•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