Hubert Lyautey arrives in Madagascar at the call of General Gallieni, his commander in Tonkin. During the first ten years of colonization (1896-1905) under military government led by General Joseph Simon Gallieni, life becomes organized in Madagascar as settlers establish themselves with the help of the new administration; settlement facilitated by the absence of land registries under the monarchy. Numerous small concessions are granted to individuals from Réunion or France. But the governor general quickly realizes that the Great Island is not destined to become a settlement colony: he then strives to attract more capital than settlers. The establishment of major French companies is thus favored and they receive considerable areas in concession for plantations, forests, mines… in which Malagasy are called upon to work. But the labor force is unstable, and difficulties in maintaining it emerge.
Road construction, begun by military engineers, continues and populations must provide services in kind, working with or without compensation, sometimes neglecting their crops, and the least populated regions are more severely affected than others. Antananarivo is connected to Toamasina in the East and Maevatanàna in the West, and Fianarantsoa to Mananjary. The central axis Antananarivo-Fianarantsoa is, in 1905, nearing completion. This is considerable progress, but according to reports by Lieutenant-Colonel Hubert Lyautey, "only superhuman efforts imposed on local populations had made it possible to accomplish it."
The Antananarivo-Toamasina railway is undertaken from 1900. By 1905, the Moramanga-Brickaville section is practically completed. Here too, recruiting labor poses major problems for engineers. Port equipment is essential for major maritime commerce. Toamasina and Mahajanga receive substantial installations. And above all, the creation of a telegraph network connecting Antananarivo to the main coastal centers strengthens administrative centralization on the island.
The colonial economy, during these ten years, benefits from these major achievements. But the results, due to lack of capital, fall short of what General Gallieni and his collaborators expect. The increase in foreign trade volume is significant, but exported products are essentially gathering or mining products. Despite administration efforts, commercialized agriculture does not yet produce sufficiently. More is exploited than created, as technical services are still in the experimental phase.
Insufficient capital is a brake on the development of the island. Moreover, "an essential aspect of the colonial economy," achievements interest exclusively the primary sector: plantations, rice cultivation, livestock, mining. Many immense concessions remain unexploited. The commercial sector is largely in the hands of French merchants and major companies. The increase in cost of living is one consequence of this economic orientation. It is especially noticeable in cities where consumption of manufactured products is significant and small peasant farms do not yet participate in the commercialized economy. Under these conditions, taxes weigh heavily on the common Malagasy people.
In fact, considerable transformations occur in the Great Island, barely after its conquest is completed, but the colonial economy benefits mainly the settlers. Certainly, the abolition of slavery is decreed on September 26, 1896, but the social revolution is not followed by decisions to organize an egalitarian political system. The installation of the system of services and indigenate soon establishes a new social structure founded on the inequality of men. Colonel Hubert Lyautey explains this in a letter to the governor general on November 12, 1898. "The suppression of slavery which was not really slavery, but was genuine patronage, has greatly contributed to maintaining unrest in the country, freed slaves finding themselves, on one hand, without resources and wandering in search of long-abandoned homes, owners, on the other hand, finding themselves ruined and without labor. The country is thus going through an agricultural crisis from which we have not emerged and nevertheless, it is impossible to keep freed slaves near their former masters, to whom the appearance of equality and freedom has given a spirit of insubordination and independence from which they are not likely to return."
Pela Ravalitera