Note: For this timeline I will be assuming that the earliest projected arrival dates of Austronesians in Madagascar--that is, around 300 BC--is correct. Feel free to disagree with me if you like, but this is what the timeline is ultimately based on.
Notes
(1) Yes, their women. It's not exactly a feminist society, nor are most in this period.
(2) In other words, taro.
(3) I'm uncertain whether or not breadfruit was brought by the first Austronesians to Madagascar, though there is breadfruit there. However, for the purposes of this timeline, I will be assuming that it was.
(4) 'Gentle' in Malagasy. IOTL, this is the Tugela River in KwaZulu-Natal.
A snippet of my new timeline! Please post what you think.
Next time I'll have prose updates covering the actual lifestyle of the early Malasi and their interactions with the San and Khoikhoi.
*My original title was going to be Just The Tip, but I figured that was a bit too suggestive for an agricultural timeline.
The Southern Cradle*
An Alternate History of Africa
The pivots that history spins on are many and varied. Some may be battles, others births, a great many deaths. The pivot I present to you today is none of these, though it will lead to a birth of a sort. Exactly 2,200 years before the Year of Our Lord 2015, a group of Austronesians on the western coast of what in our world is known as Madagascar had a falling out.
Their ancestors had arrived on the coast less than a hundred years before, and the proto-Malagasy had not yet penetrated at all into the forbidding highlands of the great island. This group in particular were some of the oldest settlers of Madagascar, being the descendants of one of the first groups to arrive.
This group was led by a chief; however, he was old, quite ancient in fact, and his young, upstart nephew was ambitious and desired to take his uncle's place. The conflict simmered for several months before exploding into outright violence. The followers of the old chief decisively defeated the nephew's men, a little under half of the tribe.
Shamed, the nephew, whose name is naturally lost to history, gathered his remaining men and their women(1), and left the little colony, their outriggers holding the agricultural treasure that is the Austronesian birthright--saonjo(2), bananas, coconuts, breadfruit(3), and sugar cane, as well as a few dogs, a small group of pigs, and some chickens (the latter of whom would die out before being able to establish themselves in the new lands).
Not knowing where to go, they traveled south alongst the coast of the great island until, in the middle of winter (or summer in the northern hemisphere), a great storm blew the canoes west. For many weeks, they were lost at sea, and despaired to ever find their way to new lands. But then, two months later, land was sighted, and a river.
Landing, they established a small settlement by the banks of the gently-flowing river, which they named Bononoka(4). While they found that it was difficult to grow saonjo even in these watered lands, the rest of the agricultural package brought flourished in the peaceful clime. Breadfruit in particular thrived in the delta and largely became the staple crop of these Malasi (as they had begun to call themselves).
In only a few generations, the Malasi were thriving, with dozens of independent chiefdoms dotting the banks of the Bononoka by the beginning of the millenium. Those further away from the coast had begun, in small amounts, adopting the cattle and to an extent the lifestyle of the local Khoikhoi, some of whom were in turn adopting the agricultural ways of their neighbors. And here is where the history of civilization in southern Africa truly begins...
An Alternate History of Africa
The pivots that history spins on are many and varied. Some may be battles, others births, a great many deaths. The pivot I present to you today is none of these, though it will lead to a birth of a sort. Exactly 2,200 years before the Year of Our Lord 2015, a group of Austronesians on the western coast of what in our world is known as Madagascar had a falling out.
Their ancestors had arrived on the coast less than a hundred years before, and the proto-Malagasy had not yet penetrated at all into the forbidding highlands of the great island. This group in particular were some of the oldest settlers of Madagascar, being the descendants of one of the first groups to arrive.
This group was led by a chief; however, he was old, quite ancient in fact, and his young, upstart nephew was ambitious and desired to take his uncle's place. The conflict simmered for several months before exploding into outright violence. The followers of the old chief decisively defeated the nephew's men, a little under half of the tribe.
Shamed, the nephew, whose name is naturally lost to history, gathered his remaining men and their women(1), and left the little colony, their outriggers holding the agricultural treasure that is the Austronesian birthright--saonjo(2), bananas, coconuts, breadfruit(3), and sugar cane, as well as a few dogs, a small group of pigs, and some chickens (the latter of whom would die out before being able to establish themselves in the new lands).
Not knowing where to go, they traveled south alongst the coast of the great island until, in the middle of winter (or summer in the northern hemisphere), a great storm blew the canoes west. For many weeks, they were lost at sea, and despaired to ever find their way to new lands. But then, two months later, land was sighted, and a river.
Landing, they established a small settlement by the banks of the gently-flowing river, which they named Bononoka(4). While they found that it was difficult to grow saonjo even in these watered lands, the rest of the agricultural package brought flourished in the peaceful clime. Breadfruit in particular thrived in the delta and largely became the staple crop of these Malasi (as they had begun to call themselves).
In only a few generations, the Malasi were thriving, with dozens of independent chiefdoms dotting the banks of the Bononoka by the beginning of the millenium. Those further away from the coast had begun, in small amounts, adopting the cattle and to an extent the lifestyle of the local Khoikhoi, some of whom were in turn adopting the agricultural ways of their neighbors. And here is where the history of civilization in southern Africa truly begins...
Notes
(1) Yes, their women. It's not exactly a feminist society, nor are most in this period.
(2) In other words, taro.
(3) I'm uncertain whether or not breadfruit was brought by the first Austronesians to Madagascar, though there is breadfruit there. However, for the purposes of this timeline, I will be assuming that it was.
(4) 'Gentle' in Malagasy. IOTL, this is the Tugela River in KwaZulu-Natal.
A snippet of my new timeline! Please post what you think.
Next time I'll have prose updates covering the actual lifestyle of the early Malasi and their interactions with the San and Khoikhoi.*My original title was going to be Just The Tip, but I figured that was a bit too suggestive for an agricultural timeline.
