Madagascar Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for Madagascar
 * 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.

French Overseas Subjects

 * 1807-1914 French Overseas Civil Registration and Parish Registers, Madagascar, 1807-1914, index and images.
 * 1892-1917 French Overseas Civil Registration and Parish Registers, Comoros, 1892-1917, index and images. The Comoros formed a province of Madagascar from 1912 to 1946.

British Overseas Subjects

 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Madagascar, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Madagascar, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, Madagascar, index and images, ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Madagascar
If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Madagascar, see Madagascar Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Madagascar Emigration and Immigration
"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Immigration into Madagascar

 * Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar, previously known as the Malagasy Republic, was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting sociopolitical alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles. The monarchy ended in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the French colonial empire, from which the island gained independence in 1960.
 * Under colonial rule, plantations were established for the production of a variety of export crops. Slavery was abolished in 1896 and approximately 500,000 slaves were freed; many remained in their former masters' homes as servants or as sharecroppers.
 * Chinese, Indian and Comoran minorities are present in Madagascar, as well as a small European (primarily French) populace.
 * Emigration in the late 20th century has reduced these minority populations, occasionally in abrupt waves, such as the exodus of Comorans in 1976, following anti-Comoran riots in Mahajanga.
 * By comparison, there has been no significant emigration of Malagasy peoples.
 * The number of Europeans has declined since independence, reduced from 68,430 in 1958 to 17,000 three decades later.
 * There were an estimated 25,000 Comorans, 18,000 Indians, and 9,000 Chinese living in Madagascar in the mid-1980s.

Emigration From Madagascar
at KNOMAD, the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development