Malawi (məlä'wē) , officially Republic of Malawi, republic (2005 est. pop. 12,159,000), 45,200 sq mi (117,068 sq km), E central Africa. It borders on Zambia in the west, on Tanzania in the north, and on Mozambique in the east, south, and southwest. The capital is Lilongwe; Blantyre is its largest city and commercial capital.

Land and People

Malawi is long and narrow, and about 20% of its total area is made up of Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi). Several rivers flow into Lake Nyasa from the west, and the Shire River (a tributary of the Zambezi) drains the lake in the south. Both the lake and the Shire lie within the Great Rift Valley. Much of the rest of the country is made up of a plateau that averages 2,500 to 4,500 ft (762–1,372 m) in height, but reaches elevations of c.8,000 ft (2,440 m) in the north and almost 10,000 ft (3,050 m) in the south. Malawi is divided into 24 administrative districts. In addition to the capital and Blantyre, other cities include Mzuzu and Zomba.
Almost all of the country's inhabitants are Bantu-speakers and about 90% are rural. The Tumbuka, Ngoni, and Tonga (in the north) and the Chewa, Yao, Nguru, and Nyanja (in the center and south) are the main subgroups. About 75% of Malawi is Christian (mostly Presbyterian and Roman Catholic), and roughly 20% is Muslim; the rest follow traditional beliefs. English and Chichewa are official languages; other languages have regional importance.

Economy

Malawi is among the world's least developed countries, with most of the population involved in subsistence agriculture. The principal crops are corn, cotton, millet, rice, peanuts, cassava, and potatoes. Tobacco, tea, sugarcane, and tung oil are produced on large estates. With the aid of foreign investment, Malawi has instituted a variety of agricultural development programs. Large numbers of poultry, goats, cattle, and pigs are raised.
There are small fishing and forest products industries. Deforestation has become a problem as the growing population uses more wood (the major energy source) and woodland is cleared for farms. Practically no minerals are extracted, but there are unexploited deposits of bauxite, uranium, and coal. Malawi's few manufactures are limited to basic goods, such as processed food and beverages, lumber, textiles, construction materials, and small consumer goods.
Leading imports are foodstuffs, petroleum products, manufactured consumer goods, and transport equipment; the principal exports are tobacco, tea, sugar, coffee, peanuts, and forest products. The chief trade partners are South Africa, Germany, the United States, and Japan. Most of the country's foreign trade is conducted via Salima, a port on Lake Nyasa, which is connected by rail with the seaport of Nacala in Mozambique. Malawi is a member of the Southern African Development Community.

Government

Malawi is a multiparty democracy governed under the constitution of 1995. The president, who is both chief of state and head of government, is popularly elected for a five-year term. The legislature consists of a 177-seat national assembly whose members are also elected by popular vote for five-year terms.

History

Early History and Colonialism
The first inhabitants of present-day Malawi were probably related to the San (Bushmen). Between the 1st and 4th cent. A.D., Bantu-speaking peoples migrated to present-day Malawi. A new wave of Bantu-speaking peoples arrived around the 14th cent., and they soon coalesced into the Maravi kingdom (late 15th–late 18th cent.), centered in the Shire River valley. In the 18th cent. the kingdom conquered portions of modern Zimbabwe and Mozambique. However, shortly thereafter it declined as a result of internal rivalries and incursions by the Yao, who sold their Malawi captives as slaves to Arab and Swahili merchants living on the Indian Ocean coast. In the 1840s the region was thrown into further turmoil by the arrival from S Africa of the warlike Ngoni.
In 1859, David Livingstone, the Scots explorer, visited Lake Nyasa and drew European attention to the effects of the slave trade there; in 1873 two Presbyterian missionary societies established bases in the region. Missionary activity, the threat of Portuguese annexation, and the influence of Cecil Rhodes led Great Britain to send a consul to the area in 1883 and to proclaim the Shire Highlands Protectorate in 1889. In 1891 the British Central African Protectorate (known from 1907 until 1964 as Nyasaland), which included most of present-day Malawi, was established. During the 1890s, British forces ended the slave trade in the protectorate. At the same time, Europeans established coffee-growing estates in the Shire region, worked by Africans. In 1915 a small-scale revolt against British rule was easily suppressed, but it was an inspiration to other Africans intent on ending foreign domination.