History of Madagascar
By the 15th century, Europeans had wrested control of the spice trade from the Muslims. They did this by bypassing the Middle East and sending their cargo-ships around the Cape of Good Hope to India. The Portuguese mariner Diogo Dias became the first European to set foot on Madagascar when his ship, bound for India, blew off course in 1500. In the ensuing two-hundred years, the English and French tried (and failed) to establish settlements on the island.
Madagascar
On St. Laurence's Day in 1500, Portuguese explorer Diogo Dias landed on the island and named it "São Lourenço". Polo's name was preferred and popularized on Renaissance maps. No single Malagasy-language name predating "Madagasikara" appears to have been used by the local population to refer to the island, although some communities had their own name for part or all of the land they inhabited.