Malawi info and history

Since I will be spending six months of the year in Malawi, I thought it would be useful and interesting to put some general information up about the country and also its history.

GENERAL INFO

Malawi (officially the Republic of Malawi) is a landlocked country in southeastern Africa. It borders Tanzania to the northeast, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the west, south and east. It is known as the "warm heart of Africa" due to having the reputation of Malawians being some of the friendliest people on the continent.

Malawi was formerly known as Nyasaland and is separated from Mozambique and Tanzania by Lake Malawi, which covers almost a fifth of the country's total area. Its population is around 15 million, English and Chichewa are the official languages and the capital city is Lilongwe.

Malawi is one of the world's least developed and most densely populated countries. A large percentage of the population lives in rural areas and there is much diversity of native peoples, Asians and Europeans, with several languages spoken and an array of religious beliefs.

The economy is heavily based in agriculture. The government faces challenges in growing the economy, improving education, health care, environmental protection and financial independence. The country has developed several programs since 2005 that focus on these issues, and its outlook appears to be improving, namely in economic growth, education and health care seen in 2007 and 2008.

Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality. There is a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS which affects the labour force, government expenditure and has a significant impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Malawi has several national parks, lakes, beaches, rivers, wildlife. It is not usually thought of as a great place to see wildlife, but it is home to many elephants, hippos,  antelope species, birds, buffaloes, leopards, zebras, warthogs, jackals and hyenas.

HISTORY

 

Between the 1st and 4th century AD, Bantu-speaking people (ethnic groups in Africa who migrated from the West to Central to Eastern and Southern Africa) migrated to Nyasaland. The earliest known kingdom in the region of Lake Nyasa was the Maravi Confederacy, established by the Bantus in the late 15th century. In the 18th century the kingdom conquered parts of modern Zimbabwe and Mozambique. However, shortly thereafter it declined as a result of internal rivalries and incursions by the Yao people, who sold their Malawi captives as slaves to Arab and Swahili merchants living on the Indian Ocean coast.

British involvement

From the middle of the 19th century slavery was the issue which focused European attention on these regions of Africa. Scottish explorer and missionary, David Livingstone, launched an anti-slavery crusade based on what he has witnessed along the Zambezi and reached Lake Nyasa in 1858. 

In 1876, Scottish missionaries established Blantyre which was named after Livingstone's birthplace and now the largest city in Malawi, as a centre from which to fight slavery.

In 1890, Cecil Rhodes, an English-born businessman, mining magnate and politician in South Africa, sent settlers into present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe. This region was formerly known as Rhodesia (named after Rhodes) - Northern Rhodesia being Zambia and Southern Rhodesia, Zimbabwe.

In 1891 the British government took direct responsibility for the administration of present-day Malawi - it was known from 1893 as the British Central African Protectorate, and from 1907 as Nyasaland.

Federation

Over the next half century Nyasaland barely prospered. With work in short supply for the African population, many moved to neighbouring countries in search of employment. The view developed in government circles that Nyasaland's economy could only thrive in some form of closer union with its two colonial neighbours.

By the 1950's the political future of these neighbouring African colonies was under discussion. Confronted with conflicting demands and aware of its responsibilities for Nyasaland as well as the two Rhodesias, the British government imposed a compromise in the form of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. This was to be a self-governing colony, with its own assembly and Prime Minister. The intention was to derive the greatest economic benefit from the larger unit while minimising political tension between the three parts of the Federation, each of which retained its existing local government.

The intended economic benefits materialised during the early years of the Federation, helped by a world rise in copper prices, but that was not enough, particularly as British colonies elsewhere in Africa had won independence. For example, Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence in 1957.

In March 1963, by which time all three colonies were demanding independence, the British government finally conceded. The Federation was formally dissolved on December 31st, 1963.

Steps to Independence

The years immediately before federation saw the first stirrings of African nationalism in Nyasaland. A group of politicians, among them a doctor, Hastings Banda, spoke out against the proposed linking of the three colonies. When it nevertheless happened, Banda went abroad to practice medicine in Ghana. But there was pressure from his colleagues for him to return. He did so in 1958 and became President of the Nyasaland African Congress.

Banda joined the government as a minister in 1961 and became Prime Minister in February 1963, ten months before the Federation was dissolved. Nyasaland became independent in July 1964 and took the name Malawi and Banda remained Prime Minister.

Independence

From the start of what turned out to be a 30-year rule of Malawi, Banda followed policies which were at odds with other African leaders in the newly independent nations. He maintained cordial relations with the white supremecist regimes of South Africa and the Portuguese administration in Mozambique. Within months of independence several cabinet members resigned - partly on this issue and partly in protest at the autocratic style of government which Banda adopted from the start. Little changed over the years in either respect.

In 1966 Banda transformed Malawi into a republic with himself as President, which in 1971 he claimed for life. He ran the country as a one-party state, with persecution of anyone who showed signs of opposing his policies. 

Members of the Malawi Congress Party stood for parliament in periodic elections. An exceptionally low turn-out for elections in 1992 coincided with pressure from international agencies to introduce a multiparty democracy system. The eventual result, after strong opposition from Banda and the Malawi Congress Party, was new elections in 1994, and the main opposition presidential candidate, Bakili Muluzi, was elected. His party, the United Democratic Front, also had the largest number of seats in parliament.

In the second half of the 1990's, President Muluzi made considerable progress in improving Malawi's economy, particularly in terms of controlling inflation. This brought a much needed increase in foreign investment and aid.

Malawi today

The current President of Malawi is Bingu Wa Mutharika, who was elected in 2004 after a failed attempt by a previous President to amend the constituation to permit another term, struggled to assert his authority against his predecessor and started his own party, the Democratic Progressive Party in 2005. As President, Mutharika has overseen economic improvement, but population growth, corruption, increasing pressure on agricultural lands and the spread of HIV/AIDS pose major problems for Malawi. Mutharika was re-elected to a second term in 2009.