This presentation by France & Colonies Philatelic Society highlights the pre-colonial and colonial postal history of Madagascar, the struggles with postal communication, and the local posts created to address deficiencies resulting from conflicts.
The pre-colonial postal history begins with competing French and British interests running through the 19th century. This century is punctuated with military conflicts and a lengthy period of xenophobic hostility by the Malagasy government. The increasing warfare of the French conquest gave rise to local posts by the British and the Norwegian missions.
The philately of the French colonial period beginning in the 1890s reveals frequent limitations of postal resources, difficult travel, world war intrigues, the challenges to establish regular air mail, and the struggle for political independence.