Rainilaiarivony (30 January 1828 – 17 July 1896) was a Malagasy politician who served as the chief of state and co-king of Madagascar (often translated as "prime minister") from 1864 to 1895, succeeding his older brother Rainivoninahitriniony, who had held the post for thirteen years. His career mirrored that of his father Rainiharo, a renowned military man who became prime minister during the reign of Queen Ranavalona I.
Rainilaiarivony stems from the Tsimiamboholahy family, the original royal lignage of Imerina. He is the son of Rainiharo, son of Andriantsilavo, descendant of the last great Vazimba kind of Ialamanga (later Antananarivo), Andriampirokana.
Despite a childhood marked by ostracism from his family, as a young man Rainilaiarivony was elevated to a position of high authority and confidence in the royal court, serving alongside his father and brother. He co-led a critical military expedition with Rainivoninahitriniony at the age of 24 and was promoted to commander-in-chief of the army following the death of the queen in 1861. In that position he oversaw continuing efforts to maintain royal authority in the outlying regions of Madagascar and acted as adviser to his brother, who had been promoted to prime minister in 1852. He also influenced the transformation of the kingdom's government from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one, in which power was shared between the sovereign and the prime minister. Rainilaiarivony and Queen Rasoherina worked together to depose Rainivoninahitriniony for his abuses of office in 1864. Taking his brother's place as prime minister, Rainilaiarivony remained in power as Madagascar's longest-serving prime minister for the next 31 years by marrying three queens in succession: Rasoherina, Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III.
As prime minister, Rainilaiarivony actively sought to modernize the administration of the state, in order to strengthen and ensure Madagascar remained independent from foreign colonial empires who wished to absorb it. The army was reorganized and professionalized, public schooling was made mandatory, a series of legal codes patterned on English law were enacted and three courts were established in Antananarivo. Rainilaiarivony exercised care not to offend traditional norms, while gradually limiting traditional practices, such as slavery, polygamy, and unilateral repudiation of wives. He legislated the Christianization of the monarchy under Ranavalona II. His diplomatic skills and military acumen assured the defense of Madagascar during the Franco-Hova Wars, successfully preserving his country's sovereignty until a French column captured the royal palace in September 1895. Although holding him in high esteem, the French colonial authority deposed the prime minister and exiled him to French Algeria, where he died less than a year later in 1896.
Early life Rainilaiarivony was born on 30 January 1828 in the Merina village of Ilafy, one of the twelve sacred hills of Imerina, into a family of statesmen. His father, Rainiharo, was a high-ranking military officer and a deeply influential conservative political adviser to the reigning monarch, Queen Ranavalona I, at the time that his wife, Rabodomiarana (daughter of Ramamonjy), gave birth to Rainilaiarivony. Five years later Rainiharo was promoted to the position of prime minister, a role he retained from 1833 until his death in 1852. During his tenure as prime minister, Rainiharo was chosen by the queen to become her consort, but he retained Rabodomiarana as his wife according to local customs that allowed polygamy. Rainilaiarivony's paternal grandfather, Andriatsilavo, had likewise been a privileged adviser to the great King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810). Rainilaiarivony and his relatives issued from the Andafiavaratra family clan of Ilafy who, alongside the Andrefandrova clan of Ambohimanga, constituted the two most influential hova (commoner) families in the 19th-century Kingdom of Imerina. The majority of political positions not assigned to andriana (nobles) were held by members of these two families.
According to oral history, Rainilaiarivony was born on a day of the week traditionally viewed as inauspicious for births. Custom in much of Madagascar dictated that such unlucky children had to be subjected to a trial by ordeal, such as prolonged exposure to the elements, since it was believed the misfortune of their day of birth would ensure a short and cursed life for the child and its family. But rather than leave the child to die, Rainilaiarivony's father reportedly followed the advice of an ombiasy (astrologer) and instead amputated a joint from two fingers on his infant son's left hand to dispel the ill omen. The infant was nonetheless kept outside the house to avert the possibility that evil might still befall the family if the child remained under their roof. Relatives took pity and adopted Rainilaiarivony to raise him within their own home. Meanwhile, Rainilaiarivony's older brother Rainivoninahitriniony enjoyed the double privilege of his status as elder son and freedom from a predestined evil fate. Rainiharo selected and groomed his elder son to follow in his footsteps as commander-in-chief and prime minister, while Rainilaiarivony was left to make his way in the world by his own merits.
At age six, Rainilaiarivony began two years of study at one of the new schools opened by the London Missionary Society (LMS) for the children of the noble class at the royal palace in Antananarivo. Ranavalona shut down the mission schools in 1836, but the boy continued to study privately with an older missionary student. When Rainilaiarivony reached age 11 or 12, the relatives who had raised him decided he was old enough to make his own way in the world. Beginning with the purchase and resale of a few bars of soap, the boy gradually grew his business and expanded into the more profitable resale of fabric. The young Rainilaiarivony's reputation for tenacity and industriousness, as he fought against his predestined misfortunes, eventually reached the palace, where at the age of 14 the boy was invited to meet Queen Ranavalona I. She was favorably impressed, awarding him the official ranking of Sixth Honor title of Officer of the Palace. At 16 he was promoted to Seventh Honor, then promoted twice again to Eighth and Ninth Honor at age 19, an unprecedented ascent through the ranks.
As a regular among the foreigners at the palace, young Rainilaiarivony was tasked by an English merchant as a courier for his confidential business correspondence. The merchant was impressed by the young man's punctuality and integrity and would regularly refer to him as the boy who "deals fair." With the addition of the Malagasy honorific "ra", the expression was transformed into a sobriquet—"Radilifera"—that Rainilaiarivony adopted for himself and transmitted to a son and grandson. The arrival of a doctor from Mauritius in 1848 provided Rainilaiarivony with the opportunity to study medicine over the course of three years. With this knowledge he became indispensable at the palace, where he provided modern medical care to the Queen and other members of the aristocracy. Successfully curing the Queen of a particularly grievous illness earned him a promotion to Tenth Honor in April 1851, thereby qualifying him for more responsible positions within the monarch's closest circle. Rainiharo took advantage of this trust to successfully encourage friendship between his own sons and the only child and heir apparent of the queen, her son Radama II, who was one year Rainilaiarivony's junior.
Marriage and family Around 1848—the exact date of his marriage is not recorded—Rainilaiarivony, then around 20 or 21 years old and having adopted the name Radilifera, concluded a marriage with his paternal cousin Rasoanalina. They had sixteen children over the course of their marriage. In addition, a one-year-old son that Rasoanalina had conceived with another man prior to the union, Ratsimatahodriaka (Radriaka), was adopted by Rainilaiarivony as his own. As a young man, Ratsimatahodriaka was groomed by Rainilaiarivony to become his successor, but the youth fell from a balcony while intoxicated and died in his early twenties.
Most of Rainilaiarivony's children failed to achieve their full potential. One son, Rafozehana, died young of delirium tremens, and sons Ratsimandresy and Ralaiarivony both met violent ends while still in their youth. Randravalahy, to whom Rainilaiarivony later ascribed the name Radilifera, was sent to France to study but returned before earning his diploma and faded into obscurity among the upper classes of Imerina. Ramangalahy studied medicine and was on his way to becoming a successful doctor, but died of illness in his twenties. Three brothers turned to crime: Rajoelina, who violated the laws of his country to enrich himself by selling contraband gold to an English company; Penoelina, who studied in England before health issues recalled him to Madagascar, where he and his friends engaged in sexual assault and theft; and Ramariavelo (Mariavelo), who organized a group of bandits to rob the houses of common citizens. One of Rainilaiarivony's daughters died in her twenties following a self-induced abortion, and the rest married and lived quiet lives out of public view.
Military career
The February 1852 death of Prime Minister Rainiharo left the queen without her consort, long-time political adviser and military Commander-in-Chief. She consequently awarded Rainilaiarivony a double promotion to Twelfth Honor ten days afterward, in preparation for an increase in military and political responsibilities. Shortly thereafter the queen expressed romantic interest in Rainilaiarivony and proposed that he assume the former role of his father as consort and prime minister. The young man refused on the double basis of their age difference, as well as the perceived impropriety of becoming intimate with his father's former lover. Ranavalona continued to harbor feelings for him throughout her lifetime but she did not express resentment over his refusal to reciprocate them and went on to take another high-ranking official as consort: Rainijohary, who was jointly awarded the role of prime minister along with the new Commander-in-Chief, Rainivoninahitriniony. Within a year the queen had assigned the 24-year-old Rainilaiarivony to his first position of responsibility within the military, and promoted him to Royal Secretary, keeper of the Royal Seal, and supervisor to the Royal Treasurer.
Several years prior to his death, former Prime Minister Rainiharo had led military campaigns to bring the peoples of the south under Merina control. Strong military campaigns on both sides of the conflict had concluded in a peace agreement between the Merina armies and those of the Bara people of the central southern highlands, who were accorded semi-autonomous status in exchange for serving as a buffer between the Sakalava to the west and the Tanala, Antemoro, Antefasy and other ethnic groups to the southeast. Upon learning of Rainiharo's death, disgruntled southeastern factions rose up against the Merina military stationed at posts within their territory. Queen Ranavalona responded by sending Rainivoninahitriniony and Rainilaiarivony on their first military expedition to liberate the besieged Merina colonists and quell the uprising.