The plant drug was first documented on Madagascar in 1661, in Étienne de Flacourt's Histoire de la grande isle de Madagascar (pp. 145–146); it was mentioned again around 1720 and abundantly documented only after 1880.[1] Duvall notes pollen evidence far older — cannabis pollen near the island's centre from around 300 BCE, becoming abundant about 800 CE when the Malagasy ancestors arrived from Indonesia — and a diverse historical Malagasy vocabulary for the plant and smoking, with the most informative names ahetsmanga, jamala, jía and soróma suggesting links between the island's cannabis culture and others.[1]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Madagascar here.
References
- The African Roots of MarijuanaChris S. Duvall · Duke University Press · 2019 · ch. 4 with note 7; Flacourt 1661 first documentation, Drury 1729 mention, post-1880 abundance, pollen evidence, Malagasy plant names · ISBN 9781478004530
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.