The Kingdom of Madagascar in the 19th Century

Maison Suger is pleased to host the third session of the seminar "Counting and Deciphering Empires, 18th–21st Centuries", entitled "The Kingdom of Madagascar in the 19th Century: A Bureaucratic State Without Statistics? ", with Samuel Floreal Sanchez. Senior Lecturer in Contemporary African History at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Institut des Mondes Africains – CNRS Research Unit 8171), his research focuses on the economic and social history of Madagascar and the islands of the Indian Ocean from the 18th to the 20th century. Following his work on the relationships between Indian Ocean trading networks and the Sakalava kingdoms (doctoral dissertation currently under publication), his current research examines the economic organization of the Kingdom of Madagascar. Since 2016, he has also been actively involved in teaching in Madagascar through the Tany Vao Social Sciences Universities.

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Beginning in the 1820s, the Kingdom of Madagascar witnessed the emergence of an administrative apparatus that made extensive use of numerical data and accounting practices. This study first examines how accounting methods developed and became more sophisticated—from Christian missionary schools to royal administration, including commercial circles. Over the course of the 19th century, accounting practices in Madagascar evolved significantly. Their refinement led to administrative routines that left a strong impression on foreign visitors to the island. How did the Malagasy government engage with the language produced by these figures? Did accounting practices give rise to a statistical reading of society, enabling a more nuanced understanding and enhancing the Kingdom’s control over its population and territory? Ultimately, the paper explores the uniqueness of Madagascar’s mode of governmentality within an international context shaped by the growing influence of European imperial powers.

Econometric interpretations of the effects of modern colonial domination, based on colonial statistics, and research examining interactions between colonial empires, colonised populations, and international institutions, have renewed interest in imperial statistical production. Yet this production remains poorly known.

This seminar, consisting of five online sessions and a hybrid study day, aims to deepen reflections and knowledge on these links, drawing on ongoing research. Among the questions addressed:

• What were the statistical practices of 19th- and 20th-century colonial empires?
• How were their statisticians trained?
• Who participated in data collection, and what were the preferred objects of study?
• In what ways did statistical production create connections, or conversely, marginalise certain groups?
• What role did it play in colonised territories?
• How did these practices contribute to the global generalisation of statistics over the past two centuries?
• How can these data be reappropriated retrospectively, often used to produce definitive assessments of colonisation and contemporary empires?

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