Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar (older name Malagasy Republic, Malagasy: Repoblikan'i Madagasikara [republiˈkʲan madaɡasˈkʲarə̥], French: République de Madagascar) is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (the fourth-largest island in the world), as well as numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from India around 88 million years ago, allowing plants and animals on the island to evolve in complete isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot in which over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The island's diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by human settlement.
Initial human settlement of Madagascar occurred from 350 BCE and 550 CE by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo who were later joined around 1000 CE by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The Malagasy ethnic group is often divided into eighteen or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands.
I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
But I can't find my way back, my way anymore
Oh no I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought down in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
Oh that I can't find my way back, my way anymore
Oh I, I..
Forgive them that tear down my soul,
And bless them that they might grow old
And free them so that they may know
That it's never too late
For the many times what seemed like a memory
I've searched and found the ways
You used to lure me in
Oh, I've found the ways
Oh, why it had to be
My'd own denial and so afraid
If we ever find it's true
That we have the strength to choose
Oh, free of all the chains, we have together
Oh, I won't be told anymore, if we ever find it's true
That I've been brought down in this storm, that we have the strength to choose
And left so far out from the shore, Oh, freed of all the chains
That I can't find my way back my way anymore, we have together
Oh no I won't be told anymore, if we ever find it's true
That I've been brought down in this storm, that we have the strength to choose
And left so far out from the shore, Oh freed of all the chains
That I can't find my way back my anymore, we held together
No I won't be told anymore
That I've been brought back in this storm
And left so far out from the shore
Two hundred loathsome cutthroats
Armed to the teeth
Hurling there grenades
As they get closer to the beach
We had cutlasses and blunderbusses
Off to get an island with the only money tree
Take it from the rich, bless the pirates
Jump the ship and torture them, the rich
A twenty-one gun salute and three loud cheers
Pirate rowed ashore for their fair bloody share
Town crowd shouted out, "Viva le roi"
Twenty more cannons, thirty-four muskets
Headed out for treasure in the bourbon islands
Plunder take was gold, diamonds, silks and porcelains
Madagascar, we're comin for your barrels of rum
Oh great and wondrous world
How the dice of evolution came up with a surprise
To make these tiny particles come alive
And for them to drape all things
With a cosmic blanket of meaning
When dust cherishes no memories
It makes you wonder
Whether man needs the lie