The Norwegian Missionary Society chose Madagascar as its second field of mission, after what is now South Africa.

[3] Former government minister Erik Solheim participated in NMS' 150-year anniversary for Malagasy mission.

In the 1890s, maps were issued in Norway where the areas of Madagascar hitherto untouched by mission, were colored as pitch-black.

Though Norway opened its embassy in Antananarivo in 2004, the state-to-state aid was frozen after the 2009 Malagasy political crisis.

The state-to-state aid was replaced with Norwegian support through Unicef, ILO, FAO and UNDP on one hand, and time-limited projects on the other, which even included the jazz festival Malajazzcar.