Madagascar, officially known as the Malagasy Republic, is the world’s fourth largest island.
At 1,000 miles (1,610 km) long, it has about the same land area as Texas.
The island was once part of the African continent but broke away into the Indian Ocean about 160 million years ago.
Madagascar is known for its amazing number and variety of plants and animals, including half the world’s chameleon species.
Its major export is vanilla, which comes from the beans of an orchid plant.
The people, who are a mix of African and Malay-Indonesian descent, are called Malagasy and speak a language of the same name.
Scientists estimate that about 150,000 of the 200,000 living things on Madagascar are not found anywhere else in the world.
