Marco Polo reported Madagascar's existence in the narrative of his travels, and it was also known to Arab cartographers. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive, in a fleet under the command of Diego Dias in 1500. In the centuries that followed, the Portuguese, Dutch and British all failed to establish permanent bases on the island, but from the 17th century, bands of outlaws succeeded where their governments had failed. Pirates contributed booty, buried treasure, and genes to the island's population, especially around Île Sainte Marie. At one stage when they were just saying no to piracy in the Caribbean, more than 1000 English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, American and other pirates were based on Madagascar's east coast. They used it as a convenient base to attack shipping rounding the Cape of Good Hope.

Increasing trade in arms and slaves with Europeans brought about the rise of Malagasy kingdoms, and small, rival states eventually emerged. By the late 18th century, the Merina clan had begun to dominate. The British signed a treaty in 1820 recognizing Madagascar as an independent state under Merina rule, and British influence remained strong well into the 20th century. But by 1883, the British had gone cold and France had become the recognized and sole European power in Madagascar (in exchange for French recognition of British sovereignty in Zanzibar).

The French invaded in 1895, surprising Merina defences and setting up a colonial administration. They sent Queen Ranavalona III into exile in Algeria in 1897, effectively abolishing the monarchy, and attempted to suppress all British influence and crush the Malagasy language, declaring French the official language. Although the French abolished slavery in name on the island, in practice they introduced such a repressive tax regime that amounted to forced labour. Land was expropriated by foreign settlers and companies, primarily for use as coffee plantations.

During WWII Britain invaded, ostensibly to prevent Japan from using Madagascar as an Indian Ocean base. The British handed it back to Charles de Gaulle's free French in 1943. Post-war, Madagascar underwent a nationalist backlash; many Malagasy had been trained to French standards and were no longer willing to be second class citizens in their own country. The 1947 revolt was crushed at the cost of many thousands of Malagasy lives (possibly as many as 80,000), but the rot had set in.

Several indigenous political parties were born in the 1950s, and when de Gaulle returned to power in France in 1958, the Malagasy voted to become an autonomous republic within the French community of overseas nations. Madagascar underwent a peaceful transition to independence in 1960, although the colons, as the French settlers were called, still pulled the strings. Philibert Tsiranana, the first president, gradually became more oppressive, and although he was a Merina (and they generally leaned toward the Soviet camp), he refused to establish a dialogue with any communist nations. He ferociously repressed a revolt in the country's south in 1972, which was the beginning of his undoing. He resigned soon after and handed power to his army commander, General Gabriel Ramantsoa.

The economy began a slow nose dive almost as soon as Madagascar gained independence. When it withdrew from the Communauté Financier Africaine (CFA), the nosedive gathered pace as the French farming community departed wholesale, taking capital, skills and technology with them. A quick shuffle of army general presidents - one of whom was assassinated after only a week in office - couldn't stem the haemorrhaging economy. A new group of officers led by Admiral Didier Ratsiraka had a shot at the top job, nationalising banks and other major businesses without compensation. The remaining French packed up their money and skills and went home.

By the late 1970s Madagascar had severed all ties with France and the government was seriously courting communist nations; Ratsiraka even produced his own 'red book' of government policies and theories. A mounting debt crisis in 1981-82 prodded the government to slow its reforms, and to trot out the standard austerity measures the IMF demanded as terms of a loan. The economy improved marginally with the IMF's programs, but quickly slumped again. Ratsiraka won the election in March 1989 under dubious circumstances, which led to riots. More came in 1991 when peaceful demonstrators were killed by North Korean-trained presidential guards in front of Ratsiraka's opulent new palace (built with North Korean aid). The early 90s was plagued by civil unrest. After a four year rule by Professor Albert Zafy that failed to unite the country or overcome years of bureaucratic misrule, Ratsiraka was voted back into power in 1996, to almost universal surprise. That less than 50% of the 6.5 million registered voters bothered to cast a ballot indicates that the Malagasy had little enthusiasm for any of the candidates.

Following his 1996 reelection, Ratsiraka helped put together a deal with the IMF and World Bank that led to the privatisation of several important economic sectors, resulting in both a greater expansion of the economy and higher inflation. Growing opposition to Ratsiraka led to the popularity of Marc Ravalomanana, the mayor of Antananarivo.

The results of presidential elections in December 2001 were inconclusive, with both Ratsiraka and Ravalomanana claiming victory. Eventually, after much to-do involving mass strikes and protests, Ravalomanana declared himself president in February 2002 and set up shop in the capital of Antananarivo, while Ratsiraka and his forces moved to the port city of Tamatave. Ratsiraka fled to Paris several months later although forces loyal to him still operate, sometimes preventing supplies from reaching the capital.

Ravalomanana soundly defeated the fragmented opposition in elections in December 2002, thus securing the legitimacy he needed. The new president set about reforming the country's ruined economy, and announced salary increases for politicians in an effort to stamp out corruption. He generally made the right noises to the World Bank which, along with France and the US, pledged a total of 2300000000.00 in aid. They, like millions of Malagasies, were hoping that Ravalomanana, a self-made millionaire, could help to finally fulfil Madagascar's huge economic potential.

In December 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami hit the east coast of Madagascar, destroying infrastructure and leaving close to 1000 people homeless.