, 1989). During these decades, the prohibition of the slave trade was invoked by the treaty of 1865 concluded between London and Antananarivo, and by a series of legislative measures that culminated with the collective emancipation of the Masombika, proclaimed in 1877 by Queen Ranavalona II in the territories over which she claimed control (approximately two thirds of the island). According to British Consul Pakenham, around 100,000 Masombika may have been liberated in 1877, or one third of the effective population of the entire island (Rakotondrabe, 1997), evaluated at approximately 300,000 towards the end of the nineteenth century. According to Campbell, at least 650,000 slaves would have been imported