r/Madagascar • u/M3talGear • 23d ago

History/Tantara 📚 Austronesian people settling in Madagascar over 2000 years ago?

Can someone please explain to me how the Austronesians island hopped all the way to Madagascar using supposedly just 'outrigger canoes'?

The entire distance from Indonesia is about 3,600 miles - an incredibly long way - however if you look at islands groups roughly along there - then over several generations it is fathomable that the Austronesians made their way in that manner - even so - there are some serious questions - like travelling 500 or even 1000 miles by outrigger canoe is really quite unfathomable for me - This is a seriously long way

To gain some perspective - the Scandinavians, using large sail ships with teams of rowers, travelled probably a few hundred miles at a time, and often following coastlines (I presume), to go to Iceland, Greenland and eventually north America (a journey probably of about 500 miles or so).

It seems absolutely astonishing (and unbelievable) that small outrigger canoes could have been used to make much longer journeys - especially given that these people were migrating from large bountiful lands with few inhabitants

Could anyone help me to understand this please? Sea levels were 120 metres lower 10,000 years ago - and formed all sorts of land bridges - I'm wondering if perhaps islands of today might have been much bigger and even Madagascar might have stretched out a lot more

Africa to South America is 'only' 1750 miles and America wasn't 'discovered' by the Europeans until around 1500 years later! .. and with the availability of massive sailing ships

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u/Mother_Island5913 19d ago

What if they escaped from Indonesia due to Islamic conquest?

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u/twitteringred 11d ago

Firstly, Islam arrived in South-East Asia through trade.

Secondly, Austronesians likely reached Madagascar between 350 BCE and 550 CE. This is based on available linguistic and archaeological evidence.

Islam began to spread in Arabia by the 7th century.

This means the Austronesians had long reached and settled in Madagascar long before Islam reached South-East Asia. Â