Analalava is a coastal town and commune () in north-western

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

over the

Mozambique Channel The Mozambique Channel (, , ) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about long and across at its narrowest point, and reaches a depth of about off the coa ...

. It is approximately 150 kilometres north of

Mahajanga Mahajangā (French: Majunga) is a city and an administrative district on the northwest coast of Madagascar. The city of Mahajanga (Mahajanga I) is the capital of the Boeny Region. The district (identical to the city) had a population of 258,068 ...

and some 430 kilometres north of the capital

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

. It belongs to the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of Analalava, which is a part of

Sofia Region Sofia is a Regions of Madagascar, region in northern Madagascar. It is named for the Sofia River. It is the second largest Malagasy region (behind Atsimo-Andrefana) with an area of 50,100 km² (19,300 sq mi), and had a population of 1,500,227 ...

. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 10,000 in 2001 commune

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

. Analalava is served by a local

Analalava Airport Analalava Airport is an airport in Analalava, Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern c ...

. In addition to primary schooling the town offers secondary education at both junior and senior levels. The town has a permanent court and hospital. The majority 60% of the population works in fishing. 25% are farmers, while an additional 10% receives their livelihood from raising livestock. The most important crop is

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, while other important products are

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

s and

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

. Services provide employment for 5% of the population.

National Parks

The Sahamalaza National Park is partly in this municipality.

Climate

References and notes

Populated places in Sofia Region {{SofiaMG-geo-stub