Madagascar’s first settlers arrived by sea from Southeast Asia roughly 1,000 to 2,000 years ago, and the Malagasy language is Austronesian: its closest relatives are spoken on the island of Borneo, not on the African mainland. The Merina, one of Madagascar’s largest peoples, built a kingdom in the central highlands that was unified and expanded under King Andrianampoinimerina in the late 18th century.
Malagasy belongs to the Austronesian language family, not Bantu: its closest known relative is spoken in Borneo, evidence that Madagascar's first settlers arrived by sea from Southeast Asia around 1,500 years ago, not from the nearby African mainland.