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 Initial human settlement of Madagascar occurred from 350 BCE and 550 CE by Austronesian peoples arriving on canoes from Borneo who were later joined around 1000 CE by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting political alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles. The monarchy collapsed when the island was conquered by the French colonial empire in 1896, from which the island gained independence in 1960.  The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, termed Republics. Since 1992 the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo. However, in a popular uprising in 2009 the last elected president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign and presidential power was transferred in March 2009 to Andry Rajoelina.

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