Malagasy Protectorate

Successive sovereigns Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III and their Prime Minister, Rainilaiarivony, rejected the claim of French protectorate status and consistently refused to acknowledge the French representative or submit to the demands of the French, who attempted to impose control over Madagascar's foreign affairs and trade. The Malagasy government sent letters to foreign trade and diplomatic allies, including Britain and the United States, to request they advocate to France on behalf of Madagascar for continued Malagasy independence. France engaged Madagascar diplomatically and bombarded coastal cities in an attempt to enforce its claims, but Madagascar continued to govern its affairs with relatively little interference.

As a result, a French expeditionary force occupied Antananarivo in September 1895 and imprisoned the queen and prime minister. In 1897, the French parliament voted to establish the French colony of Madagascar and deported the prime minister to Algeria, where he died shortly afterward. A civil governor was put in place and key opposition figures were imprisoned or executed. The queen was allowed to continue managing certain internal affairs as a figurehead. A popular resistance movement, called the Menalamba rebellion, arose in response to the perceived corruption and ineffectiveness of the monarchy, growing European presence and influence on the island, and the spread of Christianity. After violently quelling the rebellion in 1897, the French executed key members of the royal family and sent the queen into exile first in Réunion and later Algeria, where she died in 1917.