Vazimba

While beliefs about the physical appearance of the Vazimba reflect regional variation, they are generally described as smaller in stature than the average person, leading some scientists to speculate that they may have been a pygmy people (and therefore a separate Malagasy ethnic group) who migrated from the islands that constitute modern-day Indonesia and settled in Madagascar over the course of the period between 350 BCE–500 CE.

Stories about the Vazimba form a significant element in the cultural history and collective identity of the Malagasy people, ranging from the historical to the supernatural, inspiring diverse beliefs and practices across the island.

The facts surrounding the initial settling of Madagascar by oceanic explorers from the region of modern-day Indonesia, including the precise timing and nature of this colonization, remain a subject of ongoing debate and study.

[3] Upon their arrival in those ancient tropical highland forests, the Vazimba practiced tavy (swidden, slash-and-burn agriculture) to clear the land for cultivating bananas, tubers, ginger and other staples.

[4] Some Merina trace their genealogy back to a man named Ndrenavoavo or his sister Pelamana who, according to oral history, were the very first non-Vazimba people (i.e. second-wave settlers) to arrive in Madagascar.

In Madagascar today, popular belief maintains that the Vazimba may not have been human at all, but rather a sort of monster or often malevolent spirit that haunts natural sites such as rivers, boulders or gorges.

Oral history maintains that it was customary among Vazimba to submerge their dead in designated bogs or other waters and these areas are held sacred, sometimes becoming sites of pilgrimage and sacrifice.