Demographics Of Madagascar :: essays research papers fc

Formerly an independent kingdom, Madagascar became a French colony in 1886, but regained its independence in 1960. During 1992-93, free presidential and National Assembly elections were held, ending 17 years of single-party rule. Madagascars forests are a shimmering, seething mass of a trillion stems and dripping leaves and slithering, jumping, far-out beasts out of natures bag of tricks. Cut off from the African mainland for millions of years, Madagascars teeming forests are a naturalists wet dream theyve preserved oddities and developed specializations found nowhere else on earth, and you can get among them in a spectacular collection of accessible national parks. But any nation that turns to North Korea for aid has got to be a basket case. Madagascars Marxist generals as well as its chameleons are fresh out of the Age of Dinosaurs. The generals havent got it right - part of the population regularly suffers malnutrition owing to severe seasons and archaic economic orthodoxies at home and abroad. Since human settlement, the forests have been whittled down to a mere 15% of their former extent, scores of species are on the doorstep of extinction and the topsoil is barreling down into the Indian Ocean like. The countryside alternates between astounding untouched forests and breathtaking human-induced destruction on a scale almost mismatched anywhere. Madagascars physical geography is not conducive of the current global trends and needs for economic production. They are severely behind the World as a whole in economic growth and restructuring to fit new world markets. Most of Madagascar lies in tropical or subtropical environment the soil anatomical structure in these sorts of regions is not able to sustain long-term cultivation. The topsoil is good for agriculture for a few years, but after much longer it becomes ruin out, or depleted, and then it needs to rest for a period of time until it can yield a decent crop again. This is because of the way this soi l obtains nutrients and the cause of nutrients generally laid there. Considering the islands physical composition, it will be hard for the poor African nation to catch-up to the new world averages.Physical GeographyMadagascar is located 250 miles off the eastern coast of Africa, just south of the equator. This island nation contains no Principal lakes, oceans, seas, rivers or islands however it does have one Principal mountain- Maromokotro- that is located on the islands central plateau. The island is over 1000 miles (1580 km) long and 350 miles (570 km) wide.