Taken from: Taken from: Madagascar, Comores et Mascareignes à travers la Hawiya d'Ibn Magid (866 H. /1462). Par François VIRE et Jean-Claude HEBERT.

According to lbn Majid, it is necessary to distinguish this (bandar) Haduda located at the latitude of Big Dipper by five fingers in height from another Haduda raised to only two fingers. Khoury assumes the first at Nosy Varika and the second between Manantenina and Sainte Luce. Tibbetts ignores the problem of their whereabouts. If the etymology of this toponym is Arabic, it should be read Hududa in the double sense of “rumble of the sea” and “very sloping ground”, which would evoke a place where the sea breezes or an establishment clinging to the side from a steep shore.

Ambohabe is the only place where sherds of imported pottery were found in that long stretch of coast surveyed by William D. Griffin.

Ambohabe, at the mouth of the Matitanana (or Sandrananta) river, was a large village located at the interface between maritime and terrestrial networks which rely on the agrarian wealth of the valley. The Muslims arriving from the Nord-Ouest constitute themselves as aristocrats within the framework of an Antemoro kingdom which they help to found in the 16th century.

The Moors of Nord-Ouest (of Madagascar) knew the region of Matatana since they incited the Portuguese to go there. Ruy Pereira arrived in Ambohabe in 1506 and used as an interpreter "a Moor called Bogima, who lived [in Mozambique] and who, having been in Matatane, spoke the language of the natives". Regular contacts therefore existed between Matatana and Mozambique before the arrival of the Portuguese. Ambohabe was part of a whole series of small trading centers mentioned by Arabic texts which testify to the activity of Muslims on all the coasts of Madagascar.

Note: it is this text that makes me think that Maqarah mentioned by Ibn Majid in his Sufaliyya at four fingers should be here at five fingers.  The importance of this place is that it is the closest place to take off going to Tira Raga islands (Réunion and Mauritius).

As to Maqarah: JOUANNES Claude says maybe Manakara but William D. Griffin (2009) searched several hundred sites on that part of the coast and none of those in and around Manakara (town founded in colonial days) included even one sherd on imported pottery. But lots of iron was produced (for export?) at the former mouth of the Manakara river. Iron was a big export product of Madagascar (see Idrissi 1150).

Taken from: The Matitanana Archaeological Project: Culture History and Social Complexity in the Seven Rivers Region of Southeastern Madagascar by William D. Griffin 2009.

Site 7 Ambohabe 4

- 2 imported ceramics (55g, white porcelain ring bases)

Site 8 Ambohabe 5

- 2 imported ceramics (1 brown stoneware and 1 celadon base)

Site 9 Ambohabe 6 (Mangarivotra)

- 1 fragment of green glass <.05g (which Ramilisonina suggests is similar to kohl jars from Vohemar).

Site 46 Marovahiny (Ambohabe)

The radiocarbon date of a charcoal sample from levels 13 and 14 of sondage 3 returned a likely calibrated date of AD 940 to 1260. A thermoluminescence date (Aitken 1985) on a sherd from level 14 of sondage 3 gave a likely date of AD 960 to 1360.

The site yielded 4 imported sherds: 2 were Chinese blue and white, crackled under clear glaze, and 1 imported sherd was a thin “celadon” rim, not crackled, dark green, with a leaf design on the exterior of a straight rim.

Sondage 3 L1 had 3 Celadon imports. And L9 has imported “Black on Yellow” (or yellow brown sgraffiato, 1050 – 1250 AD)

Taken from: Portuguese Asia, by Manuel de Faria y Sousa (1646).

(in 1507)

……………. During this part of the voyage likewise, Ruy Pereyra put into the port of Matatama in the island of Madagascar; and being informed that this island abounded in spice, especially ginger, Tristan de Cunna was induced to go there, and anchored in a bay which his son Nunno named Angra de Donna Maria, after a lady whom he courted. By others it is named the bay of Santa Maria della Conception. As some Negroes appeared on the coast, De Cunna sent a Moor to converse with them; but when he mentioned that the ships belonged to Christians, they endeavoured to kill him, and had to be driven away by the Portuguese cannon. About three leagues farther on, they came to a village, the xeque or sheikh of which carried them to another town on an island in a well sheltered bay into which the great river Lulangan discharges its waters. This town was inhabited by Moors somewhat civilized, who, being afraid of the fleet made their escape to the main-land, but so overloaded their boats that many of them perished by the way. The Portuguese surrounded the island and took 500 prisoners, only twenty of whom were men, among whom was the xeque or chief, an aged man of a respectable appearance. Next morning the sea was covered with boats, bringing over 600 men to demand the release of their wives and children. After some negotiation, the Portuguese commander restored the prisoners to their liberty. He here learnt that the island of Madagascar was chiefly inhabited by negro kafirs, and produced but little ginger. He afterwards wished to have entered a town on this island called Zada, but the inhabitants set it on fire. From this place, De Cunna sent on Alfonso de Albuquerque with four ships to Mozambique, with orders to reduce some places on the coast of Melinda; while he went himself with three ships to Matatama in Madagascar, where he was told that cloves, ginger, and silver were to be had. …………………

Taken from: Collection des ouvrages anciens concernant Madagascar by Grandidier, Alfred 1903.

Out of : Castanheda, Historia de los descubrimentos de los Portugueses t. II, 1552, ch. cvi, p. 341.

Lopes de Sequeira arrived in sight of the island of Saint-Laurent on August 4, 1508, driven by a storm. On the 10th of that month, he doubled a cape on the south-east coast, to which he gave the name of Cape Saint-Laurent [Cape Andavaka], then he landed at some islands where he found one of the Portuguese of the crew of Jean Gomes d'Abreu, by the name of André, whom he took on board; skirting the coast, he arrived at the large village of Turouaya (our present Fort-Dauphin), which was governed by a Moorish king with whom lived another Portuguese, named Antoine, whom he also took with him. Going further north, he discovered, at 24° 1/2 south latitude, several islets which he named Santa Clara [islands of Saint Clair], and he anchored there in a bay very well sheltered from the winds; he went ashore, where the vegetation is luxuriant and where there are oxen, wild boars, rice, yams, all things that the natives, gentle and hospitable people, provided him with. On October 14, he set sail and landed on the coast of the province of Matitanana; while going ashore, as the sea was rough, the boat capsized and a sailor sank. There he found two men of his crew whom he had sent from the bay of Sainte-Claire [bay of Lokara] to explore and who had walked for fifty leagues, without finding anything other than a little brown ginger; they had met two Indians from Cambaye, the only survivors of the crew of a ship which, on its way to Sofala, had been lost in those parts thirty years before (around 1480). Then he sailed along the coast to the mouth of the Matatana River [Matitanana], where John Gomes had stopped, and there he met three other Portuguese. Continuing on his route, he visited various villages and arrived at a large bay, where three rivers flowed and which he named the Bay of San Sebastian [Bay of Diego Soarez], because he discovered it on 20 January 1509. He then set sail for India and arrived at Cochin on 21 April 1509 (Castanheda, Historia de los descubrimentos de los PorlugueseSy t. II, 1552, ch. cvi, p. 341).

Castanheda, Historia do descobrimento e conquista da India pelos Portugueses 1552, t. II, ch. xxx and xxxi, p. 10 et seq., ed. 1833

The ship of Jean Gomes d'Abreu, which had succeeded in doubling the cape, continued alone to visit the island of Saint-Laurent, following the entire eastern coast, dropping anchor at the mouth of the Matatana [Matitanana] to await the admiral, whose change of route he was unaware of. About twenty pirogues immediately came around the ship, bringing fish and sugar cane; the master, who spoke Arabic and several other languages, got into one of them, in order to persuade some of the natives to come on board. But as soon as he was there, they all left, taking him ashore. Abreu immediately had a longboat armed and set off in pursuit of them himself with twenty-four men. He was only half a league from the coast when he saw the canoes returning, bringing back the master dressed in a cotton loincloth in the fashion of the country and wearing shackles on his wrists, rings on his fingers, and a large chain around his neck to which were attached thirty cruzades, all in silver; these were the gifts that the king of the country had given him as a token of friendship. The natives had had no idea of harming him in bringing him back, they had simply wanted to show their chief a blank. Âbreu then decided to go and visit the king, but a storm having suddenly arisen, the bar at the mouth of the river became impassable and he had to stay on land for four days. Not seeing their captain return and fearing to be driven ashore by the hurricane, especially as they no longer had the pilot who had accompanied Abreu, the sailors set sail and landed on the coast of Africa near the island of Angoza, where they found Ruy Soares; the two ships went together to Mozambique, which Admiral Tristan da Cunha had already left.

John Gomes d'Abreu was naturally very sad to be thus abandoned by his ship on a foreign land; of the twenty-four sailors who had accompanied him, eight died of disease and thirteen determined to reach Mozambique with the longboat, preferring rather to perish at sea than to die of disease on land. With the permission of the king, they strengthened their boat, piled up provisions and filled several large bamboos with water; the pilot made a wooden astrolabe as best he could, and they left in 1507, leaving three of their number at Matitanana; after having sailed along the entire eastern coast, they stopped in one of the bays of the northwest to take on water; most of them were wounded there with spears and stones by the natives, who attacked them treacherously. From there, they crossed the Mozambique Channel and landed on the islands of Angoza; there they found Lucas da Fonseca who was coming from India and who, having picked them up in his caravel, took them to Mozambique, from where they reached Goa (Castanheda, Historia do descobrimento e conquista da India pelos Portugueses 1552, t. II, ch. xxx and xxxi, p. 10 et seq., ed. 1833).

Taken from: Barros, João de; Decadas da Asia.

Decada 2 Book 1 Chapter 1

Lionel Coutinho, in bad weather, went to winter in Quiloa, and Ruy Pereira ended up at the tip of the Island of S. Lourenço and then in a port he called Matatána, which was later the cause of his death, and of João Gomes d'Abreu, as we will see. Because arriving at the point where a river flows, he came to a place where he saw an almadia with up to eighteen men from the land, who entered there without problems; and because some of them carried silver shackles, they said that there was a lot of that metal, which they carried in their arms a lot, and cloves, and ginger, for showing him these, and other things, and Ruy Pereira wanted to know if there were in that land but there was no one who understood them.

And because these were very important, although it was not their will, Ruy Pereira brought two of their young men to testify to Tristão da Cunha about what was in that port; and when Ruy Pereira arrived in Mozambique, where he found him, through a Moor called Bogimá, who lived there, knowing their language, Tristão da Cunha got to know many new areas of the expanse of the earth. And the same Bogima , as he was already in that port , asserted that as for the ginger they could find much of it , Tristan da Cunha dispensed that year of passing to India , and according to what he was told about the greatness of the Island (=Madagascar), and of these things , they were worthy of going and discovering it in person , he decided to do so , as he would have had to wait for time, and it also seemed to him that as there were cloves and ginger, there would also be other spices , which he wanted to discover ……

(Tristan da Cunha reaches the port of Matatana but finds nothing new and loses two ships)

…… he did not want to continue sailing on such a dangerous coast and he returned to Mozambique ……. He sent back to Portugal the ship Santa Maria under the command of Antonio da Saldanha and put on board the two Moors that Ruy Pereira had brought from Matitanana, writing to the King what he had done and giving him notice of the information he had gathered. (The two man will finally come back to Madagascar).

Decada 2 Book 1 Chapter 6.

Captain João Gomes d'Abreu, who, as we have seen, separated from Tristão da Cunha on the coast of S. Lourenço Island; and what then Ruy Soares heard from those who were in the nao (=ship), that was of João Gomes which went to the port of Matatána because of going to see ElRey, for whom he had a message, he entered across a river in the boat of his ship. At which time there came such a great storm that the river was closed; and seeing that after four days there was no news from João Gomes, and the weather did not allow them to wait, they left to God's mercy without pilot, as he was gone with João Gomes. However, it later became known that João Gomes died in defeat and illness in the house of the Lord of Matatána and the pilot, and others who went with him, seeing him dead, repaired the boat, and with great danger, and work came to Mozambique. Ruy Soares, as he was defeated, with the message he was carrying, made his way, handing over the captaincy of the nao to Jorge Botelho de Pombal, ……

Decada 2 Book 4 Chapter 3

As we wrote before, the reason for Tristão da Cunha of going to the Island of S. Lourenço, was the display of silver, and return the men that Ruy Pereira, Captain of the S. Vicente, brought from Matatana and the port of the same Island, where were said to be also cloves, and ginger. And since Tristão da Cunha from this trip, which he made there, did not bring more than the work from that trip, ……

…… Diogo Lopes began to run along the coast of the island until he reached a kingdom, which those from the land call Turubaya (in the SE of Madagascar; later called Fort Dauphin) after the name of a captain from Guzarate, who was there. All the inhabitants of this region, according to the story they gave to Diogo Lopes, are descended from the sailors of this ship. There was in this port a young man named Antonio da Mestro of João Gomes’ team, through whom, as he already knew the language of the land, served as interpreter between the king, named Diamom [Andriamamy] and Diogo Lopes, but the latter did not obtain any satisfactory information about the cloves, ginger and silver that were said to exist in this region. Having received from him much food from what was on the land, Diogo Lopes left that port, and with him Jeronymo Teixeira, who came there; and on the twelfth of August, the day of Sancta Clara, he arrived at an island on the coast, which gave the name of this Saint, in which, being well populated, he found many supplies, which he provided himself with. Continuing his discovery with safety, as the coast was full of islets and reefs, he arrived at the Kingdom of Matatana, where he hoped to find the cloves, and ginger of which he had heard about; but he found nothing more than a good welcome, with which those of the land received him. All he knew was that the cloves, which had been found there, came out of a junk from Java, which broke in a big storm, and was almost lost, came to that island in another port nearby; and from the cloves that this junk carried, it spread throughout the land and that deceived Tristão da Cunha. It is true that after some time the people of the land saw that that fruit was esteemed among the Moors, through communication with them, they came to understand that in some certain trees, which bear a fruit like laurel berry, which has the same flavour as cloves, and they began to bring to the sea ports to see if they would give them anything for it. And in the year (15)27, in a port on that island, where Manuel de la Cerda and Aleixo d'Abreu, captains of two naos, who sailed to India, as we will see later, were lost, they found this fruit already a prized thing; and examples of them were brought to ElRey (in Portugal). As for the ginger, it was true that the land provided it, but not enough for a complete load, because the people did not have it available, they often ordered some because they saw that the Moors liked it. The Kaffirs from within the hinterland of the Island also brought some silver, and it was of very low quality, without those from that port of Matatana knowing where they got it from. Diogo Lopes, seeing that all the reasons for his trip to that Island ended in as little fruit as time served him, he set his face on India, but ran along the coast of the Island to find some ports, where he could find out about the things that were on the island; and because of the time he went to search the coast of India ……

Decada 3 Book 1 Chapter 1

Lopo Soares left the port of Lisbon on April 7th; and with good times he arrived in Mozambique, where he found two ships, one of which was Captain Luiz Figueira Cavalleiro of the house of ElRey, and the other Pedreanes nicknamed Francez, who also served as Pilot, which last year left this Kingdom on the eleventh of June by order of ElRey to discover the Island of S. Lourenço, and settle in it to trade in ginger, in a port called Matatána, where there was a large population of local people, and some Moors from the coast of Malindi. However, Luiz Figueira did nothing more than create a strong-house in the land, in which he retreated for a period of six months, where he received the residents there, saying that they waited for the news of ginger to arrive; and finally they rose up against him for stealing, which caused him to go to Mozambique, where he found Pedreanes, who had been arriving a few days ago. Whom Luiz Figueira, while he was in Matatána, had sent to discover the coast of the Island; and among some ports that he discovered, there was a bay, which they now call Santo Antonio, from the name of the ship he was on. On the cape of the Island in the East he discovered the port, which the natives call Bemaró (=Vohemar in NE Madagascar), where he found a large quantity of ambre. And because time was not enough to go where Luiz Figueira was, he arrived in Mozambique.

Decada 3 Book 7 Chapter 1

In February 1521, Bastiao de Sousa de Elvas leaves at the head of two ships, of which the second  carried Jean de Faria and Henrique Pereira Knights of the house of ElRey on a ship, to serve one as the commander and the other in charge of a fortress that ElRey D. Manuel ordered Bastiao de Sousa to build for him, of which he was to become Captain on the Island of S. Lourenço in the Matatana port for reason for the ginger that was there. To which he had already negotiated, ElRey had sent it to Luiz Figueira, who did so little, as we wrote, when Lopo Soares, in the year five hundred and fifteen, going to India, found him in Mozambique, and much less did Bastiao de Sousa, (as will be seen in its place.)

Dejanirah Couto ; 2020 (Entre commerce et «Carreira da India»: Premières expéditions portugaises dans le sud-ouest de l’océan Indien p143). Has the following to say about this passage:

João de Barros, according to which the island received at the time of the first Portuguese explorations the visit of a junk from Java loaded with cloves, which got lost and came to land near Matatana/Matitanana, shows that Madagascar was inserted in the network of maritime routes of the Indian Ocean.

Note: Archaeology has proven that the mouth of the Matatana river was a very old commercial settlement.

Decada 3 Book 8 Chapter 6

Bastiao de Sousa left this kingdom to build the fortress in Porto Matatana , because the other ship of his company , in which was Captain João de Faria, separated from him in a storm , when he arrived at the port , where he hoped it would go to; He didn't find it, and he was very dissatisfied, because it carried all the things and officers that had to guard the fortress and without it, his arrival wouldn't serve the purpose that El Rey had ordered: after spending a few days there waiting for it, he left. He looks forward to Mozambique, thinking that it might be there. And as he didn't find it, and because of the winter was close, he wintered in Mozambique; and as the monsoon arrived in the year 22, he journeyed to India to find the materials to construct the forteress. And being very close to the coast of India, he found the very nao he was looking for, which was also in search of him, arriving 10 days after he had left the port of Matatana; and when they found out that he was gone, also because of the winter, they wintered on the Island, ……