Toamasina

Toamasina, formerly Tamatave, city and port, eastern Madagascar, on the Indian Ocean. A leading seaport and trading center, with exports of sugar, coffee, and rice, it is linked by rail with Antananarivo and other interior points. The area was settled in the 18th century around a European trading post. Occupied repeatedly by the French in the 19th century, it was the base of their conquest of the interior in 1894. The city's present name was adopted in the late 1970s. Population (1993) 137,782.