 In 1642, Cardinal Richelieu sought possession of Madagascar for France, granting trading rights to Captain Rigault and associates who created the first French East India Company.A French settlement was established at Manafiafy in Anosy.There were many deaths in the first months, likely due to malaria and dysentery in the swampy area, and the settlement was moved southwest to the peninsula of Taolanara where they built what was later named Fort Dauphin, France's first colony in the Indian Ocean.