Antananarivo is the capital of which large island?

Antananarivo is the capital of the large island nation of Madagascar. Often shortened to “Tana,” the city lies in Madagascar’s central highlands and is both the country’s political center and its largest urban area.

The city has deep roots in the history of the Merina people. It was established as a royal settlement in the early seventeenth century, and its name is commonly translated as “City of the Thousand,” referring to the soldiers said to have guarded the site. Antananarivo later became the capital of the Kingdom of Imerina and remained the island’s principal seat of government through French colonial rule and after Madagascar gained independence in 1960.

A frequent mix-up is confusing Madagascar with nearby island nations such as Mauritius, Comoros or Seychelles. Madagascar is much larger: it is the world’s fourth-largest island, located off the southeastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Antananarivo is inland, rather than on the coast, and sits at a high elevation in the island’s central plateau.