A Brief History of Malawi

Backgrounder on Malawi

A Brief History of Malawi

About 2,000 years ago the first of the Bantu-speaking people from Central Africa moved into the area of present day Malawi. For about 1300 years Bantu speaking people continued to come to this area, displacing the original inhabitants, and creating a large empire referred to as Maravi (likely where the modern name Malawi was derived). The newcomers brought with them an advanced technology,most notably expertise in iron work.

Europeans had been sailing around Africa to India and Asia ever since the 1400’s and had been buying slaves there since the 1600’s. Very few Europeans, however, had traveled inland beyond the coastal regions. For the most part, Europeans avoided going into Africa because travel was difficult (while Africa has many huge rivers, they are not accessible by ship from the coast), and there were many hostile tribes and diseases that Europeans had no immunity to. Sailors on slave ships were paid high salaries because of the very high risk of dying from a disease caught by coming into contact with African slaves. During this period, many colonized people were also wiped out by diseases brought over by the European colonizers.

The Slave Trade

Africans had been involved in the slave trade for many hundreds of years before they came in contact with Europeans. They sold slaves to Arab traders, and also practiced slavery amongst themselves. Europeans started buying slaves in Africa in the early 17th Century. The Europeans bought the slaves from coastal tribes, who traveled inland and captured slavesto bringto the coast for trading. Slaves were traded for weapons (guns, swords and knives), cloth, and alcohol (rum, brandy and wine). Between 1600 and 1850, over one million African slaves were sold to European and American slave traders.

In the middle of the 19th Century a very famous Scottish missionary named David Livingstone explored the area of Malawi. His letters, which were published in European newspapers,generateda lot of interest in learning more about the interior of Africa. After about 1850, many adventurers, traders, and missionaries started to enter the “Dark Continent”.

The British had already established a base for colonial operations in South Africa, and during the late 19th Century started moving north. They claimed what is now Malawi as part of the British Empire in the 1890’s, naming the territory “Nyasaland”. Because this territory was isolated from the coast and had no railway or good roads, there was little economic activity or trading. Some British settlers moved into Nyasaland and established plantations (tea, sugar, cotton, peanuts), but little other economic development occurred during this period.

By the 1950’s, African people from every part of Africa wanted the European rulers and settlers to leave. They believed they should govern themselves and take charge of their own economies. This movement can be called “Africa for Africans”.

Malawi became an independent nation in 1964. The first Prime Minister was Hastings Banda, a doctor educated in the United States. Banda soon passed a law that made him dictator for life. As a powerful ruler, he tolerated no disagreement and removed from office anyone who questioned anything he did! He remained in power until 1995. The democratically elected government that took over from Banda has tried to improve the economy, but Malawi has many difficulties to overcome. The legacy of 30 years of dictatorship created a big gap between the small minority of educated wealthy people, and the uneducated majority who live in poverty.

Malawi is a landlocked and densely populated country. The vast majority of people (90%) gain their livelihood from farming and most of these own very small pieces of land. The most important export crops are tobacco, tea, and sugar.

Malawi has no petroleum resources and it is very expensive to import petroleum products. The infrastructure is very inadequate, and even with considerable foreign aid, socio-economic progress has been disappointing. Malawi is ranked 164th out of 177 countries in the Human Development Index of the United Nations. There is a very high level of infant mortality, and more than 20% of adults are infected with HIV/AIDS.

Malawi does have some potential for mining industries (uranium, coal, bauxite) and hydro-electric development, but these industries will require large amounts of capital investment and stable government to become successful. Despite the challenges and obstacles, some political and economic progress has been made in Malawi. Since peaceful democratic elections in 1994, fundamental human rights are commonly respected, and there has been increased government spending on health and education.