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Malawi (said to derive from the Chewa word "malawi" meaning "flames") has a rich and complex history. There are remains of lifethere going back millions of years and signs of
early humans around Lake Malawi have been dated to 50-60,000
years ago. At the beginning of the common era, the indigenous
population lived in a traditional Stone Age manner, living by
hunting and gathering however, within four centuries, the Bantu
arrived introducing farming, tools and ~ weapons. The history of
Malawi then becomes somewhat sketchy until the fifteenth century
when a population known as the Amaravi migrated from the area
now defined as the Republic of Congo and took arms against the
local population, defeating them and founding the Maravi Empire (above).
The empire, headed by the Kalonga, spread out to occupy new
areas. It was during the first century of the new empire that
Europeans first came to the modern day Malawi and tribes traded
slaves with the Portuguese to work in Brazil or Mozambique.
However it was the slave trade that heralded the decline of the
Maravi Empire as the trade caused infighting between the
empire's regional leaders. By the 19th Century, both the Ngoni and Yao were heading for
Malawi, with the Yao having strong trading and developing
cultural links with Arab traders. Whilst the Ngoni and Yao (both shown below)
fought each other for supremacy, the remains of the Maravi
Empire crumbled with most of its leaders lay dead in the ongoing
conflict.
The last decades of the 19th Century saw the United Kingdom
move into the area with the explorer David Livingstone
establishing the trading Livingstonia Central African Mission
Company in 1878 and by 1891 Britain had proclaimed modern
day Malawi as the Nyasaland and District Protectorate;
a name that only survived for two years before changing again to
the British Central African Protectorate (below), and lastly Nyasaland
in 1907. British
rule was marred by revolts, one of the most aggressive occurring
in 1915. However, as across Africa, the Second World War proved
an impetus for nationalist sentiment to coalesce into meaningful
action with the Nyasaland African Congress being established in
1944. Despite this, the British ignored local sentiment and in 1953
combined Nyasaland with what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe into a
single federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; a move strongly denounced by academic Dr
Hastings Kamuzu Banda who headed home from studying abroad to
take up the mantle of leading the Nyasaland African Congress
Subsequent violent clashes led to a state of emergency being
declared, Banda arrested and the Congress outlawed. Despite this, the movement for reform was sweeping across
Africa. As such Banda was invited the following year for talks
in London to explore constitutional reform which led to
elections for a new legislative assembly the following year, an
election which saw the Malawi Congress Party, the successor to
the Nyasaland African Congress, triumph with 94% of the vote.
This result paved the way for Nyasaland being granted
self-government with Banda as prime minister in 1963. What happened next, was oh so typical for a nation that had
struggled to free itself from what was seen as oppressive
foreign rule. Whilst independence was achieved on 6th July 1964 with
Nyasaland becoming the Republic of Malawi with Banda as its president, Banda established a one-party state with all
opposition movements denounced and their leaders detained. In
1971 Banda had himself elected president for life and secured
his position in power by regularly moving his ministers so that
none could emerge as a political rival.
By 1992 unrest against Banda's rule was growing, and foreign
donor countries began to suspend aid to Malawi in response to
growing concerns about its human rights record. However by 1993
Banda himself was becoming seriously ill and in 1994 the first
free democratic elections were held seeing Bakili Muluzi, the
leader of the United Democratic Front, being elected as
president with Banda retiring from public life, to die in 1997
from pneumonia in a South African hospital. Muluzi was succeeded by his hand picked successor, Bingu wa
Mutharika, on 24th May 2004 who was to die in office of a heart
attack on 5th April 2012 to be succeeded by the then vice-president Joyce Banda
former minister of foreign affairs and womens' rights activist who had a strong commitment to education. Joyce Banda lost the
presidency in the May 2014 election to Peter Mutharika, younger brother of former president and leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Bingu wa Mutharika. He served in office until June 2020 and was succeeded by Lazarus Chakwera who won 59% of the vote in that year's election.
Malawi History: Volunteer in Malawi
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Malawi History: Life in Malawi
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Malawi History: Child Sponsor Malawi
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Malawi History: Malawi Country Profile
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