North-eastern Madagascar contained a separate group of towns linked to Islam, the most important of which stood at modern Vohemar, ancient Iharana. Excavations of its graves revealed a rich assemblage of imported objects, including Chinese pottery, glass beads and vessels, bronze mirrors, and characteristic three-legged vessels made of chlorite-schist. Comparable vessels found at Kilwa point to commercial connections across the western Indian Ocean.

The graves at Vohemar followed a recognizable Muslim arrangement, with the head placed toward the east and the body facing north toward Mecca. Yet grave goods were buried alongside the dead, a practice explicitly opposed to Islamic doctrine. This combination indicates a community in which Islamic forms had been adopted without eliminating older religious and social traditions.

The settlements were probably not established before the fifteenth century, or perhaps the later fourteenth century, and archaeological evidence from Chinese porcelain suggests that they continued for approximately three centuries. Although little is known about the Iharanians’ origins, traditions preserved among people living north of Vohemar suggest connections with the Comoros and the East African coast. Some Iharanians may later have migrated southward along Madagascar’s coast.