During the 17th century many European pirates elected Sainte-Marie Island as their residence, benefiting from the languorous life of the place and the passage of the ships belonging to the Company of the Indies. More interestingly, the island is also full of love stories between pirates and Malagasy princesses.
Nowadays there are still many vestiges testifying the historical richness of that time: the cemetery of the pirates, the house of the ancient Governor of France on the Îlot Madame, the catholic church of Ambodifotatra (the oldest church of Madagascar), and so on.
The rich history of Sainte-Marie Island has attracted many historians on the island. Among the most important ones is, without any doubt, Barry Clifford, a well-known American diver and researcher, who discovered the wreck of the legendary Captain Kidd in 2000.
