Antemoro people
The Antemoro are an ethnic group of Madagascar living on the southeastern coast, mostly between Manakara and Farafangana. The name of tribe means From Imoro. Imoro is an historical name for the homeland of the Antemoro. Numbering around 500,000, this ethnic group mostly traces its origins back to East African Bantu and Indonesian Austronesian speakers like most other Malagasy. A minority of them belonging to the Anteony, Antalaotra or Anakara clans claim being descendants of settlers who arrived from Arabia, Persia and the Islamic religion was soon abandoned in favor of traditional beliefs and practices associated with respect for the ancestors, although remnants of Islam remain in fady such as the prohibition against consuming pork. In the 16th century an Antemoro kingdom was established, supplanting the power of the earlier Zafiraminia, who descended from seafarers of Sumatran origin.
The Antemoro soon developed a reputation as powerful sorcerers and astrologers, in large part owing to their monopoly on knowledge of writing, termed sorabe, which uses the Arabic script to transcribe the Malagasy language. Antemoro ombiasy migrated throughout the island, where they practiced their arts for local communities, served as advisers to kings, and even founded new principalities. This Antemoro mobility and their creation of a network of powerful spiritual advisers across the island is credited with forcing an awareness among Malagasy of communities beyond their own and sparking a sense of a common Malagasy identity. The Antemoro kingdom was disbanded in the late 19th century following an uprising of the Antemoro commoners against the noble class.
Today the Antemoro remain clustered around the southeast coastal homeland, where they grow rice and coffee, produce salt, and manufacture charms. The Antemoro often leave their homeland for six to ten months out of the year or more to work as ombiasy offering charms, spells, divinations and other arcane services. Nearly every village in Madagascar has an ombiasy, and many are either Antemoro themselves or have traveled to the Antemoro homeland to receive training. The community's historic production of Antemoro paper, a flower-embedded paper traditionally used to record secret knowledge using sorabe, is another major source of income as the paper is commonly sold to tourists and exported overseas.
Ethnic identity
"Antemoro", in the Malagasy language, means "people of the coast". They live on the southeastern coast, mostly between Manakara and Farafangana. The Antemoro could partially be descendants of the Somalis who settled in Madagascar in the 14th century and intermarried with the local population. In 2013 the Antemoro population was estimated at 500,000. While there are claims that link them to Arabia, other scholars argue these people are more likely linked to groups originating in the Swahili coast.History
The Antaimoro people draw their name from the province of Imoro another name for the province of Matitana in the times of Imerina Kingdom.Some of the more recent settlers on the island of Madagascar are found amongst the Antemoro. Apart from their native Ampanabaka clan which form the majority, three other clans are descended from Muslim seafarers who are believed to have arrived on the southeast coast around 1500: the Anteony, the Antalaotra and the Anakara. Boats carrying Muslim settlers had arrived on Madagascar's shores in the past, but there was a marked uptick in arrivals around this time. Upon arrival they encountered several other Malagasy ethnic groups including the Zafiraminia, who also traced their origins back to Mecca by way of East Africa, although some scholars suggest that the origins of the Zafiraminia was in Sumatra. The Zafiraminia had developed a high status among Malagasy communities for the knowledge and technology they had carried with them from overseas, and who had the prerogative of practicing ritual animal sacrifice for the ancestors, a highly powerful and important rite among Malagasy communities. Oral and written historical traditions of the Antemoro describe their desire to secure marriages between the two communities, but these efforts were rejected by the Zafiraminia. A conflict developed between the two groups for supremacy, which the oral histories of other Malagasy groups describe as a battle between two giants. The conflict evolved as additional Arab settlers arrived and joined with their fellow newcomers to become Antemoro themselves.
Around 1550 the mounting conflict seems to have reached a turning point with the Zafikasimambo noble family rising to power in Matitana following the family leader's marriage to a local woman. Historical texts tie the lineage of the family's leader, Zafikazimambobe, to Anteony noble Ramarohala, who had settled there at least three generations before. Other historical sources confirm however that the genealogy described in these texts is not factual, and that the Zafikazimambo family had only newly arrived and so had no demonstrable descent from local nobles. Rather, these texts suggest that it took over three generations for the Antemoro to successfully integrate into the society through intermarriage and other means, and also reflect an awareness among the Antemoro of the importance of local caste and lineage traditions and their need to find a place within them. Upon rising to power, the Zafikasimambo clan absorbed the ritual privileges of the former Zafiraminia clan and had established themselves as the premier ombiasy who practiced astrology and served as scribes; they regularly left the Antemoro homeland to provide their services where needed. These ombiasy also often trained the spiritual leaders of other communities, further reinforcing the preeminence of the Matitana ombiasy as masters of arcane knowledge and those outside their clan who sought to learn or dispense it. The Zafikasimambo used their right to conduct sombily to shape and increasingly control political and economic activities in the area. To end the conflict with the Zafiraminia, they executed as many males of the group as possible and relegated the women and children to restricted areas. In this way they established the first strong Antemoro kingdom. They are rare among Malagasy clans as newcomers who successfully established their own kingdom within a short time after landing on the island.
Under Antemoro Zafikasimambo leadership, the commoners' freedom was significantly reduced and religion became a central feature of social and political life. The conflict between the Antemoro and Zafiraminia nobles and the resulting Zafikasimambo rule also established a tradition of emigration from this part of the island. Unlike the majority of Malagasy who generally seek to return to their ancestral land, the Antemoro initially felt no such call to remain linked to a geographic area. As a result, the ombiasy of the Antemoro traveled widely, some moving from place to place and others settling permanently at royal courts and elsewhere. Their arcane knowledge of writing, medicine, technology and other areas both established their reputation as indispensable advisers to nobles and commoners alike, and instilled the island-wide feature of the community astrologer who shapes daily life. The ombiasy of Matitana were According to historian Bethwell Ogot, the network of stationary and itinerant Antemoro ombiasy were key in transforming the societies of Madagascar from an amalgam of insular clans to outward looking communities with greater awareness of others, leading to territorial expansion and larger, more complex kingdoms. In addition, oral histories suggest that sovereigns among the Merina, Tanala and Antanosy may have had ancestors who migrated away from Antemoro country.
By the early 18th century, the Antemoro had established themselves as major rice and slave exporters. Throughout the 1700s, the Antemoro were embroiled in a conflict with the Ikongo-Tanala that culminated in a bloody Tanala invasion of the eastern coastal plain. Shortly afterward, a major Antemoro leader named Andriamamohotra established an alliance and vassal relationship with the king then ruling Imerina, Andrianampoinimerina, to reestablish peace.
Society
Antemoro villages are primarily clustered in the southeastern coastal area near Vohipeno and Manakara. Society was traditionally divided into two broad categories: the mpanombily, who were nobles said to be descended from Somalis from the Dir clan, and the menakely, composed of the working and slave classes, who were said to have descended from the local Malagasy who submitted to Somali rule, or alternately from slaves that the Somalis had brought with them. The mpanombily comprised many noble clans such as the Anakara, Onjatsy, Tsimaito, Antaiony, Antalaotra, Antaisambo, Antaimahazo and others. Particular clans within Antemoro society historically held distinct privileges and responsibilities. The butchering of certain animals for human consumption was assigned to specific clans.Antemoro kings were selected by popular decision from among the Anteony clan, originally clustered around the mouth of the Matitanana river near the town of Manakara that shares their name. Once selected, these rulers were accorded a near-sacred status. The fady they established were scrupulously observed for centuries after the ruler's death. The Anakara were responsible for safeguarding the sacred Antemoro idols and texts, spoke a secret language for communicating arcane knowledge amongst themselves, and rarely intermarried with other Antemoro clans. This clan was believed to be in communication with powerful genies and other spirits and was reputed to produce the most powerful sorcerers and astrologers on the island. They knew how to manufacture charms, cast spells, and practice geomancy using local gemstones. To maintain their distinction from other members of Antemoro society, the Anakara lived in villages sealed off by spiked wooden palisades where none could enter without permission. Rulers were further distinguished by fady forbidding them to wear shirts or hats.