Malagasy

Malagasy is the official language of Madagascar. It is related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, as well as to the South-east Barito group of languages spoken in Borneo. This indicates that Madagascar was first inhabited by Austronesian people from Polynesia who had come there through Borneo, though it has not been clarified precisely when or why such colonisation occured. The language has also incorporated borrowings from Bantu languages (notably Swahili), and Arabic, as well as from French (the former colonial rulers of Madagascar) and English (spoken by 18th century pirates as well as Christian missionaries from Great Britain).