Malagasy belongs to the Austronesian language family and was introduced to Madagascar by Indonesian emigrants who settled on the island between the 4th and 7th centuries CE.

However, this colonization was on a much smaller scale compared to the extensive settlements seen in the Mascarene Islands (Réunion, Mauritius) and North America.

Similar to what occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa, French was introduced to local elites, beginning with the Merina royalty, and later extended to the general population through education.

This mode of expansion explains why French is predominantly present in urban areas and has struggled to penetrate rural regions.

They initially set up base at Fort-Dauphin (now Tolagnaro) and later at Sainte-Marie island, representing the French East India Company.

In the early 19th century, under the reign of King Radama I, Madagascar began to open up to European influences.

By 1820, King Radama entrusted education solely to foreign missions, with a significant number of schools in Antananarivo teaching in English and Malagasy.

Subsequent reigns saw fluctuating relations with Europe until France decided to undertake military colonization, which was viewed by the French as a civilizing mission aligned with their missionary efforts.

French was mandated in all public and soon private schools, while Malagasy was restricted to its role as a vernacular language.

Madagascar gained independence in 1960, adopting a French-style republic model with an emphasis on integrating rural populations into development efforts, especially through education.

[8] In 1972, nationalist student and scholar uprisings led to the Malagasyization movement, replacing French with Malagasy as the language of instruction and refocusing content on Madagascar.

Despite its intent, Malagasyization exacerbated disparities between underprivileged students, who had no other access to French, and the Francophone urban bourgeoisie.

In April 2000, a citizen brought a legal case on the grounds that the publication of official documents in the French language only was unconstitutional.

These results were not recognized by the political opposition or the international community, who cited lack of transparency and inclusiveness in the organization of the election by the High Transitional Authority.