 The "Andriana" are divided into six sub-strata, for example, each had an inherited occupation, and were endogamous.The nineteenth century records show that "Andevo" or slaves were imported black Africans, and they constituted about a third of the Merina society.The Merina society sold highland slaves to both Muslim and European slave traders on Madagascar coast, as well as bought East African and Mozambique-sourced slaves from them for their own plantations between 1795 and 1895.