Madagascar

Giant Baobabs (Adansonia Grandidieri), Toliara, Madagascar

Some interesting facts about the beautiful island of Madagascar:

• The Republic of Madagascar (previously Malagasy Republic, French: République malgache), is the fourth-largest island in the world, after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo.

• An island roughly the size of Texas or France, Madagascar is home to more than 250,000 (5% of the world's plant and animal) species of which 80% are found nowhere else on the globe (including six baobab species).

• The Merina is the largest ethnic group in Madagascar. Boasting a population of 3 million, which equals to about one-quarter of the country's population, they speak a Malayo-Polynesian language and are concentrated in the central highlands.
  

• Ancestors of the Merina, the Austronesians, migrated from the Malay archipelago (Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Malaysia) around the beginning of the common era. Today, the Austronesian features of the Merina are still quite visible. Read about the Bloody Mary of Madagascar.

• Madagascar was recently suspended from the SADC since Andry Rajoelina made himself head of state in place of the democratically elected President Marc Ravalomanana.

• The Malagasy language is of Malayo-Polynesian origin and is generally spoken throughout the island. Madagascar is a francophone country, and French is spoken among the educated population of this former French colony. English, although still rare, is becoming more widely spoken.
  

Sources: Wiki, WildMadagascar (see the interesting timeline); Great Posters of Africa from AllPosters.com