away) around the 5th century AD or perhaps between the 7th and 13th centuries. The Malagasy language is one of the Barito languages and is most closely related to the Maʼanyan language, still spoken on Borneo. Malagasy also includes numerous Malay language, Malay loanwords, from the time of the early Austronesian settlement and trading between Madagascar and the Sunda Islands. After , Malagasy incorporated numerous Bantu languages, Bantu and Arabic language, Arabic loanwords brought over by traders and new settlers. Malagasy is spok ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, fourth largest island, the List of island countries, second-largest island country, and the List of countries and dependencies by area, 46th largest country overall. Its capital and List of cities in Madagascar, largest city is Antananarivo. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from Africa during the Early Jurassic period, around 180 million years ago, and separated from the Indian subcontinent approximately 90 million years ago. This isolation allowed native plants and animals to evolve in relative seclusion; as a result, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot and one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries, with over 90% of its wildlife of Madagascar, wildlife being endemic. The island has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunda Islands
The Sunda Islands (; Tetun: ''Illa Sunda'') are a group of islands in the Indonesian Archipelago. They consist of the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Etymology "Sunda" denotes the continental shelves or landmasses: the Sunda Shelf in the west and the Sahul/Arafuru Shelf in the east. Other terms associated with "Sunda" include the Sunda Island Arc or the arc of Sunda Islands, Sunda Fold or tectonic folding in the Natuna Sea, the Sunda Trench, and Sundaland. The term "Sunda" has been traced back to ancient times. The name "Sunda" originates from the Sanskrit word "Cuddha," meaning white. During the Pleistocene era, there was a large volcano named Mount Sunda located north of Bandung in West Java. Its eruption covered the surrounding area with white volcanic ash, giving rise to the name "Sunda." The use of the term "Sunda" to refer to the Indonesian region dates back to the claims of Claudius Ptolemaeus in 150 AD. In the 16th century, the Portuguese est ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in Island groups of the Philippines, three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. With a population of over 110 million, it is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, twelfth-most-populous country. The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. It has Ethnic groups in the Philippines, diverse ethnicities and Culture o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Peninsular Malaysia shares land and maritime Malaysia–Thailand border, borders with Thailand, as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia; East Malaysia shares land borders with Brunei and Indonesia, and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. Kuala Lumpur is the country's national capital, List of cities and towns in Malaysia by population, largest city, and the seat of the Parliament of Malaysia, legislative branch of the Government of Malaysia, federal government, while Putrajaya is the federal administrative capi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea, Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the List of countries and dependencies by area, 14th-largest country by area, at . With over 280 million people, Indonesia is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fourth-most-populous country and the most populous Islam by country, Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's List of islands by population, most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population. Indonesia operates as a Presidential system, presidential republic with an elected People's Consultative Assembly, legislature and consists of Provinces of Indonesia, 38 provinces, nine of which have Autonomous administrative divisi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabic Script
The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widely used List of writing systems by adoption, writing system in the world by number of countries using it, and the third-most by number of users (after the Latin and Chinese characters, Chinese scripts). The script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Quran, the holy book of Islam. With Spread of Islam, the religion's spread, it came to be used as the primary script for many language families, leading to the addition of new letters and other symbols. Such languages still using it are Arabic language, Arabic, Persian language, Persian (Western Persian, Farsi and Dari), Urdu, Uyghur language, Uyghur, Kurdish languages, Kurdish, Pashto, Punjabi language, Punjabi (Shahmukhi), Sindhi language, Sindhi, South Azerbaijani, Azerb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merina Kingdom
The Kingdom of Merina, also known as the Kingdom of Madagascar and officially the Kingdom of Imerina (; –1897), was a pre-colonial state off the coast of Southeast Africa that, by the 18th century, dominated most of what is now Madagascar. It spread outward from Imerina, the Central Highlands region primarily inhabited by the Merina ethnic group with a spiritual capital at Ambohimanga and a political capital west at Antananarivo, currently the seat of government for the modern state of Madagascar. The Merina kings and queens who ruled over greater Madagascar in the 19th century were the descendants of a long line of hereditary Merina royalty originating with Andriamanelo, who is traditionally credited with founding Imerina in 1540. In 1883, France invaded the Merina Kingdom to establish a protectorate. France invaded again in 1894 and conquered the kingdom, making it a French colony, in what became known as the Franco-Hova Wars. History Hova-Vazimba conflict Mad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antananarivo
Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "Antananarivo-Capital"), is the capital of Analamanga region. The city sits at above sea level in the center of the island, making it the List of capital cities by elevation, highest national capital by elevation among the Island country, island countries. It has been the country's largest population center since at least the 18th century. The President of Madagascar, Presidency, National Assembly of Madagascar, National Assembly, Senate of Madagascar, Senate, and Supreme Court are located there, as are List of diplomatic missions in Madagascar, 21 diplomatic missions and the headquarters of many national and international businesses and Non-governmental organization, non-governme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malagasy People
The Malagasy ( or ) are a group of Austronesian-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the island country of Madagascar, formed through generations of interaction between Austronesians originally from southern Borneo and Bantus from Southeast Africa. Traditionally, the population have been divided into sub-ethnic groups. Examples include "Highlander" (ethnically mixed ancestry but more Austronesian and slightly less Bantu) ethnic groups such as the Merina and Betsileo of the central highlands around Antananarivo, Alaotra ''(Ambatondrazaka)'' and Fianarantsoa, and the "coastal dwellers" (predominantly Bantu with less Austronesian traits sometimes like mulatto) such as the Sakalava, Bara, Vezo, Betsimisaraka, Mahafaly, etc. The Merina are further divided into two subgroups. The “Merina A” are the Hova and Andriana, and have an average of 34% African ancestry (20% of which is Bantu and Yoruba). The second subgroup is the “Merina B”, the Andevo, who have an average ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comoros
The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni, Comoros, Moroni. The religion of the majority of the population, and the official state religion, is Sunni Islam. Comoros proclaimed its List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence from France on 6 July 1975. The Comoros is the only country of the Arab League which is entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a member state of the African Union, the ''Organisation internationale de la Francophonie'', the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, and the Indian Ocean Commission. The country has three official languages: Shikomori, French language, French and Arabic. At , the Comoros is the third-smallest African country by area after São Tomé and Príncipe and Seychelles. In 2019, its population was estimated to be 850,886. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabic Language
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is derived from Classical Arabic. This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as ( "the eloquent Arabic") or simply ' (). Arabic is the List of languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language, third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations, and the Sacred language, liturgical language of Islam. Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantu Languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The total number of Bantu languages is estimated at between 440 and 680 distinct languages, depending on the definition of Dialect#Dialect or language, "language" versus "dialect"."Guthrie (1967–71) names some 440 Bantu 'varieties', Grimes (2000) has 501 (minus a few 'extinct' or 'almost extinct'), Bastin ''et al.'' (1999) have 542, Maho (this volume) has some 660, and Mann ''et al.'' (1987) have ''c.'' 680." Derek Nurse, 2006, "Bantu Languages", in the ''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics'', p. 2:Ethnologue report for Southern Bantoid" lists a total of 535 languages. The count includes 13 Mbam languages, which are not always included under "Narrow Bantu". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
