Antaisaka people

The Antesaka, also known as Tesaka, or Tesaki, are an ethnic group of Madagascar traditionally concentrated south of Farafangana along the south-eastern coast.

They have mixed African, Arab and Malayo-Indonesian ancestry, like the western coastal Sakalava people of Madagascar from whom the clan derives.

The group was founded by Andriamandresy, a Sakalava prince who was cast out of Menabe after engaging in violence upon being passed over in the line of succession.

[1] Antesaka have mixed African, Arab and Malayo-Polynesian ancestry, and are descended from a royal branch of the coastal Sakalava people of western Madagascar.

When his arrogance and stubbornness led the people to support his younger brother's succession instead, Andriamandresy angrily departed and attempted to seize his uncle's rice field by force, mortally wounding him in the process.

The last and most important king of the 18th century, Lengoabo, was Ratongalaza's grandson and succeeded in extending the Antesaka territory to its largest extent.

[7] In the Merina military conquests between 1820 and 1853, captured Antesaka men were typically killed, but women and children were often taken as slaves back to Imerina.

When several southern ethnic groups mounted the unsuccessful insurrection du sud rebellion against French colonial administration in 1904–05, the Antesaka refused to become involved.

The dried corpse is moved to a separate house accompanied by the women of the village, who cry together on cue, and then begin to dance.