At the beginning of the 16th century, a Portuguese squadron of 13 ships crisscrossed the Indian Ocean. One of these ships went adrift, and its captain, Diogo Dias, was therefore the first European to discover the island on August 10, 1500, which he named Isle of
Saint Lawrence. In February 1506, Admiral Fernão Soares recognized the place and so Antomabokala, former capital of Ankarana, acquired its name of Diego Suarez (
Diogo Soares, in Portuguese), which comes from the junction of the first name of the captain and the surname of the Admiral. In 1900, the
Decauville railway at Diégo Suarez was built. The Second Pacific Squadron of
Imperial Russia anchored and was resupplied at Diego-Suarez on its way to the
Battle of Tsushima in 1905. On 21 March 1909, the first bricks of the cathedral were laid down. In 1919 there was an epidemics of the
Spanish flu followed by an outbreak of the
plague in 1920. Still, in 1925 the Province de Diego-Suarez had 13695 habitants. had surrendered on 13 May 1942. In 1942, Diego-Suarez was the primary objective of
Operation Ironclad, the starting point of the Allied invasion and capture of
Madagascar. The Allies were concerned that
Japan would pressure
Vichy France into granting use of Madagascar, as they had with
French Indo-China during the previous year, and determined that the island should not be made a base for the interception of Allied shipping. Diego-Suarez, with its superb harbour and a concentration of government officials, was selected as the initial invasion point. The Japanese responded with an attack by midget submarines on the British naval forces in the harbour, damaging the
battleship and sinking the oil tanker
British Loyalty. France continued to operate a military base in the city following Malagasy independence in 1960. Between 1973 and 1975, French forces were withdrawn. ==Postage stamps==