The island state of Madagascar is located in the Indian Ocean, but geographically it belongs to Africa. It is entirely occupied by the state of the same name. Here you can meet very strange and unusual customs and traditions, but Madagascar is very interesting from the point of view of a curious tourist. People come here not to lie on the beach, but to comprehend the unknown.
Interesting facts about Madagascar
- Madagascar is the largest state on the planet, occupying one island.
- More than 90% of the species of animals and plants found in this country are not found anywhere else on Earth.
- The inhabitants of Madagascar practice the cult of dead ancestors. Every 7 years they take the deceased relatives out of the crypt located in the courtyard of the house and change them into new shrouds. A festive treat is prepared for this event, music sounds, and it is supposed to communicate politely and kindly with the deceased.
- This island is inhabited by ants, nicknamed “draculas” because of the peculiarities of their diet – the adults of these insects are not able to digest solid food, so the larvae digest the food for them, and the ants then bite through their skin and suck out the blood.
- In Madagascar, the football match was held, during which the most goals were scored in the history of this sport. The team, which lost the chance for the championship due to the referee’s mistake, threw balls into their own nets in protest for the entire next match – a total of 149 pieces.
- Scientists believe that Marco Polo gave this name to Madagascar by mistake. In his memoirs, he mentioned this place, which he had heard about, called Madeigascar. However, the researchers came to the conclusion that the traveler confused everything and in reality described not the island, but the Somali port of Mogadishu and its environs. The distorted name of this city turned into the word “Madagascar” (interesting facts about Somalia).
- In one of the American museums, a piece of fabric 3 square meters in size, woven from cobwebs, is stored – spiders were caught for this purpose in Madagascar for 4 years.
- Madagascar is home to a moth that makes up for the lack of fluid by drinking the tears of sleeping birds (interesting facts about birds).
- A frog lives in the Madagascar jungle, capable of changing the color of its skin from light blue to dark brown if necessary (interesting facts about frogs).
- One of the queens of Madagascar sent her subjects to execution for appearing in her dreams without prior warning.
- In Antananarivo, the capital of the island, from the middle of the 19th century it was forbidden to build buildings made of stone – the royal palace remained the only stone building for many years.
- Madagascar is the largest producer and exporter of vanilla. When large corporations began to abandon the use of natural vanilla in favor of artificial vanillin, this was a heavy blow to the island’s economy.
- This island arose as a result of the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent, and it separated not from Africa, as many people think, but from India (interesting facts about India).
- The soil in Madagascar is red, as it contains a lot of iron and aluminum.
- The inhabitants of Madagascar observe many strange traditions inherited from their ancestors. For example, it is forbidden to wash dust in houses, and in some regions it is forbidden for a son to shave until his father has died.
- Madagascar is the fourth largest island on Earth. It is twice the size of Britain and can accommodate five Icelands on its territory.