to oral history, King Ralambo was the originator of these culinary traditions in Imerina. Ralambo's father, King Andriamanelo, is credited with introducing the marriage tradition of the vodiondry () or "rump of the sheep," wherein the most favored cut of meat—the hindquarters—was offered by the groom to the parents of the bride-to-be at an engagement ceremony. In contemporary Malagasy society the terminology persists but families are more likely to offer symbolic coins in place of an offering of food. 1650–1800 The advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade increased maritime trade at Malagasy ports, including food products. In 1696, a trading vessel en route to the American colonies reportedly took a stock of local Malagasy rice to Charleston, South Carolina, where the grain formed the basis of the plantation industry. Trading ships brought crops from the Americas—such as sweet potato, tomato, maize, peanuts, tobacco and lima beans—to Madagascar in the 16th and 17th centuries; cassava arrived after 1735 from a French colony at nearby Réunion Island. These products were first cultivated in coastal areas nearest to their ports of arrival, but soon spread throughout the island; within 100 years of their introduction they were widespread throughout the central highlands. Similarly, pineapple and citrus fruits such as lemons, limes, oranges, consumed by sailors to ward off scurvy on long cross-Atlantic trips, were introduced at coastal Malagasy ports. Local cultivation began soon afterward. The prickly pear cactus or raketa (), also known in southern Madagascar as sakafon-drano () or "water food", was brought from the New World to the French settlement at Fort Dauphin in 1769 by Frenchman Count Dolisie de Maudave. The plant spread throughout the southern part of the island, where it became a fundamental food crop for Mahafaly and Bara pastoralists. Consuming six or so of the fruits of this plant preempted the need to drink water, and once the spines had been removed, the cladodes of the plant would nourish and hydrate the zebu cattle they tended. The introduction of this plant enabled the southern pastoralists to become more sedentary and efficient herders, thus boosting population density and cattle count in the region. 1800–1896 The 18th century in the central highlands was characterized by increasing population density and consequent famines, aggravated by warring among the principalities of Imerina. At the turn of the 19th century, King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810) successfully united these fractious Merina groups under his rule, then used