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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Slavery and Fanompoana: The Structure of Forced Labour in Imerina (Madagascar), 1790-1861 |
| Author: | Campbell, Gwyn |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Periodical: | The Journal of African History |
| Volume: | 29 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Pages: | 463-486 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Madagascar |
| Subjects: | slavery forced labour Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration Labor and Employment |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/182352 |
| Abstract: | From the adoption of autarky in the mid-1820s, forced labour or fanompoana formed the organizing principle of most sectors of the imperial Merina economy of Madagascar. The impoverishment of the Merina economy led to a great decline in slaveholding amongst peasants who were in consequence largely obliged to work their own ricefields. By contrast, the Merina elite increasingly monopolized available labour resources, slave and fanompoana. Fanompoana, traditionally a limited form of prestation to the crown, was radically restructured under autarky between 1825 and 1861. The imperial army, the largest fanompoana institution, constituted a huge commercial organization which was used to exploit the empire's resources. At the same time, fanompoana units established farms and engaged in commerce in the provinces. Finally, fanompoana labour was widely used on the east coast plantations, and especially in the attempt to forge an industrial revolution in Imerina. Fanompoana rather than slavery formed the basis of the imperial Merina economy, and was a major factor contributing to the failure of autarkic policies. Notes, ref. |
