Ranavalona .. the deadliest queen in history!

The industrial and intellectual revolution was only the result of years of torment and darkness experienced by the ancient world. Ranavalona I ranks among the list of the bloodiest kings throughout the history of the African continent.

Like Shaka, who led the Zulu kingdom in South Africa and caused the death of millions, the figure of Queen Ranavalona I emerged, who ruled the Kingdom of Madagascar for 33 years in the years 1828 and 1861, when the latter led the country with an iron fist and practiced an arbitrary policy that caused it, according to some sources. In killing the equivalent of half the population of Madagascar.

The first Ranavalona was born in 1788 to a poor family near Antananarivo, Madagascar. Meanwhile, this poor family learned a fact that completely changed its future.

During Ranavalona's childhood, her father managed to save the king's life by warning him of an assassination attempt against him. Thanks to this, the king escaped death and then offered to reward this poor family by adopting their daughter, Ranavalona, ​​and including her in the royal family.

As a result, Ranavalona made her way to power, marrying her half-brother and heir to the throne, Radama I, and accordingly became one of his twelve wives. Following the death of Radama I in 1828 at the age of 35, Ranavalona I did not hesitate to seize the rule of Madagascar after she succeeded in killing all of the royal family who had challenged her to the throne, thus beginning a period of terror that lasted for thirty-three years.

During her reign, the first Ranavalona resorted to adopting a traditional and primitive method known as Tangina to ensure the innocence of the people during trials. This method required that the accused swallow the skins of three chickens and then eat a quantity of the poisonous fruits of the Tangina tree. Vomiting, and if the three skins were found intact, his innocence was proven, but if they were incomplete, he was executed immediately.

In addition to those accused of committing the crimes, the first Ranavalona tended to apply this strange method to ensure that people were loyal and did not oppose her policy, and accordingly this strange operation called Tangina killed the equivalent of 2 percent of the population of Madagascar.

During the execution of the death sentences, Ranavalona resorted to adopting harsh methods that differed completely from the traditional methods, and they mainly ranged from cutting the limbs and cutting the bodies of the accused in half and boiling in hot water.

During the 33 years in which she ran the affairs of Madagascar, the first Ranavalona directed bloody military campaigns on the remote areas of the country to subjugate it, as well as fighting the spread of Christianity and taking harsh measures against the Malagasy Christian movement. On one occasion, the Queen of Madagascar ordered the hanging of a number of Christians to the top of a cliff before deciding to throw them into the pointed rocks below after they refused to renounce their religion.

Simultaneously, Queen Ranavalona I repelled many French attempts to intervene in the country, and also tended to increase the number of her soldiers and improve the infrastructure of Madagascar by enslaving a large proportion of the people and forcing them to work in harsh conditions on public projects. Between 1828 and 1861, Madagascar was the scene of many disasters, as the country was subjected to many epidemics and famines due to mismanagement and behavior, which resulted in a huge number of victims.

On August 1861, 83, the first Ranavalona passed away at the age of 33, after spending 5 years in power, during which she caused the deaths of millions. According to some statistics, the population of Madagascar fell by half during the 1833s. The country's population was estimated at 2,5 million in 1839, only to have fallen to XNUMX million by XNUMX.