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Fort-Dauphin (Malagasy Tolagnaro or Taolagnaro) is a city (''commune urbaine'') on the southeast coast of
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, f ...
. It is the capital of the
Anosy Region Anosy is one of the 23 regions of Madagascar. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the eastern side of what was once the Toliara Province. The name ''Anosy'' means "island(s)" in Malagasy language, Malagasy. Due to a strategic sea r ...
and of the Taolagnaro District. It has been a port of local importance since the early 1500s. A new port, the Ehoala Port was built in 2006–2009. Fort-Dauphin was the first French settlement in Madagascar.


History

The bay of Fort-Dauphin was found by a Portuguese Captain in 1500. Fort Dauphin was founded on an Antanosy village, Taolankarana, in 1643 by the French East India Company who built a fort there named in honor of the
crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...
, the future
Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
. It was settled by around a hundred colonists, who found themselves involved in the local politics. The poor trade results (some ebony and little more was obtained) hardly justified the difficulties of the settlers, who suffered from tropical illnesses and other problems. After a conflict with the Antanosy people, the survivors were evacuated in 1674. One Governor of this colony,
Étienne de Flacourt Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660) was a French governor of Madagascar, born in Orléans in 1607. He was named governor of Madagascar by the French East India Company in 1648. Flacourt restored order among the French soldiers, who had mutinied ...
, published the ''History of the Great Isle of Madagascar and Relations'', which was the main source of information on the island for Europeans until the late 19th century. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and until
Didier Ratsiraka Didier Ignace Ratsiraka (; 4 November 1936 – 28 March 2021) was a Malagasy politician and naval officer who was the third president of Madagascar from 1975 to 1993 and the fifth from 1997 to 2002. At the time of his death, he was the longest ...
took the presidency in 1975, Fort Dauphin had a thriving community of Malagasy, French, Chinese and Pakistani merchants with adequate roads connecting the city to Toliara to the west and
Fianarantsoa Fianarantsoa is a city (commune urbaine) in south central Madagascar, and is the capital of Haute Matsiatra Region. History It was built in the early 19th century by the Merina as the administrative capital for the newly conquered Betsileo kin ...
to the west and then north. The port provided a means of exporting cattle to Mauritius and importing various goods from France and elsewhere. During the time
Philibert Tsiranana Philibert Tsiranana (18 October 1912 â€“ 16 April 1978) was a Malagasy politician and leader who served as the seventh prime minister of Madagascar from 1958 to 1959, and then later the first president of Madagascar from 1959 to 1972. Duri ...
was President of Madagascar, he enjoyed flying down to Fort Dauphin. In 1975, the French businesses were nationalized, French citizens' assets were frozen, and several were briefly imprisoned.


Modern era

Since the early 1970s, Fort Dauphin suffered an economic decline due to lack of good road connections to the rest of the country, rendering its port of local importance only. This in spite of significant foreign exchange earned from the export of live lobster (250 to over 350 tonnes per year from 1990 to 2005), and
sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...
s. The Mandena
ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printi ...
mine near Fort-Dauphin was opened by QIT Madagascar Minerals in 1986 prompting a boost in employment, migration to the area, development of roads and exacerbation of deforestation. Associated with the mine the port d'Ehoala was built, 10 km west of Tolagnaro. These are the first major investments in the region's infrastructure for many decades. The mine contaminated Lake Besaroy in 2014-2015 and has been met with mixed reactions from local communities, who held protests in 2013 and 2022. Today, there are a large variety of international non-governmental organizations with offices in Tolagnaro.


Geography

Fort-Dauphin was initially situated on a short, narrow peninsula on the extreme southeastern coast of Madagascar, but has since grown to cover a much greater area along the ocean, almost to Mount Bezavona. * Andohahela National Park is within driving distance, to the northwest of Fort-Dauphin. * Berenty Reserve * Tsitongambarika reserve


Climate

Fort-Dauphin has a
tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...
, though it is less rainy than areas further north on the eastern Malagasy coast. Being closer to the centre of the subtropical anticyclones than other parts of Madagascar, most rainfall is orographic, and
tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
s are not as common as in more northerly parts of the island.


Culture


Religion

The majority of its population are Christian, though almost all religions practised in Madagascar are found in Fort-Dauphin. * FJKM - Fiangonan'i Jesoa Kristy eto Madagasikara ( Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar) * FLM - Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy ( Malagasy Lutheran Church) * Roman Catholic Diocese of Tolagnaro includes a huge site with a primary school, middle school, a large cathedral and a smaller church in town. Near the Marillac Airport are the Sisters of Marillac à Fort Dauphin and St. Vincentienne Marillac, a large private Catholic school. * FFPM - ( United Pentecostal Church of Madagascar) * EEM Eklesia Episkopaly Malagasy (Anglican Church of Madagascar) * Eglise Rhema Terre de Sel Fort Dauphin was the headquarters of American Lutheran missionaries American Lutheran Church who worked in southern Madagascar starting in 1888 for almost 100 years. The Lutheran missionaries also traded land above the original Fort Dauphin harbour for what was then a sand dune. There is also a section of the town's cemetery where quite a few American Lutheran missionaries and several others are buried. The Mahovoky Hotel and Annex and the American style homes in the forest at Libanona were part of this mission.


Infrastructure


Roads

* the National Road 12a, from Fort-Dauphin to Vangaindrano. * the National Road 13, from Fort-Dauphin to Ambovombe and Ihosy.


Airport

*
Tolagnaro Airport Tolagnaro Airport (also known as Marillac Airport) is an airport in Fort-Dauphin (Madagascar), Anosy Region, Madagascar . Airlines and destinations International flights ceased in the 2020-2021 COVID crisis. However, on Nov 4, 2022 flights ...


Seaport

* Port d'Ehoala


Education

There are 161 public primary schools in the district of Fort-Dauphin, 8 public colleges and 1 public
lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...
. There are also 32 private primary schools, 5 private colleges and 2 private lycées. There is one certified French School at the primary level, École primaire française de Fort-Dauphin, and a middle school and high school (college et lycée) AEFE, and Lycee La Clairefontaine.


Research

In 1995 and 2006, Malagasy
agronomists An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...
and American political ecologists studied the production of Catharanthus roseus around Fort Dauphin and Ambovombe and its export as a natural source of the alkaloids used to make vincristine,
vinblastine Vinblastine, sold under the brand name Velban among others, is a chemotherapy medication, typically used with other medications, to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-small-cell lung cancer, bladder canc ...
and other
vinca alkaloid ''Vinca'' alkaloids are a set of Antimitotic agent, anti-mitotic and Anti-microtubule activity, anti-microtubule alkaloid agents originally derived from the periwinkle plant ''Catharanthus roseus'' (basionym ''Vinca rosea'') and other ''vinca'' p ...
cancer drugs. Their research focused on the wild collection of periwinkle roots and leaves from roadsides and fields and its industrial cultivation on large farms.


Gallery

File:MG-ehoala-hafen.jpg, Port d'Ehoala in 2023 File:TôlanaroNewPort.JPG, New port and access roads under construction in April 2007 File:LibanonaBeach.jpg, Libanona Beach, Tôlagnaro in April 2007 File:Andohahela NP.jpg, Andohahela National Park File:Fort Dauphin.jpg, Old port File:Fort Dauphin La Residence.jpg, Fort Dauphin in 1900


Notable resident

* Abraham Samuel, pirate, led a combined pirate-Antanosy kingdom from Fort Dauphin from 1697 until he died there in 1705.


References


External links


Rio Tinto's QIT Madagascar Minerals




* ttp://wikimapia.org/#lat=-25.0220731&lon=46.9820881&z=14&l=0&m=s&v=2 Fort-Dauphin sur WikiMapia {{DEFAULTSORT:Fort-Dauphin Cities in Madagascar Populated places in Anosy Regional capitals in Madagascar Pirate dens and locations