My early morning African studies class at Austin College usually needed a ‘wake up’ question that combined a memory aid, humor, and some global interconnections. Such was the origin of the title of this op-ed during my lecture/presentation about Madagascar, the island nation off the southeast coast of Africa.

Adding the letter “e” after the “d” in Madagascar is the connection to Henry Ford who “made a gas car!” Then I pose a supposed situation where golf champion, Tiger Woods, and I are walking together down a main street in Tananarive(capitol of Madagascar). What would most citizens assume about us? They would assume that I was French since Madagascar was a French colony from the late 1800s to 1960. They would certainly assume that Tiger Woods was a local citizen for the following reason:

Tiger Woods’ father was a Vietnam war veteran who took breaks in Thailand. There he fell in love and married a Thai which means that Tiger was an Asian-African-USAmerican. Most of Madagascar’s citizens are a mixture of African and Asians (with some Middle Eastern influence).* Malagasy, the language of Madagascar, has roots in Bantu, in Arabic, and in several Asian languages.

Europeans as settlers were late comers to the island in the 1500s, but there are earlier mentions of Madagascar by Marco Polo in the13^th century. Pirates and slave traders became common after the 18^th century.

Isolated from mainland Africa, there are several rare animal species that scientists have studied with great interest. Some exist only in Madagascar. Charles Darwin should have also gone to Madagascar which has similarities with the Galapagos islands.

Malagasy names are lengthy,** and rulers’ names often began with “Ra” as in many parts of Africa and Asia. Some historians note that this goes back to Ramses and other Egyptian rulers named from the word for the sun god of ancient Egypt.

*When I was studying French in Paris in the early 1960s, I lived in the “African Pavilion” of the Sorbonne, and many of the students on my floor were from Madagascar.

**For example, Queen Rangitajakatrimovavymnan(death,1530)was the daughter of King AndrianmpandRamanenitra.

Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the data used in the above op-ed.