Madagascar, formally the Republic of Madagascar, is an Indian Ocean island country located about 400 kilometers off the coast of East Africa across the Mozambique Channel. Madagascar is the world’s second-largest island country, after Indonesia, with 592,800 square kilometers. The country is home to around 30 million people and consists of the island of Madagascar (the fourth-largest island in the world) as well as other smaller outlying islands. Madagascar parted from the Indian subcontinent some 88 million years ago, following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, allowing native vegetation and animals to evolve in relative isolation. As a result, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, with over 90% of its animals being indigenous.
