Malawi. Information.
MALAWI (officially the Republic of Malawi), is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. Area - 118 494 sq.km. Population - 15 400 000 (2010) Capital - Lilongwe. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The area of Africa now known as Malawi had a very small population of hunter-gatherers before waves of Bantu-speaking peoples began emigrating from the north around the 10th century. Soon after 1600, with the area mostly united under one native ruler, native tribesmen began encountering, trading with and making alliances with Portuguese traders and members of the military. By 1700, however, the empire had broken up into areas controlled by many individual tribes, which was noted by the Portuguese in their information gathering. David Livingstone reached Lake Malawi (then Lake Nyasa) in 1859. As the result of Livingstone's visit, several Anglican and Presbyterian missions were established in the area in the 1860s and 1870s, the African Lakes Company Limited was established in 1878 to set up a trade and transport concern working closely with the missions, and a small mission and trading settlement was established at Blantyre in 1876 and a British Consul took up residence there in 1883. In 1889, a British protectorate was proclaimed over the Shire Highlands, which was extended in 1891 to include the whole of present day Malawi as the British Central Africa Protectorate. In 1907, the protectorate was renamed Nyasaland, a name it retained for the remainder of its time under British rule. In 1953, Britain linked Nyasaland with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in what was known as the Central African Federation (CAF), for mainly political reasons. Even though the Federation was semi-independent the linking provoked opposition from African nationalists, and the NAC gained popular support. The Federation was dissolved in 1963, and on 6 July 1964, Nyasaland became independent from British rule and renamed itself Malawi. Currency : Kwacha (D) (MWK)
