The capture of Antananarivo on 30 September 1895 destroyed the political dominance of the urban Christian world and triggered a mobilization of rural communities in defence of ancestral heritage. The first major uprising began at Amboanana in November 1895, on the day of the Fandroana, the queen’s birthday and a public holiday. Its participants opposed the French conquest, the government associated with Rainilaiarivony, and the social and religious order that had developed around the capital.

The insurgents became known as the Menalamba, or “Red Plaids,” because they coloured their garments with the red soil of the country so that they would not easily be recognized at a distance. They seized Aribonimano, killed its governor and an English missionary with his family, and demanded the abolition of Christian worship, schools, military service, and forced labour. Further movements broke out in the north and south of Imerina in March 1896, calling for a return to ancient beliefs, a purge of the governing class, and the withdrawal of French forces.

The Menalamba obtained weapons from deserted royal soldiers and from Indian and Creole traders, and organized themselves along lines modelled on the royal army, including regiments and a table of honours. They attacked oligarchic officials, foreign missionaries, and Malagasy evangelists whom they associated with Christianity. Churches and schools were burned, while the cult of the Ravololona sampy and older practices such as the valirano and sotrovakaka oaths were restored.

The movement’s methods also alienated sections of the sedentary population. Attacks on markets sought to undermine institutions associated with oligarchic order, while raids on villages and crops supplied the insurgents but made them difficult to distinguish from jirika, or plunderers and brigands. French colonizers and their local allies used this confusion to isolate the rebels. Resistance was further complicated by the Menalamba’s ambiguous attitude towards Antananarivo: they rejected its Christian urban society while continuing to regard the capital as the symbolic centre of the kingdom.

The Menalamba movements operated mainly on the insecure margins of Imerina, where forests, escarpments, and the Tampoketsa range offered refuge to deserters and irregulars. Contacts with Sakalava in the north-west and Betsimisaraka in the south-east facilitated access to arms. Local dignitaries and administrators, including Rabozaka and Rabazavana, helped mobilize herders, labourers, and other discontented groups against the French and their Malagasy allies.