Editing Radama II (section)

== Reign ==
Prince Rakoto acceded to the throne on August 16, 1861, upon the natural death of his mother, Queen Ranavalona I, assuming the throne name Radama II. His coronation ceremony was held the following year on September 23, 1862. Once upon the throne, he immediately initiated a rapid and dramatic reversal of many of his mother's traditionalist policies.{{sfn|Oliver|1886|p=}}  He reopened the country to foreign powers and concluded treaties of friendship with Britain and France. The [[Joseph-François Lambert#Lambert Charter|Lambert Charter]] opened up business possibilities for French investors. Freedom of religion was declared, persecution of Christians ceased, missionaries returned to the island and their schools were reopened. Radama abolished the traditional trial by ordeal of ''[[Ranavalona I#Tangena ordeal|tangena]]'', in which the guilt or innocence of an accused person was determined based on the outcome of consuming the poison of the ''tangena'' nut, and inhabitants of [[Antananarivo]] were permitted to raise swine within the city walls, a practice previously forbidden by a ''[[Fady (taboo)|fady]]'' (taboo) forbidding them from being kept near the royal talismans (''[[sampy]]''). The sampy were dispersed to the [[Twelve sacred hills of Imerina|sacred villages]] where they had originated under 16th-century Merina king [[Ralambo]] and other early monarchs.{{sfn|Oliver|1886|p=}} Significantly, Radama freed numerous political prisoners captured under Ranavalona I during provincial wars of subjugation and offered repatriation of confiscated property. This pardon was reciprocated by many of the beneficiary ethnic groups around the island, and good will between the coasts and central administration at Antananarivo improved significantly.{{sfn|Oliver|1886|p=}} These changes, and the king himself, were unequivocally praised by Madagascar's European partners:

{{quote|text="It is most remarkable that Radama II should have formed views of policy so large and liberal, so enlightened, humane and patriotic as those which form the foundation of his throne; that the son of such a mother, trained up under a despotism so dark, and restrictive and cruel, should have adopted such principles of religious freedom and political economy, as equal civil liberty and universal free trade principles, which our own nation has been so slow to learn, and which are still repudiated in many lands where civilization is far advanced."|sign = Ebenezer Prout |source=Madagascar: Its Mission and Its Martyrs (1863){{sfn|Prout|1863|p=}}}}

The reaction within [[Imerina]] was less one-sided.  The abrupt and dramatic policy changes pursued by the progressive king both alienated and disfranchised the established conservative factions among the [[andriana]] (nobles) and [[Hova (Madagascar)|Hova]] (freemen) at court. Especially controversial were the special privileges accorded to [[Joseph-François Lambert]] and his partners under the Lambert Charter, including the exclusive implementation of public works projects (felling trees, making roads, building canals etc.), control over minting coinage, lucrative mining rights and more as part of the purview of Lambert's proposed ''Compagnie de Madagascar'' (French Madagascar Company).  The citizens' concern stemmed primarily from clauses in the agreement that would have permitted Lambert's company to become permanent owners of Malagasy lands.  Until this point, land in Madagascar, which was viewed by the populace as the sacred ground of the ancestors, could only ever be temporarily possessed by foreigners until their death, at which point the land would revert to the crown. The threat of permanently losing any part of sacred Malagasy soil to foreigners was deeply troubling.{{sfn|Oliver|1886|p=}}{{efn|Similarly, the November 2008 agreement to lease large tracts of Malagasy land to the South Korean company [[Daewoo]] was a major factor leading to the [[2009 Malagasy political crisis|2009 ''coup d'etat'']] that brought down the [[Marc Ravalomanana|Ravalomanana]] administration.<ref>{{cite web | author = International Crisis Group | language = fr | title = Madagascar: sortir du cycle de crises. Rapport Afrique N°156 | date = 2010-03-18 | url = http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/africa/southern-africa/madagascar/156%20Madagascar%20-%20sortir%20du%20cycle%20de%20crises.ashx | access-date = 2010-11-30 }}</ref>}}