The Bara people are a Malagasy ethnic group living in the southern part of the central plateaus of Madagascar, in the Toliara Province, concentrated around their historic capital at Ihosy.

The Bara are the largest of the island's zebu-herding peoples and have historically lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, although an increasing proportion are practicing agriculture.

Over the 19th century, Bara participation in slave and cattle trading and raids into neighboring territories saw their wealth and power increase despite the group's fragmented political organization.

Andre Resampa, a powerful political leader in the transition to independence for Madagascar in 1960, hailed from the Bara ethnic group.

There were an estimated 520,000 Bara in Madagascar in 2000 constituting roughly three percent of the population, and they remain the island's predominant zebu herders and traders.

Around 1640 a noble of the Mahafaly people invaded Bara territory and installed his family as rulers under the dynastic name Zafimanely.

A major driver of this instability was the absence of a tribute system, leading Zafimanely nobles to engage in cattle raiding and issuing costly fines to law breakers that sparked internal and external tensions alike.

[4] Around 1800 there emerged a Zafimanely king called Raikitroka who put in place new regulations that greatly eased these tensions and ushered in a reign of relative tranquility and harmony.

[11] Bara politician Andre Resampa became a leading figure in the establishment of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in the run-up to national independence in 1960.

[13] Community life was traditionally organized around a rigid set of rules and norms, but these have loosened since the early 20th century as growing population pressures have forced emigration and dispersal of the Bara away from their historic homeland.

Men prepared the soil of the rice fields, purchased or hunted for food, gathered firewood, built the family home and furniture, and engaged in discussion and debate about public affairs.

[21] Each village also had a hazomanga, a wooden pillar considered the most sacred site of worship, which served as the public altar for group prayer and offerings.

[22] This pillar was typically 20 to 30 feet high and a sachet containing sacred herbs, sand and wood chips was hung from the top.

Historically, kings were required to lead the advance in combat, placing themselves in danger first; the others were not allowed to protect him or come to his aid unless he was injured or exhausted.

Traditionally a rite of passage for young men to prove their worth and courage to a prospective wife's family and the larger community, the practice is currently outlawed but remains widespread throughout the southwest and south-central Bara territories.

[31] Less commonly, clothing was made of silk (landy) produced by the local silkworm that fed off indigenous tapia trees growing in the Isalo area.

Women wore tube dresses made of two to three mats stitched together and tied at the shoulder or belted at the waist, often in combination with a bandeau style top of woven mahampy reeds.

[33] As elsewhere in Madagascar, social life among the Bara is strongly guided by fady, ancestral taboos that often vary by class, by village, or even by family.

[38] Historically it was taboo to speak to the wives of chiefs or enter their houses, and there were specific locations restricted to everyone but them for gathering firewood and collecting water.

[43] Mourners visit the bereaved in a special building called the "house of many tears" where the women engage in ritual wailing and expression of sorrow.

When bilo or salamanga healing rituals are being conducted, the ombiasy may erect a special barrier (kiady) in front of the entrance to the house where the ceremony is being held as an indicator that anyone whose family member has recently died (as well as any foreigner or stranger outside the community) is forbidden to enter for concern about breaking the power of the healing spell.

[50] The most typical musical instrument among the Bara is the lokanga, a fiddle with three strings made of goat gut or vegetable fiber.

[58] The Ankandrarezina Bara also cultivated tapia (Uapaca bojeri), a tree upon which the indigenous silkworm fed; the silk they produced was both woven locally for cloth[59] and exported in raw form to Imerina.