Betsileo

expand_more Description

The Betsileo are one of approximately twenty ethnic units of Madagascar. They speak a Malagasy language in the Malayo-Polynesian language family. The Betsileo are agriculturalists. The Betsileo began to use that term for themselves after their conquest by the Merina in the nineteenth century. Around 1830, their ancestors were incorporated into Betsileo Province, the sixth major subdivision of the Merina Empire, which conquered much of Madagascar.

Identifier

Region

• Africa

Subregion

• Southern Africa

Subsistence Type

• intensive agriculturalists

Countries

• Madagascar