European exploration of Africa
One of the ships under command of Diogo Dias arrived at a coast that was not in East Africa. Two years later, a chart already showed an elongated island east of Africa that bore the name Madagascar. But only a century later, between 1613 and 1619, did the Portuguese explore the island in detail. They signed treaties with local chieftains and sent the first missionaries, who found it impossible to make locals believe in Hell, and were eventually expelled.
Literature of Madagascar
Elements of oral history and traditional oratory were documented by British and French visitors to the island. The first Malagasy historian was Raombana (1809–1855), one of the first pupils of the London Missionary Society school at the Rova of Antananarivo, who documented early 19th century Merina history in English and Malagasy. The "Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagasikara", a compilation of the oral history of the Merina sovereigns, forms another major source of knowledge about traditional highland society and was collected and published in the late 19th century by a Catholic priest residing in the highlands.