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The Antemoro (or Antaimoro, ) are an ethnic group of Madagascar living on the southeastern coast, mostly between Manakara and Farafangana. The name of tribe means From Imoro. Imoro is an historical name for the homeland of the Antemoro. Numbering around 500,000, this ethnic group mostly traces its origins back to East African Bantu languages and Indonesian Austronesian speakers like most other Malagasy people. A minority of them belonging to the Anteony (aristocrats), Antalaotra (scribes of the Sorabe alphabet) or Anakara clans claim being descendants of settlers who arrived from Arabia, PersiaTracing Arab-Islamic inheritance in Madagascar: study of the Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA in the AntemoroKasanga Fernand, Fifindra-monina, Antananarivo, Imprimerie luthérienne and the Islamic religion was soon abandoned in favor of traditional beliefs and practices associated with respect for the ancestors, although remnants of Islam remain in fady such as the prohibition against consuming pork. In the 16th century an Antemoro kingdom was established, supplanting the power of the earlier Zafiraminia, who descended from seafarers of Sumatran origin.‘Mecca’s Counting’: from Mathematic Game to Political Myth (Antemoro Country, South-East Madagascar)
The Antemoro (Anteony clan) soon developed a reputation as powerful sorcerers and astrologers, in large part owing to their monopoly on knowledge of writing, termed sorabe, which uses the Arabic script to transcribe the Malagasy language. Antemoro ombiasy (astrologer sages) migrated throughout the island, where they practiced their arts for local communities, served as advisers to kings, and even founded new principalities. This Antemoro mobility and their creation of a network of powerful spiritual advisers across the island is credited with forcing an awareness among Malagasy of communities beyond their own and sparking a sense of a common Malagasy identity. The Antemoro kingdom was disbanded in the late 19th century following an uprising of the Antemoro commoners against the noble class.
Today the Antemoro remain clustered around the southeast coastal homeland, where they grow rice and coffee, produce salt, and manufacture charms. The Antemoro often leave their homeland for six to ten months out of the year or more to work as ombiasy offering charms, spells, divinations and other arcane services. Nearly every village in Madagascar has an ombiasy, and many are either Antemoro themselves or have traveled to the Antemoro homeland to receive training. The community's historic production of Antemoro paper, a flower-embedded paper traditionally used to record secret knowledge using sorabe, is another major source of income as the paper is commonly sold to tourists and exported overseas.
Around 1550 the mounting conflict seems to have reached a turning point with the Zafikasimambo noble family rising to power in Matitana following the family leader's marriage to a local woman. Historical texts tie the lineage of the family's leader, Zafikazimambobe, to Anteony noble Ramarohala, who had settled there at least three generations before. Other historical sources confirm however that the genealogy described in these texts is not factual, and that the Zafikazimambo family had only newly arrived and so had no demonstrable descent from local nobles. Rather, these texts suggest that it took over three generations for the Antemoro to successfully integrate into the society through intermarriage and other means, and also reflect an awareness among the Antemoro of the importance of local caste and lineage traditions and their need to find a place within them. Upon rising to power, the Zafikasimambo clan absorbed the ritual privileges of the former Zafiraminia clan and had established themselves as the premier ombiasy (wise men) who practiced astrology and served as scribes; they regularly left the Antemoro homeland to provide their services where needed. These ombiasy also often trained the spiritual leaders of other communities, further reinforcing the preeminence of the Matitana ombiasy as masters of arcane knowledge and those outside their clan who sought to learn or dispense it. The Zafikasimambo used their right to conduct sombily (ritual sacrifice) to shape and increasingly control political and economic activities in the area. To end the conflict with the Zafiraminia, they executed as many males of the group as possible and relegated the women and children to restricted areas. In this way they established the first strong Antemoro kingdom. They are rare among Malagasy clans as newcomers who successfully established their own kingdom within a short time after landing on the island.
Under Antemoro Zafikasimambo leadership, the commoners' freedom was significantly reduced and religion became a central feature of social and political life. The conflict between the Antemoro and Zafiraminia nobles and the resulting Zafikasimambo rule also established a tradition of emigration from this part of the island. Unlike the majority of Malagasy who generally seek to return to their ancestral land, the Antemoro initially felt no such call to remain linked to a geographic area. As a result, the ombiasy of the Antemoro traveled widely, some moving from place to place and others settling permanently at royal courts and elsewhere. Their arcane knowledge of writing, medicine, technology and other areas both established their reputation as indispensable advisers to nobles and commoners alike, and instilled the island-wide feature of the community astrologer who shapes daily life. The ombiasy of Matitana were According to historian Bethwell Ogot, the network of stationary and itinerant Antemoro ombiasy were key in transforming the societies of Madagascar from an amalgam of insular clans to outward looking communities with greater awareness of others, leading to territorial expansion and larger, more complex kingdoms. In addition, oral histories suggest that sovereigns among the Merina, Tanala and Antanosy may have had ancestors who migrated away from Antemoro country.
By the early 18th century, the Antemoro had established themselves as major rice and slave exporters. Throughout the 1700s, the Antemoro were embroiled in a conflict with the Ikongo-Tanala that culminated in a bloody Tanala invasion of the eastern coastal plain. Shortly afterward, a major Antemoro leader named Andriamamohotra established an alliance and vassal relationship with the king then ruling Imerina, Andrianampoinimerina, to reestablish peace.
Antemoro kings ( andrianony) were selected by popular decision from among the Anteony clan, originally clustered around the mouth of the Matitanana river near the town of Manakara that shares their name. Once selected, these rulers were accorded a near-sacred status. The fady they established were scrupulously observed for centuries after the ruler's death. The Anakara were responsible for safeguarding the sacred Antemoro idols and texts, spoke a secret language for communicating arcane knowledge amongst themselves, and rarely intermarried with other Antemoro clans. This clan was believed to be in communication with powerful djinn ( ziny) and other spirits and was reputed to produce the most powerful sorcerers and astrologers on the island. They knew how to manufacture charms, cast spells, and practice geomancy using local gemstones. To maintain their distinction from other members of Antemoro society, the Anakara lived in villages sealed off by spiked wooden palisades where none could enter without permission. Rulers were further distinguished by fady forbidding them to wear shirts or hats.
Since the late 20th century, Muslim missionaries and organizations have sparked a revival of Islamic practices among the Antemoro. Many Antemoro have reportedly reconverted to Islam or began practicing it more devoutly.
The Antemoro were reputed across the island for being the only ethnic group to have developed a written form of the Malagasy language, sorabe, which used Arabic script; this form of writing was largely replaced elsewhere by the Latin alphabet under the Merina monarchy in the 19th century. The Antemoro were also widely reputed in the pre-colonial period for their astrology, who would predict the future based on lunar phases. They were known all across Madagascar and acted as advisers at the court of many Malagasy kings, including the celebrated Merina people king Andrianampoinimerina, whose Antemoro astrologers advised him and taught him sorabe writing. The pan-Madagascar tradition of the ombiasy is rooted in this element of Antemoro culture. The introduction of royal sampy (idols) into the Kingdom of Imerina is likewise attributed to an Antemoro ombiasy.
Among various Antemoro clans, the religious specialists (especially the Anakara) preserve and speak a secret language called Kalamo. Kalamo is an Arabic language that utilizes Malagasy morphology and syntax that the locals call kalamon' Antesitesy.
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