Ranavalona I (1792-1861) was a queen known for her ruthless 33 year reign in Madagascar, often portrayed as both a bloodthirsty dictator and an anti-imperialist leader.
Ranavalona I (1792-1861) was a queen known for her ruthless 33 year reign in Madagascar, often portrayed as both a bloodthirsty dictator and an anti-imperialist leader.
In honor of the spookiest month, we’re revisiting our favorite Womanica episodes featuring villains, troublemakers, magic, and mystery all October. Join host Jenny Kaplan — with a few special introductions — as she takes you back in time, highlighting women like Sadie the Goat, Marie Laveau, Patricia Krenwinkel and more who were ruthless, vengeful, and mystical. The riveting stories of these women are sure to keep you up at night.
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Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Before we get started, just a warning that this episode contains some mentions of violence.
Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Edie, Managing Producer here at WMN, and I’m so excited to be introducing this “best of” episode of Womanica.
This episode was originally part of our October 2021 theme, “Troublemakers.”
Our Womanican today was a queen known for her ruthless, 33 year reign in Madagascar. She’s often portrayed as both a bloodthirsty dictator – and an anti-imperialist leader.
Before hearing this episode for the first time, I knew almost nothing about the history of Madagascar! I’m also always keen to tune in to episodes of Womanica where we cover women that have complicated narratives. Ultimately, even murderous dictators are part of our world’s history!
Now here’s host Jenny Kaplan to talk about Ranavalona I.
Our subject was born with the name Ramavo in 1792. For the first three-and-a-half decades of her life, that’s how she was known. Then, when she was 36, Ramavo’s husband, King Radama I, took his own life in a fit of delirium. The cause of this delirium remains a mystery — it could have been caused by malaria, blackwater fever, and/or excessive alcohol consumption. Regardless, six days after her husband’s death, Ramavo ordered all of his relatives either strangled or starved to death, and declared herself queen.
Ramavo then took on the royal name, Ranavalona, and began her long reign on the Malagasy people.
Becoming queen presented early challenges. Before European influence, the Malagasy people had been a matrilineal society. But prior to Ranavalona’s ascension to the throne, the royal family adopted a rule of patrilineal succession. Ranavalona declared herself to be a man in order to safeguard her rule. This prevented her from remarrying. Still, she was allowed lovers and any children she bore were considered descendents of her dead husband.
Ranavalona’s rule was profoundly different from her late husband’s. Unlike Ramada I, she did not have a friendly attitude towards Europeans. She threw out the Anglo-Malagasy treaty of friendship signed by her husband. She also forbade building roads, so that no invading European army could have a straight shot to her kingdom. Royal policies were often dictated by divination boards known as sikidy.
Ranavalona reinstated slavery as a social and economic instititution after it had previously been abolished.
At the age of 37, Ranavalona gave birth to her only child, Rakoto. The child’s father was one of Ranavalona’s generals. The father was assassinated a year later by the queen’s newest lover, Rainiharo.
Two years later, by chance, a Frenchman named Jean Laborde washed up on the beach. He was treasure diving on the coast of Mozambique when his ship got caught in a storm. When he landed in Madagascar, he automatically became property of the crown. He was taken to the queen and ended up signing a contract to manufacture rifles and cannons for Ranavalona.
This began an industrial revolution on the island. Jean and the queen employed 10,000 Malagasy people to manufacture everything from soap to guns.
At the age of 43, Ranavalona became very ill. Fearing she may die, the queen prayed dutifully to her ancestors to help her heal.
When Ranavalona recovered, she attributed her health to Malagasy spirituality. This inspired her to safeguard her cultural beliefs by making all missionaries stop baptisms.
Then in 1835, all missionaries were expelled from Madagascar and all missionary schools were closed. A year later, the queen ordered the capture and execution of every Christian on the island. Whether you were Malagasy, European, or the highest ranking court member, everyone was subject to the queen’s trials. Her punishments were torturous, spanning from poison to enslavement to dismemberment.
A decade after missionaries were expelled, Ranavalona banned all Europeans from trading in Madagascar. Anyone who disagreed with the decree had to leave within two weeks of the order.
As the queen got older, she grew more outrageous with her power. She was responsible for 50% of deaths on the island. Those who survived were burdened by the fact that she also mismanaged the economy.
By the early 1850s, Ranavalona’s son, Prince Rakoto, had become a young man. Because of his relationship with Jean Laborde, he was sympathetic to Europeans.
In January 1854, the prince dispatched a secret letter to Napoleon III asking him to bring the French army to Madagascar to replace his mother’s advisors. The French emperor never responded. Three years later, Ranavalona found out about her son’s plot.
In response, she expelled all remaining Europeans from Madagascar and confiscated their possessions.
During Ranavalona’s reign, the island was gripped with paranoia and terror. She ruled with an iron fist.
In 1861, she died at the age of 69. She had earned the nickname “Ranavalona the Cruel.”