The arab influence on Madagascar

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Book chapter

Title:	The arab influence on Madagascar
Author:	Munthe, L.
Book title:	Religion, development and African identity
Year:	1987
Pages:	103-110
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Madagascar
Subjects:	writing systems Arabs historiography
Abstract:	Between the 10th and the 13th century, small groups of Arabs settled on the northern and eastern coasts of Madagascar. By slightly adapting their Arabic alphabet to the sounds of the Malagasy language, the Antaimoro of the east coast were the first to develop a written script for the Malagasy language, the sorabe. In 1972-1973 it was estimated that about a hundred sorabe manuscripts were still in existence. This paper deals with the importance of the sorabe documents for the study of Malagasy history, the content of the sorabe manuscripts, and their use in religion and magic. A sorabe document is reproduced, containing three verses from the English Bible, and probably written before 1820.