The reign of Madagascarene Queen Ranavalona I…

The reign of Madagascarene Queen Ranavalona I (Ranavalona the Cruel), the widow of Radama I, begins inauspiciously with the queen murdering the dead king’s heir and other relatives.

The aristocrats and sorcerers (who had lost influence under the liberal régime of the previous two Merina kings) re-assert their power during the Queen’s reign, which is to last thirty-three years.

The queen has repudiated the treaties that Radama I had signed with Britain.

Emerging from a dangerous illness in 1835, she credits her recovery to the twelve sampy, the talismans—attributed with supernatural powers—housed on the palace grounds.

To appease the sampy who had restored her health, she issues a royal edict prohibiting the practice of Christianity in Madagascar, expels British missionaries from the island, and persecutes Christian converts who will not renounce their religion.

Christian customs “are not the customs of our ancestors”, she explains.

The queen scraps the legal reforms started by Andrianampoinimerina in favor of the old system of trial by ordeal.

People suspected of committing crimes—most go on trial for the crime of practicing Christianity—have to drink the poison of the tangena tree.

If they survive the ordeal (which few do) the authorities judge them innocent.

Malagasy Christians will remember this period as ny tany maizina, or "the time when the land was dark".

By some estimates, one hundred and fifty thousand Christians die during the reign of Ranavalona the Cruel.

The island grows more isolated, and commerce with other nations comes to a standstill.