Examples include "Highlander" (ethnically mixed ancestry but more Austronesian and slightly less Bantu) ethnic groups such as the Merina and Betsileo of the central highlands around Antananarivo, Alaotra (Ambatondrazaka) and Fianarantsoa, and the "coastal dwellers" (predominantly Bantu with less Austronesian traits sometimes like mulatto) such as the Sakalava, Bara, Vezo, Betsimisaraka, Mahafaly, etc.

[7][8] Male-only Y chromosome of East/Southeast Asian paternal frequencies such as Haplogroup O-M175 varies from 45% in Antalaotra, 16% in the Ampanabaka, 5% Anteony.

In contrast, African male haplogroup such as E1b1a1 constituted 76% of the Ampanabaka genetic diversity, but only 7% in the Antalaotra and 12% in the Anteony.

Around 1996, a study was launched in an attempt to identify the presence of the Polynesian motif in the Malagasy population (mtDNA haplotype B4a1a1a).

The neighbouring island of Moheli was also ruled by a Muslim Merina dynasty founded by Abderremane, Sultan of Mohéli, who was a brother-in-law of King Radama I.

The military resistance and eventual defeat of most of the coastal communities assured their subordinate position vis-à-vis the Merina-Betsileo alliance.

This legacy of political inequity dogged the people of Madagascar after gaining independence in 1960; candidates' ethnic and regional identities have often served to help or hinder their success in democratic elections.

[citation needed] The Malagasy diaspora in the United States includes those descended from people who, slave or free, came during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Some notable Americans who have Malagasy ancestry include Andy Razaf, Katherine Dunham, Regina M. Anderson, William H. Hastie, George Schuyler and Philippa Schuyler, Muhammad Ali,[15] Robert Reed Church and Mary Church Terrell, Frederick D. Gregory,[16] Thomas P. Mahammitt,[17] Paschal Beverly Randolph, Maya Rudolph,[18] Claude McKay, Jess Tom, Ben Jealous,[19] and Keenen Ivory Wayans.