Azania's Place in the Sun: An Alternate Madagascar

[LuckyLuciano]

Chapter One: The Legend

As the legend goes, a trade ship from the empire of Himyar was blown off course on its journey to the edge of the Empire’s control along the Azanian coast, Raphta {1}. In an ill-fated attempt to steer clear of the Fire People of the Pyralax Isles, the merchants lost sight of the coast. A storm pulled them further out to see and made it impossible for the merchants to gain their bearings. When the storm had ended, the damage to their ship meant they were fated to die drifting helplessly as supplies dwindled. But then, one of the merchants spotted land on the absolute horizon. The men used every last ounce of their energy to paddle towards it, and God willing, the currents conceded to aid them. The man landed on the beaches of a land they did not recognize. The coast was littered with palm and baobab. They deduced they had crossed an expansive gulf and now found themselves on a new coast of Azania. While setting up camp, the men saw what they could only believe was a mirage. The men knew of ostriches, but these new birds were more massive than any ostrich they had ever seen. They were bigger than all of the men combined, and the ground shook as they approached. The starved men immediately leaped at the opportunity, as even taking down one of the beasts could feed them for weaks. The birds routed, but one was slain, a juvenile who nonetheless was bigger than two men. The carcass was dragged back to camp and the men feasted for days after until they repaired their ship. The bones of the bird and it’s feathers were then loaded back onto ship as they set a course to Raphta. After an arduous journey, the ship sailed into the port of Raphta, bearing the unbelievable news. The feathers and bones were marveled at by the merchants of Raphta, feathers this large and splendid would be prized throughout Himyar. A feather made it to the court of King Charibald who immediately ordered new expeditions to this other coast of the “Azanian gulf”. The first of these ships meant for permanent settlement arrived in a splendid harbor of lush palm and baobab which today is our capital, Mina' Ruk {2} or “harbor of the roc”, named so for what the giant birds came to be called by the court of Charibald. {3}

Of course, at the end of the day this is only a legend. As we know today, there was no “Azanian Gulf”. The land these Arabs landed on was an entirely new island, but at the time, it was thought of as an extension of the Azanian coast, and after the fall of traditional Azania to the Bantu expansion in the 9th and 10th century, the name continued to be used on the island and later came to solely refer to the island. Additionally, Mina’ruk may not even have been the first settlement, romanticized today as such only due to its cultural and historical significance. In fact, it is likely many settlements were founded with the name as the north western coast is dotted with natural harbors, but as our Mina’ruk began to dominate in influence, other’s dropped their nomenclature. But it is known that by the end of the 1st century, an extensive Arab presence had developed along present-day Azania’s north western coast. The first settlements had been for exploitation of the native roc species, whose feathers were now prized throughout Himyar. Additionally, the strange and quixotic creatures of this coast of Azania began to enter the market of the other. Strange monkeys with long faces, crocodiles with horns, miniature hippopotamus and of course the prized roc. Settlements not dedicated to the roc trade began to pop up, such as those invested in sapphire and gold. The coast was remarkably empty for what the Arabs viewed as such prime real estate, necessitating permanent settlements rather than trade outposts. While often these settlements were dominated by slave labour, especially in the sapphire/gold industries, marriageable women were eventually brought in too. Many Arabs and Azanians traveled to the new coast with their families to start new lives in a virgin land. A steady increase in population necessitated more and more expansion. To the west, settlements were boxed in by an expansive desert and lack of natural harbors, the farthest west permanent settlement for quite a while being Famalkhalijal'adhaniu {4}. To the east, the Cliffs of Azania, a 25 kilometres long sheer cliff that rises as high as 280 metres in places, prevented further expansion {5}. Yet, somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd century, an adventurous trader intent on settling new land explored past the Wall and discovered the lush harbor of Hafatalzanj on the north eastern face of the island {6}. Growth of the settlement was slow, hampered by isolation and the surrounding rainforest, but boosted by a new trade good, cinnamon. Cinnamon had made it to the markets of Azania before, but only through Indian merchants. Some Arab settlers took this as proof that other men inhabited these islands, but for all the hundred years prior there had been no contact between the Arabs and native islanders. Sightings of strange men began to happen more and more however, though nothing would be conclusive until the discovery of a new harbor south of Hafatalzanj almost a hundred years later. It was a massive natural harbor, ringed by rainforest, full of a litany of never-before-seen species, and most importantly, teeming with men who were definitely not Arab. When the first ships landed, these strange men introduced the land as Antunijil {7}. These were the people that would come to be known as the Vazimba.

{1} Raphta was the end point for the Himyarite Trade Empire along the Azanian coast, as described in Periplus of the Eastern Sea. Raphta was located near current day Dar Es Salaam, while Azania traditionally referred to Kenya and Tanzania.

{2} OTL Mahajanga

{3} While the Roc was first written about starting in the 16th century, it is thought to have originated from sightings of Elephant Bird eggs. For a little fun, that is what Elephant Birds will be called in this TL.

{4} OTL Tambohorano, ITTL literally Mouth of the Azanian Gulf

{5} OTL Wall of Ankarana

{6} OTL Antsiranana Bay, ITTL literally the Edge of Zanj

{7} OTL Antongil Bay, most place names after this point will be Arabicized Malagasy.

Hope you enjoyed the intro to my first pre-1900 TL. My writing skills are very poor, but I was struck with an inspiration for this TL by a previous forum post. In truth, my knowledge lies in post-1900 American history and politics, so this is a very new world to me. I’m always open to criticisms and suggestions of course. Most of this TL is based off of research I’ve done over the past week, so if you have some knowledge about the history of Madagascar, specifically genealogically, or Arabic script and culture please DM me them, even if they're just name suggestions, I’ll credit you of course. Thank you for taking the time to read it <3

 

[LuckyLuciano]

Chapter Two: Cinnamon and Slaves

While their origins are not entirely certain, many contemporary experts believe the Fazimba to be descendants of Indonesians who sailed across the Indian sea from between 350 BCE to 500 CE {1}. They are believed to have landed on the far north of the island near Hafatalzanj and migrated south into the heart of the eastern rainforests, before diffusing across the island’s central plain and diversifying, with the Fezo settling in the island’s southern deserts and adopting a fishing based lifestyle, others known as the Tsinji lived in the western limestone caves and harkened back to a more prehistoric times, while the Mikia became the major hunter-gatherers of Azania’s unique spiny-forests {2}. As the various Fazimba migrated they transformed the land in their wake through slash and burn agriculture and are believed to be responsible for the introduction of cinnamon, that lucrative item which quickly buoyed Arab expansionism. When Arabs first reached the northern coast of Azania in the first century, the Fazimba were still localized in those Eastern forests and contact was frankly impossible, and then by the time Arabs had arrived Hafatalzanj they had already left it mostly depopulated of wildlife and moved on to begin their Southern expansion {3}. That is why contact between the first and second settlers of Azania were not truly sustained until the discovery of the teeming bay of Antunijil in the 4th century, whose lush harbors sustained a few substantial tribes. Trade outposts ringing the bay were quickly founded and immediately became lucrative endeavors. The Fazimba traded in everything from bananas, tubers and ginger to harvested nuts, honey and exotic wild animals only found in the eastern dense rainforests. This gave the settlements of Antunjil an immediate upper hand over previous colonies and even more crucially, provided for something that was sorely lacking in Azania: slaves. Through the initial stages of colonization of Azania, the typical Arab trade post system had been rendered impossible by a lack of, well, people to trade with. Instead early colonies had been settler colonies funded by the Himyarite crown, often augmented by the various independent companies of young men who came to get rich off the Roc trade. However, a lack of slaves limited the potential extraction of resources in Azania. While slaves did exist in early Azania, they were few and far between, the Zanj Slave Trade not yet having been sparked and the influx of African slaves having yet not occured {4}. Most slaves were shipped all the way from Arabia, which was costly, or were a result of children being sold into slavery by families in debt. Neither could sufficiently meet the demand for labor in the sapphire and gold mines of Azania, and the recent discovery of cinnamon and emerging plantations for it were only putting a greater strain on that demand. This would all change, as the many tribes of the Fazimba were always willing to engage in warfare, and warfare among tribes translated into many, many slaves. The Arabs were all too willing to fuel this warfare through the trade of weapons and other metal works which the Fazimba sorely lacked, as they still used clay weapons and tools. Each tribe, eager to gain the upperhand in the region, would buy up these tools at exorbitant and downright extortionist deals. While trade only brought warfare for the Fazimba, it could not have been better for the Arabs as the ability to trade for new resources at such unequal prices made Antunijil, and Haftalzanj by nature of being a necessary trade intermediary, two of the richest cities in Azania. Not only were trade goods loaded onto ships and sailed to the coasts of Himyar, but they also had extensive trade with the other settlements of Azania and became the main exporter of slaves along the northern coast, especially to Mina'ruk, which by now had firmly become the largest settlement and a proper city.

Let us now turn to Mina’ruk, the jewel of Azania. By factor of being located at the mouth of the largest and most navigable river {5}, it had the fastest growth. While other settlements often suffered after hunting the surrounding Roc and thus losing their major export, Mina’ruk could easily send hunting parties upstream and send their spoils back downstream. Additionally, the rich and fertile soil of the river made it one of the best regions for agriculture. Homesteads quickly popped up along the river’s banks, often by those families which Himyar had sponsored to travel to the colony, this was coupled with the fact that for these immigrating families Mina’ruk’s was often the port they first arrived at due to nature of it’s renown back home. This triggered tremendous growth in the city of Mina’ruk as the excess crops of grains and other staples of Arabic cuisine being farmed along the fertile banks of these farming communities flowed downstream and allowed for the city to grow to one of, if not the most, populated cities. Another benefit of these farming communities was the transformation of the traditional roc industry. These settlers of a traditional Arabian agricultural background brought with them knowledge of the semi-domestication of the Arabian ostrich. They quickly began to use these tactics to successfully semi-domesticate the roc. Research suggests that at the time, hunting of the roc was so rampant that they might have been on the brink of extinction. This might also be what spurned semi-domestication, as communities noticing the dwindling of the bird would have wanted a more stable Roc trade. However, the shifting of the Roc trade away from the companies of young men to traditional agriculturalists left many young men stranded without a career. Because of this, marriageable women soon became the most sought after thing in Azania, and the families who could supply the most marriageable daughters quickly became the new elites of Mina’ruk, as their new son-in-laws would take their wives upstream and start their own farms, sending the most of their harvests back downstream to their extended family and making them ridiculously wealthy in the process. While at the moment, the Himyarite crown was still dejure leader of Azania, in practice Mina’ruk was a polity of many competing families who composed a new aristocracy that continually funded expeditions upstream to claim new lands that would then be sold off to new settlers in exchange for exclusive rights to any crops, precious metals or rocs that were harvested. Soon they began to prioritize settlements that were solely cinnamon plantations, this aided by the spike in slave labor, and in turn dramatically increased the wealth of these families. When Himyar eventually did fall in the 6th century {6}, and Azania finally forced to stand on it’s own feet, this aristocracy became a fixture of Mina’ruk and the river and dominant player in the region. While other cities might have had one or two prominent families who called the shots and thus there being no need to have a separate name to refer to those polities, due to the sheer size, wealth and influence of Minaruk and it’s upstream settlements, a name was necessitated to refer to the whole system, and that soon became the Mushussuan, derived from the river’s name Mushussu itself derived from the mythic Babylonian wingless dragon which the settlers believed the now-extinct horned crocodiles that resided in the river resembled {7}.

For aforementioned reasons, the fall of Himyar was a real blow to Azania and led to a brief period of isolation. However, while the settlements on Azania other coast such as Raphta soon became swarmed by Bantu migrants and any notion of Azania extinct in that region by the 10th century, the fact that what we call Azania today was an island and not merely the other side of a gulf as was thought at the time meant there was no threat to being conquered and absorbed by the expanding tribes and the culture and name given by the Arabs would stick. In fact, immigration from Arabia soon picked up again, now spurned by tales of virgin lands rather than the previously state-sponsored efforts. Azania and especially the Mushussuan already had a solidly established agricultural base which made sustained population growth and an influx of immigrants not a problem, and the subsequent demand for land only increased the rate of upstream settlement. It wasn’t long before these settlers ran into Fazimba of their own, but instead of lucrative trade, all that would emerge from this interaction would be conflict. These Fazimba were the Fazimba Antiti (Fazimba of the Soil) {8}, a prominent agricultural society that thrived under countless kingdoms dotting the fertile inner highlands and where monarchs, often a female, ruled over everything within their jurisdiction of sight from hilltop palaces {9}. Problem was, the Mushussuan wanted that land, and they weren’t going to trade for it. Border conflicts broke out frequently and as tensions escalated, word made its way to the Mushussuan aristocracy in Mina’ruk of frontiersmen begging for aid. While not as technologically advanced as the natives in the Eastern rainforests who were armed to the teeth from generations of trade with the Antunjil, these Fazimba Antiti were certainly more structured and could field a large army when needed. Additionally, though their armies still relied extensively on clay weapons, metal tools had begun to be traded among the various Fazimba originating in the Antunjil region. It was going to be a tough fight, and so the Mushussuan aristocracy put aside their differences and waged a successful campaign that would beat back the Fazimba and open up new land for settlement. However, the aristocracy, detached from the front lines from their palaces in Mina’ruk, would slip back into their regular routine of quarreling not long after a successful campaign and, sensing weakness, the kingdoms of the Fazimba would beat back these gains until the aristocracy was united enough again to push back. This cycle continued on and on until the emergence of one of Azania’s most prominent figures in the 9th century who would go on to shape the rest of Azanian history.

{1} The Vazimba are the name in Malagasy for the first settlers of the islands. Though there is much debate over where they came from, how they spread across the island, I will be using the most accepted understanding that they were Indonesians who arrived around this time at the northern tip and dispersed from there. I will not be using the less accepted belief that they were pygmies.

{2} All are OTL tribes descended from the Vazimba, them being the Vezo, Vazimba Antsingy and the Mikea.

{3} Though there is no accurate estimation of when the Vazimba spread to different parts of the islands, I will be using this belief that they would have abandoned the Northern tip and not reached the Northern Coast yet for narrative purposes.

{4} The Zanj Slave trade won’t be established until the 9th century, but for now the labor needs of cinnamon plantations and gold and sapphire mines have created an inter-island slave trade. This will also have the knockoff effect of Azanian being, instead of iotl Malagasy an Indonesian language with heavy use of African loan words, an Arabic language with heavy use of Indonesian loan words, especially among lower class vocabulary. African loan words will still be present, both from early Arab-African settlers fleeing the Bantu Expansion on the continent and the later though muted introduction of Zanj slavery, but Azanian should be thought of as an Arab dialect with Indonesian characteristics first and foremost. Additionally, the legacy of Fazimba slavery ITTL modern day can be considered most analogous to IOTL encomienda.

{5} OTL Betsiboka river

{6} Same as IOTL, if the profits of the OTL Azanian Coast didn’t stem their fall I don’t see how this new Azanian coast would either.

{7} The horned crocodile are an extinct genus known as the Voay. Here they are encountered before their extinction and named after the Mušḫuššu, an animal with eagle-like talons, lion-like forelimbs, a long neck and tail, a horned head and a snake-like tongue. This subsequently lends its name to river, and finally to the people along that river.

{8} IOTL Vazimba Antety, same translation though

{9} Some evidence that many of these hilltop kingdoms were ruled by matriarchs.

 

[LuckyLuciano]

Chapter Three: The First Kingdoms

While these conflicts between the Mushussuan and the Fazimba Antiti continued to rage indecisively until the 9th century with the aristocracy for most of it not really caring to bother with a more permanent solution, by the tail of the 8th century, total victory had gained a new and more pressing importance to the aristocracy and even the ordinary people of Mushussu. This was because of a newfound emphasis placed on jihad and the proselytizing mission of Islam which gripped the island of Azania. Following the establishment and spread of Islam in the 7th century, the level of sustained trade between Azania and Arabia and factor of cultural similarity meant by the end of the 8th century, Azania was firmly Islamized and paid heed to the Caliph, though it was never directly under his thumb {1}. Regardless, the Mushussuan now had a mission to beat back the savage heathens and conquer the inner highlands in the name of Allah. For this they turned to the Abbasid Caliphate, seeking mercenaries to help crush once and for all the Fazimba Antiti and their resistance. The Abbasid Caliphate was more than happy to supply mercenaries in such a righteous quest, and decided that Azania likewise made the perfect dumping ground to exile generals who they didn’t want stirring up trouble in their empire proper {2}. One such general was the exiled Turkic general Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Bugha who arrived in the 871 AD with his band of similarly exiled Samarran regiments. The following year he had been captured by Caliph al-Muhtadi following accusations that he and his brother were guilty of expropriating revenues, and thrown in prison, where he was put on trial and found guilty. However, the Caliph Al-Muhtadi stayed true to his promise to pardon the general and instead exiled him and what the Caliph considered potentially rebellious Samarran regiments to serve as a mercenary corps for the Mushussuan {3}. Muhammad would become quickly rise to become the most powerful mercenary general through his exploits. His armies would savagely and brutally beat back the Fazimba day after day, and would often absorb the survivors of other smaller mercenary groups which had been defeated in battle. This string of successes prompted an unprecedented reaction among the Fazimba Antiti. For the first time, the various kingdoms united to elect a singular ruler who would become the first and last king of all Fazimba Antiti, Andriandravindravina {4}. Andriandravindravina quickly combined all forces, raising a massive army and for the first time, provided the first real resistance to mercenary armies. Muhammad’s struggles against this new foe were only compounded by bickering back in Mina’ruk, as Muhammad’s rapid expansions had created conflict among the aristocracy on how to divide the spoils of this war. Supplies and troops to replenish the front lines slowed, and Muhammad catching wind of this was so angry he decided to turn his armies back and march on Mina’ruk itself, leaving only a small contingent to slow Andriandravindravina’s advance until he returned.

When Muhammad’s armies reached the city, the townspeople reportedly cheered assuming the war had been won and Muhammad was returning a victor. That that was false was quickly made evident when upon requesting a meeting with his aristocratic benefactors in the city square, he had his armies murder one such high official he had never really liked and another accused of sabatoging the war effort, in front of everyone. He then gave a speech where he essentially crowned himself chief of the Mushussuan, told the townspeople that the reign of the aristocracy was over, and that the city was now under the jurisdiction of his armed forces. The aristocracy's retinues were seized and they were forced to bend the knee. Fearing being similarly executed in broad daylight, the aristocrats agreed to his demands. The townspeople, meanwhile, reportedly cheered again, as they had never really liked the aristocracy anyway. Now freshly supplied and without threat of conflict in Mina’ruk muddying their campaign, Muhammad and his men marched back down the river, leaving some troops to garrison Mina’ruk until his return. While the troops that Muhammad had left to hold off the advance had all been defeated, the Fazimba Antiti had slowed their advance, perhaps hoping for a mere return to prewar borders and nothing more or perhaps because they were facing similar problems of unity in their newly centralized kingdom. Regardless, once Muhammad’s armies reached them the same rapid conquests occurred again, now with his armies having complete control of the supply lines. Though the Fazimba Antiti would put up a valiant fight, Muhammad’s march south into the heartland of their kingdom would prove unstoppable. Peace was finally declared when Andriandravindravina was dragged out of his palace at Ambohitsitakatra following a successful siege and forced to concede all of the inner highlands to Muhammad. Muhammad Bugha, once an exiled general, now was essentially chief of the entire Azanian highlands and the lands of the prosperous river Mushussu and the wealthiest city in Azania. Wishing to shift power in the region away from Mina’ruk, where he would always have to compete with the established aristocracy, to somewhere completely in his domain, the new seat of government would become the conquered palace of Ambohitsitakatra, the former capital of the Fazimba Antiti{5}. It’s strategic position at the mouth of the river also allowed for soldiers to be quickly shipped downstream in the event of a rebellion. The aristocracy were restored, but for all intents and purposes this was the end of the Mushussuans, and the start of a new kingdom and beginning of the first true dynasty of Azania: The Bugha'nınoğlu {6} or, as they are more commonly referred to in their anglicized form, the Bughanids.

This would not be the end of conflict however, because following the war the Bughanids would continue to wage war against the native Fazimba Antiti, seizing their farmlands for Arab settlers and enslaving their populations to work the new cinnamon plantations. This caused an influx of angry Fazimba to flee back into the Eastern rainforests, where they assimilated with the war-like and fractured Fazimba of the region, but also brought with them a deep-seeded hatred for Arabs that trumped all factionalism. What a coincidence then that their new home was right on the border of a multitude of lightly defended settlements lining the bay of Antunijil, all inhabited by the same men who had just destroyed, pillaged and forced them from their homes.

{1} Islam establishes itself earlier by a century or two than IOTL

{2} The Abbasids view Madagascar as the perfect place to send dissidents due to its geographic isolation, still quite low population and its dependence on trade. Sending unwanted generals there is a sure fire way to prevent them from whipping up rebellion either as a martyr or a marshall, and from Azania no one would not be able to build a navy and build an army large enough to launch a proper invasion… for now.

{3} IOTL Muhammad ibn Bugha was promised a pardon, but executed anyway by Caliph Al-Muhtadi, directly contributing to his downfall at the hand of Muhammad’s brother Musa and the continuing of the Anarchy at Samarra. Here with the option of exile, Al-Muhtadi stays on the throne.

{4} Taken from the actual name of the reported first sovereign of the Central Highlands according to the Merina (who would form the OTL Kingdom of Imerina), who was also according to their legends a Vazimba.

{5} Ambohitsitakatra was the IOTL palace of Andriandravindravina, but it’s not entirely clear where it was located. For the purposes of this TL Ambohitsitakatra, Ambohitsitakatra will be located near OTL Antananarivo, which was the capital of later Merina kingdoms and still is today due it strategic importance near the mouth of the river.

{6} Literally, sons of Bugha, as Muhammad’s father was a famous general in his own right worth honoring. Naming convention based of the Ottoman house name: Osmanoglu or "son of Osman".

 

[Sarufiyyun]

This is pretty good. I hope more is made!

 

[LuckyLuciano]

Chapter Four: Enemies from the East

While the highlands had been consumed in warfare, a new development had been taking place along the Eastern coast. It started with numerous sightings of strange ships being spotted off the coast from Haftalzanj. Finally, the first of these foreign ships sailed into the bay Antunijil in 830 AD {1}. They were wooden ships, well built, with large canted rectangular sails and attached to two small ships on either side, a double outerrigged vessel {2}. As the first ship came to shore, they disembarked and were greeted by a group of inquisitive Azanian traders. They spoke a language that sounded familiar to the men but was totally unintelligible, that was until a mixed Arab-Fazimba trader was brought and recognized they were speaking a language that was a distant relative from his own Fazimba. These were the men of legend then, he must’ve thought, those from the land across the sea his mother had surely told him about, that same land from which she and all her people had been descended from. After some more conversing, these men roughly explained that they had come here to trade. They unloaded the wares from their ship, set them out among the beach and invited the stunned Azanian traders to peruse. Among their wares might’ve been rice, cotton, indigo and silver from Java; aloes, resin, camphor, ivory and rhino's tusks, tin and gold from Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula; rattan, rare timber, camphor, gems and precious stones from Borneo; exotic birds and rare animals, iron, sappan, sandalwood, and rare spices including clove and nutmeg from the Eastern Indonesian archipelago; various spices of Southeast Asia and India including pepper, cubeb and cinnamon and Chinese ceramics, lacquerware, brocade, fabrics, silks, and Chinese artworks {3}. Whatever the wares were, they were nothing that had been seen in Azania before, at least not in such a quantity. If any Azanian had seen such a luxury, it was in visiting the far flung markets of Arabia, and even then never in high amounts and without a hefty price tag. These were goods from the far off empires of Asia, which meant these men too were Asians. The Azanians asked for what empire the men served and the men responded; Srivijaya.

That night, the Azanian traders gave a toast to their new wealth, to their new friends and to Srivijaya. However, these sentiments would not last. It would not be long before an Azanian would never look at Srivijaya with a kind eye, let alone toast to anything but their destruction and downfall.

Soon more ships came, and they landed not just in Aftunijil, but all along the Eastern coast, creating their own settlements. Initially the Srivijayans traded and cooperated well with the Azanians, however relations quickly began to sour as tensions flared between the communities over rights to land as well as racism stemming from their association with the Fazimba, who from a persistent slave trade, many Azanians had come to regard as inferior. Additionally, the new Srivijayans and the established Azanians fought over rights to trade with the Fazimba who hugged the forests of the coast. The Azanians preferred to retain exclusive trading privileges with the Fazimba, and wrote legal codes to establish such privileges, gaining an exclusive monopoly on Fazimba goods traded to the Srivijayans and vice versa. The Srivijayans meanwhile, saw these trading privileges as unfair and did not recognize these legal codes. Before long low level conflict between the two groups was breaking out, though no major conflict could realistically be challenged by the Srivijayans as their numbers of new settlers were still small compared to the well established Azanian communities. That all changed with the establishment of the Bughanids, and the great migration of displaced Fazimba that resulted. These communities mixed with the disunited tribes of the Eastern forests and not only swelled their numbers, but also brought a cultural attitude which held Azanians as an enemy before all else. This might have had little effect had there been no alternative to the Azanians for trade, as the tribes of the forest valued their trade above all, within a few generations these new Fazimba might have just been fully assimilated. With the Srivijayans however, there was an alternative. When trade between the two communities occurred, it was fair and indeed the two communities understood each other much more than the Azanians ever had. Even after all these years, the Azanians still felt like strangers to the Fazimba while the Srivijayans were more like long lost brothers.

It wasn't long before the pieces started falling into place. Fazimba from the West rising to positions of power among the tribes of East. A secret meeting between a Srivijayan and a Fazimba. A smuggling of arms in the dead of night. Troop formations just outside Antunijil in the dawn. At sunrise, a charge, and a massacre. So far, Azanians had relied on Fazimba allies and their own technological superiority to stave off raids. What few allies that remained were not enough to fight an overwhelming force armed with Srivijayan weapons. Within a month, their settlements had been razed and every last Azanian had either been killed or fled north to Haftalzanj. Within another, the Srivijayans had completely moved in {4}. It wasn't long before word of what had occured in Aftunijil spread throughout the tribes of the Eastern forests. Soon Azanian settlements all along the coast were being attacked by Fazimba, who retreated just as soon as they had burned down the last house, to make way for a ship full of Srivijayans ready to rebuild. The last city of the East Coast to fall was Haftalzanj, it's oldest. Even before the town was descended on, it had been mostly abandoned, with thousands fleeing by ship, and those few who remained stood no chance of defending the city. The East of Azania had fallen to a force thousands of miles away.

Many of those who fled by ship sailed to the Bughanids and Minaruk. They pleaded for the king to liberate their lands, for him to march his armies east and cast the invaders back into the sea from whence they came and to enslave every last one of their infernal Fazimba allies. The king at first paid these requests little heed. To march his armies through miles of dense jungle to liberate towns which were not even a part of his empire seemed absurd... that was until the last ship laden with Fazimba slaves to enter port was not followed by another for the first time in centuries.

{1} Modern day Madagascans are mostly descended from this second wave of Indonesian migration, with 830 AD being the first confirmed year or settlement by these new peoples. IOTL, they displaced the existing Vazimba culture, and were likely a part of the larger Srivijayan polity until it’s fall, after which the peoples of the Srivijayan remnants in Madagascar went on to form the pre-colonial dynasties of Madagascar, as the Kings and Queens of the Merina are supposedly descended from them.

{2} A Borobudur ship

{3} The trading goods which the Srivijayan traded in, ripped directly from the wiki

{4} As opposed to the displacement of the Vazimba by Srivijayan immigrants IOTL, ITTL there is much more cooperation between the two groups with the mutual enemy of the Azanians. Srivijayan immigration itself is also reduced, being relegated to the coast and reliant on the Vazimba of the interior. While there will of course be some mixing, as opposed to IOTL when the culture of the Malagasy is much more influenced by the second wave of migration, ITTL Vazimba culture will remain strong, and after the fall of Srivijaya, the Srivijayans will be absorbed into them and not the other way around.