"Mad Queen"

At the end of the 18th century, a girl named Ramavo, a family of commoners, was born in Madagascar. The father of the peasant woman announced to the then King Andrianampuanimerin about the impending assassination attempt, and in gratitude the ruler accepted his daughter and married his own son. After the wedding the girl was named Ranavaluna I - she became the first of the twelve wives of Radam I. In such a polygamous struggle, Ranavaluna understood - an heir is needed to strengthen her position. However, they had no joint children, and in 1828 the king died, which made his wife's position very difficult. His legal nephew after Radama was his nephew Rakotobe.

This has pushed Ranavalun I to a political coup. Even during the reign of her husband, the woman sought supporters of traditionalism, who were not in agreement with the progressive policies of King Radama. She barricaded herself in the palace with her adherents, so she managed to hold the palace for several days. After a while, the king's nephew, as well as all children from marriages with other wives, were killed. In 1829, Ranavaluna I was officially crowned, and then she also gave birth to the heir after the death of the king, thereby strengthening her position. According to the law of Madagascar, any children who appeared with the king's wife were automatically considered children of the ruler. Ранавалуна has sworn to observe interests of Madagascar and its inhabitants, but in practice all was differently - Christians were everywhere subjected to persecution, which massively left an island. Those who did not have time, tortured, cooked in cauldrons, dumped from the cliffs. In the people there was a nickname for the ruler - "Mad Queen".

The brutal Ranavaluna I tested the people loyal to her with a poison test - for this the victim was to swallow three pieces of chicken skin and a poisonous nut. If you could spit out the skin and stay alive, then all the charges were filed. According to the estimates of the researchers, from such a poisonous "check" during the 40 years of the reign of the queen nearly 100 thousand inhabitants were killed, and this is 20% of the total population of Madagascar. All the whims of the queen invariably turned many victims. So, in 1845, Ranavaluna I wanted to hunt buffalo. Its suite was 50 thousand people. For four months of hunting, not so many buffaloes were killed as people were lost. From famine and heat, 10,000 courtiers and slaves were killed.