History
of Malawi
Final Multi-Media Project
Sarah J. Smith
HIWD 320-D01: History of Africa
November 27, 2016
Modern day Malawi is located south of the
Sahara Desert and west of the Indian Ocean. More than 17 million people call
this small African nation home. The dominant geographic feature
of Malawi is Lake Malawi, the third largest lake in Africa. This vast body of
water lies along the eastern boarder separating Malawi from Mozambique. For generations,
the people of this region have created settlements around this lake some of
them choosing to plant crops along the fertile banks while others fish the waters
for their daily provision.
Earliest
History
Relatively little is known about the
history of Malawi before the rise of the Maravi Empire in the 1400s. The
discovery of ancient human bones testifies to the presence of human
civilization in the Lake Malawi area from as far back as 8,000 years ago. Some
clues about Malawi’s unwritten history have been left through artifacts such as
the Chongoni Rock-Art collection in central Malawi.
The Chongoni Rock-Art collection
contains over 170 rocks with ancient paintings. The paintings date back to the
time of the BaTwa people. The BaTwa lived in Central Malawi and are related to
the modern-day Chewa. The paintings tell about the history of the people group.
According to the artwork, the BaTwa began as hunter-gatherers, and the
community evolved into a food producing society. The artwork also marks the
initiation ceremonies which were an important part of the BaTwa religious
traditions.
Maravi
Empire
The Maravi Empire rose to power in
the 1400’s. It included modern day Malawi and stretched from Mozambique to
Zambia. Lake Malawi was in the center of the Empire providing a vital waterway.
This empire was dominated by the Amaravi people, also ancestors of the Chewa of
Malawi. According to tribal oral history, the Amaravi people migrated east from
the Congo region to escape warfare and disease. The Maravi Empire became dominate
largely due to their mastery of forming iron into farming tools and weapons.
The inhabitants of the Maravi empire
were first introduced to Europeans in the 1600s when Portuguese sailors landed
on the coast of modern day Mozambique entering from the Indian Ocean. The
Amaravi, traded slaves and ivory with the Portuguese for European goods.
Eventually, the Portuguese traders
were replaced by the Arab traders. The Arabs made Zanzibar, an island off the
coast of modern day Tanzania, their base of operation. One particular tribe in
Malawi, the Yao people, developed friendly relations with the Arabs and adopted
their religion. The Yao tribe of Malawi became the dominant leaders in seeking
out slaves and selling them to the Arab traders. The Yao would travel deep into
Malawi to capture people from other tribes to sell to the Arabs as slaves. In
this way, the Yao became hated by the other tribes in the Empire. This tension
resulting from the actions of the Yao tribe and their acceptance of Islam,
still exists today.
Missions
in Malawi
Another group of people to make a
significant impact on Malawi’s history were the Christian missionaries. The
first Christian missionaries in Malawi were sent out from the Catholic church.
Today, Roman Catholics make up a significant portion of the Christian
population. The most well-known missionary to Malawi was David Livingstone, a Scottish
Presbyterian doctor who established the mission later named Livingstonia in his
honor. David Livingstone reached Lake Malawi in 1859 and called the body of
water Lake Nyasa. Nyasa was the word
the Yao people used to refer to the lake. His travels paved the way for
Presbyterian missionary societies to be established in Malawi. It is estimated
that about half of the population of Malawi identify themselves as Protestant
Christian with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian as the dominant
Protestant denomination in the country.
Colonization
in Malawi
By the end of the 1800s, the British
merchants were also trading goods with the Malawians, but not slaves, since the
slave trade had been outlawed in the British Empire. The British eventually
took control of Malawi in 1893 calling it the British Central African
Protectorate. In 1907 the name was changed to Nyasaland.
British Nyasaland never had a large
European population, unlike their Rhodesian neighbors, but the Europeans who
were there were favored by the government. Because there were few plantations
in Nyasaland, jobs were scare. Lack of employment encouraged families to move
to other areas. The British government invested vast sums of money into
developing infrastructure in Nyasaland, but it never seemed to pay off. In the
1950s, the British felt that joining Nyasaland with their two Rhodesian
neighbors would help the economy in Nyasaland. The proposition was highly disfavor
able with the natives who feared being joined to colonies with more
concentrated European populations. They felt being connected to Rhodesian
colonies would hinder their own progress towards independent black rule. In
1953 the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created as a compromise
somewhere between annexation and independence. By this time the winds of political
change throughout the continent had already begun to blow. Nyasaland watched
other British colonies throwing off their European overlords, and they were
inspired to do likewise. In 1960, the British government agreed to give the
natives the majority of the Parliament seats. In 1963 Nyasaland was given the
right to self-rule, and in 1964 Nyasaland became an independent member of the
British Commonwealth and subsequently the name was changed to Malawi.
Post-Colonial
Malawi
The leader of the independence
movement in Malawi, Hastings Kumuzu Banda, became the President of the new
nation. Banda ran Malawi as a dictatorship. There was only one political party
of which he was the head. He had himself named President for life. He presided
in that role until 1994. Banda did keep the country fairly peaceful, especially
in comparison to other post-colonial African nations during that time. He was
most criticized for his strict censorship and invasive control over the lives
of the Malawian people.
After Banda was removed from office,
Malawi adopted a two-party political system, but rioting broke out when the man
elected happened to be a Muslim from Southern Malawi. The first truly democratic peaceful election
took place in 2004.
Malawi was one of the countries
devastated by the AIDS epidemic beginning in the 1980s. Today, the country
continues to have one of the highest levels of HIV infection in the world.
Because of the epidemic, the population in Malawi today is relatively young.
Malawi faces several challenges in
the new millennium. The country struggles a great deal to provide resources for
a large population on a relatively small piece of land. Examples of scarcity
and extreme poverty are rampant throughout the country. Unlike some other African
countries, Malawi has few mineral resources. Occasionally rare stones such as
amethysts, rubies and sapphires are uncovered, but the most common mineral is
limestone. Most of Malawi’s mined limestone is traded with South Africa and
used to make cement.
Malawians rely predominately on wood
for light and cooking. Many of the original forests have been stripped away in
the people’s quest for wood. Lake Malawi provides the country with the water
necessary to create hydroelectric power. Unfortunately, due to inefficiencies
most residents do not have access to the hydro-electric power, so the forests
continue to be stripped.
Conclusion
Despite the ongoing challenges, Malawi is
called “The Warm Heart of Africa.” This name aptly describes the friendly
people who reside within its borders. While there is still much to be done, the
people in this area have persevered for generations through all the many
political changes. New generations of Malawian leaders are rising in the
government, in the church and in the business sector. These young leaders are
eager to use the strength of their people to create a brighter future for all
Malawians.
Bibliography
“History of Malawi,” The Embassy of the Republic of Malawi, http://www.malawiembassy- dc.org
Kaunda, Jonathan Mayuyuka. "Malawi: The Postcolonial
State, Development and Democracy." Africa: Rivista Trimestrale Di Studi
E Documentazione Dell’Istituto Italiano per L’Africa E L’Oriente 50, no. 3
(1995): 305-24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40761017.
“Malawi.”
World Bank Group. 2016. http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malawi.
“Malawi,” World
Bank Group, 2016, http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malawi.
"Chongoni Rock-Art Area," - UNESCO World Heritage
Centre, Accessed November 04, 2016, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/476.
“History of
Malawi,” The Embassy of the Republic of
Malawi, http://www.malawiembassy-dc.org
Jonathan Mayuyuka Kaunda, "Malawi: The Postcolonial
State, Development and Democracy," Africa: Rivista Trimestrale Di Studi
E Documentazione Dell’Istituto Italiano per L’Africa E L’Oriente 50, no. 3
(1995): 305-24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40761017.
