1896: Rainandriamampandry and Prince Ratsimamanga

ExecutedToday.com ^ | October 15, 2009 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

On this date in 1896, two Malagasy movers and shakers were shot to help cement French colonial control of Madagascar.

Having conquered the island militarily by 1895, France immediately faced indigenous resistance.

According to Stephen Ellis*

One of the most puzzling and fascinating of all resistance movements is that known as the revolt of the menalamba. It occurred over a wide area of central Madagascar, mostly in the kingdom of Imerina, in the two years following the French invasion of Madagascar in 1895. The most mysterious aspect of the rising has always been the question of who, if anyone, was its leader. The official version, that reported by the French government in Madagascar, was that the movement was inspired or directed by a number of magnates at the old Merina court. The published evidence is so ambiguous as to have obliged every subsequent author to accept this version, although there was considerable doubt expressed as to its truth at that time.

Managing this drumhead tribunal was just-arrived “Resident-General” Joseph Simon Gallieni, who seems to have alit (fresh from an assignment in Indochina) with the certain conviction that examples must be made.....

[x]

Another Ratsimamanga, a relative, became independent Madagascar’s ambassador to France years later. Another relative’s mother fled to America after her husband was killed. The son shortened his name to Andy Razaf and became a prominent jazz, blues, and pop composer.

[colorado tanker]

We will extend the blessings of French culture to you even if we have to kill you in the process!