Expansion of European Trading Posts on the Madagascar Coast in the 1620s

Timeline

1. 1621–1625Bay of Tamatave · MadagascarIn the early 1620s the Dutch East India Company and individual English merchants began establishing seasonal trading stations at natural harbors such as Tamatave, purchasing cattle, rice, and labor from coastal peoples like the Betsimisaraka while supplying ironware, textiles, and firearms; European trade networks were systematically embedded on Madagascar's east coast for the first time.
2. 1624–1628Saint Augustine Bay and Toliara · MadagascarIn the mid-1620s European pirates and merchants used Madagascar's southwest coast (near modern Toliara) as a supply and rest base for Indian Ocean raiding, and participated in the slave trade among local Sakalava polities; the influx of European firearms altered the coastal balance of power.
3. 1627–1630Madagascar east and west coasts · MadagascarBy the late 1620s, European trading posts shifted from seasonal visits to more regular annual traffic; local chiefs gained European goods by controlling ports and sources of supply. Some inland polities (such as early Merina leaders) began to perceive the political and economic opportunities brought by coastal trade, paving the way for permanent posts like the French Fort Dauphin in the 1640s.