Madagascar , the world's fourth largest island, lies in the southwestern Indian Ocean, separated by the Mozambique Channel from the African mainland by approximately 420 kilometres. Neighbouring countries are the Comoros in the northwest and Mauritius and the French overseas department of La Réunion in the east. In 1896, the island was colonised by the French. It gained independence in 1960 as the Republic of Madagascar, with Antananarivo as its capital. The estimated population in 2017 was twenty-five million, comprising eighteen officially recognised ethnic groups, of which the most