Ratsitatanina
Malagasy nobleman (1790–1822)
Ratsitatanina, also known as Ratsitatane (c. 1790-1822), was a Malagasy nobleman. Initially influential at the Merina court in central Madagascar, he fell from grace due to his opposition to the King's British allies. He was exiled to Mauritius, where he escaped from prison, was captured and was executed. He was the son of minister Andriamambavola and was reputedly the nephew of King Radama I, although the latter belief was challenged by the historian Pier Larson, who identified the two as brothers-in-law instead. The first Prime Minister of Madagascar, Andriamihaja, is believed to have been Ratsitatanina's son.
Opposition to the British
Ratsitatanina was a divisional chief in King Radama's army as well as a trusted advisor to the King. His fortunes changed from 1817 onwards when governor of Mauritius Robert Farquhar, in a bid to counter the slave traffic from Madagascar and to curb the influence of the French, signed a treaty of friendship with Radama. Farquhar's agent James Hastie became the King's confidant, a development that sidelined Ratsitatanina, who allegedly favoured the French. As a slave-trader, Ratsitatanina was also displeased about Britain's anti-slavery policy.
The public source identifies “Ratsitatanina” as malagasy nobleman (1790–1822). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ratsitatanina, Malagasy and nobleman.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q107547766. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1790, 1822 and 1817.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ratsitatanina” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.