Anosy

Anosy is one of the 22 regions of Madagascar in the south-east of the country. It is located on the eastern side of what used to be Province of Tulear. The name "Anosy" means "island(s)" in Malagasy.

Due to a strategic main searoute running along its coast, Anosy has been an osmotic crossroads for Malagasy and the rest of the world over the last 500 years. In the 1500s it served as a supplying area for European ships sailing to and from the Indies, and in the mid-1600s it was the location of an early French colonial settlement in the Indian Ocean. The region was part of the Merina Kingdom for much of the 1800s and part of the French colony of Madagascar from the late-1800s to 1960.

Its exports have included human slaves (shipped to Mascarene Islands and the US in the 1700s), live cattle (exported to RĂ©union for almost 300 years), sisal, natural rubber, Rosy Periwinkle, graphite, uranothorite, lobster, sapphires, and, in the last five years, ilmenite. Due to its biodiversity and natural beauty, efforts commenced in the 1980s to promote environmental conservation and tourism in the region.

Read more about Anosy:  Overview, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Conservation & Ecology, Education, Geography, Geology & Hydrology, Maps, Mining, Population, Religions, Tourism, Weather, Other Information, Timeline of Anosy