•It now
seems likely that;
•a) Madagascar was first settled, not
by Austronesians, but
by hunter-gatherers migrating from the East African mainland prior to 300 BC.
•b) Madagascar was also reached by
Graeco-Roman trading
ships, which may have been trading tortoiseshell with the resident foragers and were
responsible for the translocation
of commensal murids
•c)
There was regular contact between island SE Asia and the East African coast prior to 0 AD by
an unknown people
using outriggers and trading in spices
•d) After a gap, precursors of the
modern Malay established
a ‘raiding and trading’ culture based in settlements along the East African coast
from the 5th century
onwards