Toamasina

Toamasina (toˈmasinə̥), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French Tamatave, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief seaport of the country, situated northeast of its capital and biggest city Antananarivo. In 2018 Toamasina had a population of 325,857. Under French rule, Toamasina was the seat of several foreign consuls, as well as of numerous French officials, and was the chief port for the capital and the interior. Imports consisted principally of piece-goods, farinaceous foods, and iron and steel goods; main exports were gold dust, raffia, hides, caoutchouc (natural rubber) and live animals. Communication with Europe was maintained by steamers of the Messageries Maritimes and the Havraise companies, and also with Mauritius, and thence to Sri Lanka, by the British Union-Castle Line. During the colonial period, owing to the character of the soil and the formerly crowded native population, the town was often plagued by epidemics; the plague broke out in 1898, and again in 1900. Since the draining of the neighboring marshes, there is some improvement, although there are still outbreaks of malaria and other diseases, such as chikungunya. André Michaux (1746–1802), botanist and explorer, died in Tamatave. Toamasina owes its importance to the existence of a coral reef which forms a spacious harbour, entered by two openings. The city center is built on a sandy peninsula which projects at right angles from the general coastline. South of the town there is the mouth of the Ivondro River in the Indian Ocean. Toamasina features a trade-wind tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification. While Toamasina has no true dry season month where less than of precipitation (on average) falls, the seaport has noticeably wetter and drier periods of the year. September–November is the driest period of the year, while February–April is the wettest time of the year.