Katra Fandatsaka (from latsaka "to fall") was first described under the name of Fifangha by the French traveller Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660) who observed the game among the Sakalava in the north-west of Madagascar in 1658. The Sakalava people, which occupy the Western edge of the island from Toliara in the south to Sambirano in the north. They speak several dialects of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages spoken in southern Borneo and are numbering approximately 700,000 in population. In 1909, the complete rules were given by André-Jean Dandouau (1874-1929). The game appears to be a precursor of modern-day Bao la Kiswahili.