Important Places Named in Text

Ambaribe: Settlement in the far west of Betafo’s territory, and home of the bulk of the Catholic andriana.

Amberobe: Village that is the home of the Leafy One (Ravololona), across the mountains to the northwest of Betafo.

Amboanana: A major town and district to the immediate south of Arivonimamo, near Ankaratra. It was the origin of the first revolt of the menalamba in 1895.

Ambohipanompo: A large mountain to the east of the town of Arivonimamo.

Ambohidraidimby: The mountain to the immediate north of Betafo.

Ambohitrambo: A large sugar-loaf mountain north of Betafo, on its peak the tomb and sanctuary of Lailoza. The sanctuary is a site of pilgrimage and curing.

Ambohitrimaninana: A high spur of the ridge overlooking Betafo to its northeast; on it are four well-maintained tombs of Betafo’s mainty population, the most important of which is the tomb of Rainitamaina.

Andranovelona: Hova village to the north of Betafo.

Andrianony: The mainty quarter of Betafo itself, to the northwest of tampon-tanana, where most of Betafo’s inhabitants currently live.

Anjakalambo: A small collection of houses occupied by the descendants of Rainibe, where he is rumored to conduct his business as a medium.

Anosy: A hamlet to the south of Belanitra, the southernmost settlement in Betafo. It appears to have originally been a settlement of slaves near the rice fields, and the legendary home of Rainitamaina. It was later refounded as an andriana settlement, dominated by descendants of Antsahasoa, and remains so to the present day.

Antananarivo: The capital of Madagascar, about an hour’s drive to the east of Arivonimamo. It is also the capital of the province of the same name, corresponding to the territory referred to in the ethnographic literature but almost never by its inhabitants as “Imerina.”

Antanety: A settlement in the middle of Betafo’s territory, occupied largely by the andriana family of Ramanana and Irina, though there is also a mainty settlement nearby as well.

Antsahasoa: A walled compound, now abandoned, to the west of tampon-tanana Betafo.

Arivonimamo: The capital of the district of the same name, an hour’s west of the capital Antananarivo. A substantial town on the highway that runs west of the capital and former home of the national airport. Betafo is a roughly forty-minute walk on unpaved roads to its north.

Atsimonkady: Literally “south of the moat.” A walled compound to the immediate south of tampon-tanana, containing one now abandoned mansion, the former home of Rakotonarivo Auguste.

Avarakady: Literally “north of the moat.” A small cluster of andriana houses to the north of tampon-tanana Betafo.

Belanitra: The largest andriana settlement in the eastern part of Betafo’s territory, it is to the south of Betafo proper, a sprawling collection of houses on a high ridge, facing Morafeno to its east across a long valley of rice fields.

Betafo: Andriana settlement to the north of Arivonimamo, founded, according to legend, by an andriana migrant from Fieferana named Andrianambololona in the eighteenth century. “Betafo” can refer, depending on the context, either to the area in the very center of the three moats surrounding the ancestor’s tomb (referred to as tampon-tanana), the entire area marked out by the moats, the eastern of the two fokontany inhabited by Andrianambololona’s descendants, or to that entire territory.

Betsileo: The people inhabiting the southern part of the high plateau that runs through the center of Madagascar. The Betsileo were in the nineteenth century conquered by the Merina kingdom to their north. They since became famous as agricultural migrants. Most of Arivonimamo’s mainty population claims descent from Betsileo.

Fieferana: A district to the north of the Malagasy capital, home of the Andrianamboninolona, or 5th order of nobility in the old Merina kingdom. The andriana of Betafo trace their ancestry back to this part of Imerina.

Imamo: The region to the immediate west of the heartland of the old Merina kingdom. Imamo was originally a separate kingdom, or set of kingdoms, conquered by Andrianampoinimerina. Arivonimamo was its capital.

Imerina: The northern part of the central plateau region of Madagascar, home of the Merina. Its capital is Antananarivo, seat of the Merina kingdom that conquered most of the rest of Madagascar in the nineteenth century, and the capital of the Republic of Madagascar. Rural people do not however ordinarily refer to the territory as “Imerina” but rather as the province of Antananarivo, and almost never refer to themselves as “Merina” but either generically as “Malagasy” or as inhabitants of the province of Antananarivo, or more specifically as andriana, hova, or mainty.

Morafeno: Small mainty settlement on a ridge on the far east of Betafo’s territory. Mainly known as the home of Ratsizafy and his hail charm “Dry Rock.”

Tampon-tanana: Literally, “top of the town.” The area within the very center of the three moats surrounding the ancient settlement of Betafo, a place where only andriana dare to live, and some mainty (such as Ratsizafy) do not even set foot. It is where Miadana’s family lived and the Great Ancestor Andrianambololona had his tomb.

Telo Miahatra: Literally, “Three-in-a-Row,” the most prominent still active tombs in tampon-tanana, where the unnamed sons of Andrianambololona are buried, along with most of the most prominent of Betafo’s andriana families.