The bay of Tolanaro was found by a Portuguese Captain in 150?. Fort Dauphin was founded in 1643 by the French East India Company who built a fort there, named in honor of the crown prince of France, the future Louis XIV. It was settled by around a hundred colonists, who found themselves involved in the local politics. The poor trade results (some ebony and little more was obtained) hardly justified the difficulties of the settlers, who suffered from tropical illnesses and other problems. After a conflict with the Antanosy people, the survivors were evacuated in 1674.
One Governor of this colony, Etienne de Flacourt, published the History of the Great Isle of Madagascar and Relations, which was the main source of information on the island for Europeans until the late 19th century. (For additional information on the early history of Tolagnaro (then called Fort Dauphin), see For an early picture of a grave site at Libanona, looking towards Bezavona, see.
After World War II and until Didier Ratsiraka took the presidency in 1975, Fort Dauphin had a thriving community of Malagasy, French, Chinese and Pakistani merchants with adequate roads connecting the city to Tulear to the west and Fianarantsoa to the west and then north. The port provided a means of exporting cattle to Mauritius and importing various goods from France and elsewhere. During the time Philibert Tsiranana was President of Madagascar, he enjoyed flying down to Fort Dauphin to stay in a villa above Libanona beach.
In 1975, the French businesses were nationalized, French citizen's assets were frozen and several were briefly imprisoned.
Fort Dauphin was the headquarters of American Lutheran missionaries American Lutheran Church who worked in southern Madagascar (see Malagasy Lutheran Church) starting in 1888 for almost 100 years. They were engaged in community development, education, evangelism and medical work and also operated what was known as the "American School" and
