Toliary or Tulear
Tulear developed in the Fiherenana Plain, a capricious river that at the end of the RN7 „made and defeated the city“ (Fiherenana no maha Toleara). This former colonial trading post emancipated itself by welcoming all populations of the region – Vezo, Masikoro (southern Sakalava), Mahafaly, Antandroy, others from further away, like the Betsileo and Merina, or even from beyond the seas, like the Karana (the Indian minority).
The wide avenues, starting from the old, solidly built center and lined with extravagant flame and tamarind trees, will be lost in the villages on the outskirts of the city, where the population is mixed and where traditional and modern lifestyles blend harmoniously.
The migrants are pushing.
The port city, located north of the Tropic of Capricorn, is overwhelmed by the relentless sun during the hot season. Throughout the rest of the year, it is often swept by the Tsiokatsimo – a strong, cool southern wind that is said to rip the old Vezo men from life.
History of the city of Tulear
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Masikoro kings turned this fishing village protected by a barrier reef (“toly haranana”) from Vezo into one of their two main trading posts with the Bay of Anantsono (Saint-Augustin).
After they In 1897, Toliara benefited from the relocation of the French vice-presidency of the small neighboring island of Nosy Ve and the settlement of its European residents. By 1903, Toliara had become the capital of the largest province on the island and gradually evolved into its true economic hub.
Its port was relocated and expanded, allowing for the development of a deep-water harbor from which long-horned zebus, packaged meat, cassava, and cowpeas were exported for a long time. However, the port is now threatened by the expansion of muddy mangrove swamps and mainly exports maize and cotton.
Toliara is now focusing more on imports needed by the particularly disadvantaged region, and plays a crucial role in the economic development of the area. Toliara, also known as Tulear, plays a minor role as a transit center.
As the fifth largest city in Madagascar with over 200,000 inhabitants and a university center, Toliara is striving to revive its industries (oil mill, cotton) but primarily benefits from a real development in tourism, facilitated by direct flight connections with South Africa and the island of Réunion.
Toliara (Tulear)
The market, banks, and main shops are grouped in a square bordered to the west by the waterfront, to the north by Rue de Richelieu, to the east by Rue du Gouverneur – Campistron, and to the south by Boulevard Gallieni.
Every Friday, beggars visit these Karana shops to collect their alms, usually food, according to Muslim tradition.
The Karana Minority
Originally from northwestern India and settled for over a century (for the oldest families), the Karana minority plays a significant role in the economy of Toliara and its region.
Shop owners, as well as industrial builders, hoteliers…, these mostly Shiite and highly endogamous Muslims.
Expertly combining Western modernity with an increasingly strict religious practice.
They were prominent moneylenders and, for some of them, enjoyed considerable wealth. In 1987, they fell victim to a popular uprising, with most of their homes and businesses looted or even burned down. In just a few years, they rebuilt everything.
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Southern Art and Traditions Museum
This museum showcases the daily life, crafts, and burial art of the Mahafaly people, as well as the Sakalava population.
University of Toliara Regional Museum
This museum, located next to the previous one, houses a small ethnological collection and a huge Aepyornis egg.
The discoveries of the great explorer Alfred Grandidier in 1869 revealed the existence of animals that had disappeared during the drying up of the most recent Quaternary, including the Aepyornis, a bird “as huge as the famous rock from One Thousand and One Nights”.
The Aepyornis, a kind of giant ostrich, left behind fossilized eggs, “often with a capacity of eight liters”.
Locals reconstruct them from several shards to sell to tourists, but the export is strictly prohibited.
Maritime Museum or Rabesandratana Museum
(between Avenue de France and the port)
The small museum in the The oceanographic research station showcases the fishing resources of the lagoon. In the central hall, a coelacanth caught near Anakao in 1995 is displayed in a large aquarium filled with formaldehyde.
This fish, (Latimeria chalumnae), is the last surviving member of a group related to the ancestors of the first terrestrial vertebrates that appeared 350 million years ago, and were believed to be extinct for over 80 million years.
