Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 11, 2013

Ranavalona I (c. 1778–1861) ruled the Kingdom of Madagascar from 1828 to 1861. By succeeding upon the death of her young husband, Radama I, Ranavalona became the first female sovereign in the Merina royal line since its founding in 1540. After initial tolerance of European influence she adopted a policy of isolationism, reducing Madagascar's economic and political ties with European powers, developing the island's industrial manufacturing capacity, improving the government's bureaucratic organization and military strength, and taking vigorous measures to eradicate the small but growing Malagasy Christian movement. The combination of widespread disease, harsh measures of justice, regular military campaigns to pacify outlying provinces and difficult statute labor for public works projects resulted in a high mortality rate among soldiers and civilians alike during her 33-year reign. French intermediaries unsuccessfully tried to use divisions between traditionalist and pro-European factions at court to hasten the succession of her son, Radama II. Her European contemporaries generally condemned her policies and characterized her as a tyrant at best and insane at worst, characterizations that persisted in Western scholarly literature until the mid-1970s. Recent research has recast Ranavalona's actions as those of a queen attempting to expand her empire while protecting Malagasy sovereignty against the encroachment of European cultural and political influence. (Full article...)

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