Chronology of events

	160 million years ago: Madagascar separates from the African
	mainland.
	80 million years ago: Madagascar breaks away from India.
	2,000 years ago: Madagascar settled by people of Indonesian/
	African descent.
800	Arab merchants begin trading along the northern coast.
1200	Central highlands are settled.
1500	Portuguese captain Diogo Dias is first European to land on
	Madagascar, blown off-course on the way to India. He names
	the island St Lawrence.
1500s	Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English attempt to establish
	trading settlements; they fail due to hostile conditions and
	fierce local Malagasy.
1880s	France consolidates its hold over Madagascar in the face of
	local resistance.
1910s	Growth of nationalism; discontent over French rule.
1927	Ten Réserves naturelle intégrales covering 160,580 ha created
	under French colonial order. Scientific entry permitted but
	local use prohibited.
1936	Forest reserves of Berenty Estate established by the de
	Heaulme family in consultation with Tandroy clans; sisal
	plantation founded beside the Mandrare river.
1937	Alison Jolly born in Ithaca, New York.
1946	Madagascar becomes an Overseas Territory of France.
1947	French suppress armed rebellion; thousands are killed.
1956	Réserves speciales creates new protected areas.
1958	Parcs nationaux created.

	Madagascar votes for autonomy.
	Alison Jolly graduates with B.A. in Zoology from Cornell
	University.
1960	Independence, with Philibert Tsiranana as Madagascar’s first
	president.
1962	Alison Jolly graduates with a Ph.D. in Zoology from Yale. First
	visits Madagascar for postdoctoral research on ring-tailed lemurs,
	New York Zoological Society.
1963	Alison marries English economist Richard Jolly.
	Four children born 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971.
1966	Jolly publishes ‘Lemur Behavior: A Madagascar Field Study.’
1970	‘Malagasy Nature, World Heritage’ Conference, University of
	Antananarivo, which Jolly attends.
1971	Jolly becomes research associate, University of Sussex.
1972	Jolly publishes ‘The Evolution of Primate Behavior.’
	Popular unrest in Madagascar. Tsiranana dissolves government;
	General Gabriel Ramanantsoa becomes head of
	provisional government. He reduces the country’s ties with
	France in favour of the USSR.
	June: Madagascar participates in the United Nations Stockholm
	conference on the Environment.
1975	Lieutenant-Commander Didier Ratsiraka is named head
	of state after a coup, and elected president for a seven-year
	term. The country is renamed Democratic Republic of
	Madagascar.
	Jolly takes the family to Madagascar for six months to research
	‘A World Like Our Own.’
1976	Ratsiraka forms the Arema Party. He nationalizes large
	parts of the economy, until 1986, when market economy
	promoted.
1980	Jolly publishes ‘A World Like Our Own.’
	First International Monetary Fund bailout.
1982	Jolly family moves to New York as Richard becomes deputy
	director of UNICEF. Alison becomes guest investigator, Rockefeller
	University.
	Jolly travels in Madagascar with the BBC to work on ‘Tropical
	Time Machine’ for Horizon (1983).
1984	In Madagascar, Stratégie Nationale pour la Conservation et le
	Développement Durable (SNCD) adopted.
1985	International Conference on Conservation and Sustainable

	Development, Madagascar, attended by Prince Philip, Duke
	of Edinburgh, as president of WWF.
	Jolly awarded Chevalier de l’Ordre National de Madagascar.
1987	Jolly is visiting lecturer, Princeton University, 1987–2000.
1989	Madagascar develops National Environmental Action Plan
	(NEAP).
1990	Paris: the world’s first NEAP Accord signed for $100 million,
	ratified as Accord pour l’Environnement. Beginning of a period
	integrating conservation and development projects.
1991	Ranomafana National Park formed. ANGAP (Association
	Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protegées) set up to manage
	Madagascar’s protected areas system.
	President Ratsiraka forced to give up powers after army
	opens fire on demonstration.
1992	Plan d’Action Environnementale (PAE): Madagascar aims to
	develop a biodiversity offset policy for mining and logging
	companies along with other environmental incentives.
	Constitution of the Republic of Madagascar is passed.
	Article 39 states: ‘Everyone shall have the duty to respect the
	environment; the State shall ensure its protection.’
	Madagascar participates in the United Nations conference on
	the Environment, Rio de Janeiro.
	Under pressure, Ratsiraka introduces democratic reforms.
	Alison Jolly becomes president of the International Primatological
	Society.
1993	Albert Zafy elected president of Madagascar.
1994	Ministry of Environment established. MECIE law (Mise en
	Compatibilité des Investissements avec l’Environnement) set up to
	protect the environment during development.
1996	Jolly becomes Honorary Chairman of the International Committee,
	27th IPS Congress, Madagascar.
	GELOSE law approved, seeking to integrate rural people
	into forest management.
1997	Zafy impeached. Ratsiraka voted back into office.
1998	International Primatological Congress, University of
	Antananarivo.
	Jolly awarded Officier de l’Ordre National de Madagascar.
1999	Jolly joins independent advisory panel to QMM, Quebec
	Madagascar Minerals, a mining operation jointly owned by Rio
	Tinto and the Government of Madagascar.

	Jolly publishes ‘Lucy’s Legacy: Sex and Intelligence in Human
	Evolution.’
2000	Richard and Alison Jolly return from New York to Lewes, Sussex.
	Jolly becomes Visiting Senior Research Fellow, University of Sussex,
	until her death.
	Thousands homeless after two cyclones hit the island and
	Mozambique in March.
2001	May: Senate reopens after twenty-nine years, completing the
	government framework of presidency, national assembly,
	senate and constitutional high court provided for in the 1992
	constitution.
	December: First round of presidential elections. Opposition
	candidate Marc Ravalomanana claims an outright victory.
2002	January: Ravalomanana and his supporters mount a general
	strike and mass protests.
	February: Ravalomanana declares himself president after
	weeks of political deadlock with Ratsiraka over the December
	polls. Violence breaks out.
	April: constitutional high court declares Ravalomanana
	winner of the December polls after a recount.
	June: the USA recognizes Ravalomanana as president.
	July: Ratsiraka seeks exile in France.
	December: Ravalomanana’s party, I Love Madagascar (TIM),
	wins a parliamentary majority.
2003	February: Former head of the armed forces is charged over
	an attempted coup against President Ravalomanana.
	September: World Parks Congress in Durban. Ravalomanana
	unveils a plan to more than triple the country’s total protected
	area, from 1.7 to 6 million ha, by 2008. The ‘Durban
	Vision’ sees the start of a period of mainstreaming environmental
	thinking into macroeconomic planning, lasting until
	2008.
2004	February–March: Tropical cyclones Elita and Gafilo hit;
	thousands are left homeless.
	October: World Bank, International Monetary Fund say they
	are writing off nearly half of Madagascar’s debt.
	Jolly publishes ‘Lords and Lemurs: Mad Scientists, Kings with
	Spears, and the Survival of Diversity in Madagascar.’
2005	Jolly with Hanta Rasamimanana publishes ‘Ako the Aye-Aye.’
	Madagascar is the first state to receive development aid from

	the USA under a scheme to reward nations considered to be
	promoting democracy and market reforms.
	With contributions from the Malagasy government, Conservation
	International and the WWF, the private Madagascar
	Biodiversity Fund is founded.
	August: QMM mine project gets the go-ahead from Rio
	Tinto.
	December: Malagasy Minister of Environment, Water, and
	Forests creates three new protected areas, bringing a further
	875,000 hectares under protection.
2006	Microcebus jollyae, Jolly’s mouselemur, named by Edward Louis.
	January: Madagascar introduces a new park-management
	system, the Système d’Aires Protégées de Madagascar (SAPM), to
	replace ANGAP.
	June: Conservation International Conference, Antananarivo.
	Ravolomananana commits to further protection of national
	parks.
	December: Officials declare Ravalomanana winner of
	presidential elections.
2007	April: referendum endorses increase in presidential powers.
	July: President Ravalomanana dissolves parliament after new
	constitution calls for end to autonomy of provinces.
	September: Ravalomanana’s TIM party wins 106 seats out of
	127 in early parliamentary elections.
	November: President Ravalomanana opens $3.3 billion nickel
	cobalt mining project in Tamatave, said to be largest of its
	kind in the world.
	Jolly acts as scientific advisor on ‘Lemur Street’ series.
2008	February–March: Cyclone Ivan kills 93 and leaves 332,391
	homeless. UN launches $36 million appeal for affected areas.
	March: Madagascar produces first barrels of crude oil in sixty
	years.
2009	January: Dozens killed in protests in the capital. Opposition
	leader Andry Rajoelina calls on the president to resign, and
	proclaims himself in charge of the country.
	February: Dozens killed after police open fire on opposition
	demonstration in the capital.
	March: Rajoelina assumes power with military and
	high court backing. Move is condemned internationally and
	isolates Madagascar.

	June: Marc Ravalomanana, who has been living in exile, is
	tried and sentenced in absentia for abuse of office.
	August: International mediators broker power-sharing
	agreement in Mozambique. Deal fails.
2010	March: African Union imposes targeted sanctions on
	Rajoelina and his administration.
	May: Rajoelina sets a timetable for a constitutional referendum
	and elections.
	June: EU decides to suspend development aid in the absence
	of democratic progress.
	August: Marc Ravalomanana is sentenced in absentia to life
	in prison for ordering killings of opposition supporters.
	November: Voters in referendum endorse new constitution
	that would allow Rajoelina to run for president.
2011	September: Eight political parties sign agreement to pave the
	way for elections to re-establish democracy. The deal leaves
	Rajoelina in charge of a transitional authority until March
	2012 elections; it also allows for the return of the exiled
	Ravalomanana.
	November: New unity government is unveiled. Opposition
	parties agree to join new government ‘with reservations.’
	Former president Didier Ratsiraka returns after nine years in
	exile.
2012	Jolly awarded honorary doctorate from the University of
	Antananarivo.
	May: Andry Rajoelina says he hopes elections can take place
	‘as soon as possible.’
	June. Madagascar attends the United Nations Conference on
	Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio+20
	or Earth Summit 2012, aimed at reconciling economic and
	environmental goals of the global community.
	September: Amnesty International calls on government to
	rein in security forces accused of killing dozens.
2013	January: Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana agree not
	to contest elections, following SADC. When Ravalomanana’s
	wife Lalao announces her candidacy, Rajoelina announces he
	will stand, as does Didier Ratsiraka. All declared invalid.
	August: International Prosimian Congress, Ranomafana.
2014	January: Hery Rajaonarimampianina sworn in as president
	after elections.
	February: Alison Jolly dies at home in Lewes.