Officially known as the Republic of Madagascar, Madagascar is a nation of islands in the Indian Ocean, about 250 miles (400 km) off the coast of East Africa across the Mozambique Channel. It is the world's second-largest island nation, after Indonesia, with an area of 592,800 square kilometers (228,900 square miles).

It includes the island of Madagascar, which is the fourth-largest in the world, as well as a number of smaller islands in the region. It is home to approximately 30 million people. Madagascar split from the Indian subcontinent around 90 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. As a result, it is a hotspot for biodiversity; Over 90% of the animal life there is unique.

Austronesian peoples, probably traveling in outrigger canoes from Indonesia today, settled Madagascar before the middle of the first millennium AD[15]. Bantu migrants from East Africa crossed the Mozambique Channel around the 9th century AD. Over time, additional groups remained in Madagascar and contributed significantly to Malagasy culture. The Merina of the central highlands are the largest subgroup of the Malagasy ethnic group, which is frequently divided into 18 or more subgroups.