MALAWI, FLAG OF

horizontally striped black-red-green national flag with a red half-sun on the black stripe. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of 2 to 3. The British territory of Nyasaland (now Malawi) was granted a coat of arms on May 11, 1914. It showed a leopard standing on a rock against a white background, but the top of the shield was black bearing a golden sun. The Latin motto beneath, Lux in tenebris, is translated as Light out of darkness; it is suggestive of the British self-image as protectors and civilizers of the territory. This shield was used in the British Blue Ensign to represent the territory. When elections were held in 1961, the Malawi Congress Party obtained more than 90 percent of the votes. Its party flag consisted of three equal horizontal stripes of black, red, and green. These respectively symbolized the African people of the territory, the blood of martyrs for the national flag, and the ever-green nature of Malawi. The country's name means flaming waters, referring to the setting sun on Lake Nyasa (known in Malawi as Lake Malawi). When independence was achieved on July 6, 1964, the flag of the Malawi Congress Party became the basis for the new national flag. The sun from the coat of arms of 1914 was added in red to the top stripe of the national flag to distinguish it from the party flag. Whitney Smith History The paleontological record of human cultural artifacts in Malawi dates back more than 50,000 years, although known fossil remains of early Homo sapiens belong to the period between 8000 and 2000 BC. These prehistoric forebears have affinities to the San (Bushmen) of southern Africa and were probably ancestral to the Twa and Fula, whom Bantu-speaking peoples claimed to have found when they invaded the Malawi region between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. From then to about AD 1200, Bantu settlement patterns spread, as did ironworking and the slash-and-burn method of cultivation. The identity of these early Bantu-speaking inhabitants is uncertain. According to oral tradition, names such as Kalimanjira, Katanga, and Zimba are associated with them. With the arrival of another wave of Bantu-speaking peoples between the 13th and 15th centuries AD, the recorded history of the Malawi region began. These peoples migrated into the region from the north, and they interacted with and assimilated the earlier pre-Bantu and Bantu inhabitants. The descendants of these peoples maintained a rich oral history, and, from 1500, written records were kept in Portuguese and English. Among the notable accomplishments of the last group of Bantu immigrants was the creation of political states or the introduction of centralized systems of government. They established the Maravi Confederacy about 1480. During the 16th century, the confederacy encompassed the greater part of what is now central and southern Mala wi, and, at the height of its influence in the 17th century, its system of government affected peoples in the adjacent areas of modern Zambia and Mozambique. North of the Maravi territory, the Ngonde founded a kingdom about 1600. In the 18th century, a group of immigrants from the eastern side of Lake Malawi created the Chikulamayembe state to the south of the Ngonde. The precolonial period witnessed other important developments. In the 18th and 19th centuries, better and more productive agricultural practices were adopted. In some parts of the Malawi region, shifting cultivation of indigenous varieties of millet and sorghum began to give way to more intensive cultivation of crops with a higher carbohydrate content, such as corn, cassava, and rice. The independent growth of indigenous governments and improved economic systems was severely disturbed by the development of the slave trade in the late 18th century and by the arrival of foreign intruders in the late 19th century. The slave trade in Malawi increased dramatically between 1790 and 1860 because of the growing demand for slaves on Africa's east coast. Swahili-speaking people from the east coast and the Ngoni and Yao peoples entered the Malawi region between 1830 and 1860 as traders or as armed refugees fleeing the Zulu states to the south. All of them eventually created spheres of influence within which they became the dominant ruling class. The Swahili speakers and the Yao also played a major role in the slave trade. Islam spread into Malawi from the east coast. It was first introduced at Nkhotakota by the ruling Swahili-speaking slave traders, the Jumbe, in the 1860s. Traders returning from the coast in the 1870s and '80s brought Islam to the Yao of the Shire Highlands. Christianity was introduced in the 1860s by David Livingstone and by other Scottish missionaries who came to Malawi after his death in 1873. Missionaries of the Dutch Reformed church of South Africa and the White Fathers of the Roman Catholic church arrived between 1880 and 1910. Christianity owed its success to the protection given to the missionaries by the colonial government, which the British established after occupying the Malawi region in the 1880s and '90s. British colonial authority was welcomed by the missionaries and some African societies but was strongly resisted by the Yao, Chewa, and others. In 1891 the British established the Nyasaland Districts Protectorate, which was called the British Central Africa Protectorate from 1893 and Nyasaland from 1907. Under the colonial regime, roads and railways were built, the cultivation of cash crops by European settlers was introduced, and inhumane practices were suppressed. On the other hand, the colonial administration did little to enhance the welfare of the African majority because of its commitment to the interests of the European settlers. It failed to develop African agriculture, and many able-bodied men migrated to neighbouring countries to seek employment. Furthermore, between 1951 and 1953 the colonial government decided to join the colonies of Southern and Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, against bitter opposition from their African inhabitants. These negative features of colonial rule prompted the rise of a nationalist movement. From its humble beginnings during the period between the world wars, African nationalism gathered momentum in the early 1950s. Of special impetus was the imposition of the federation, which nationalists feared as an extension of colonial power. The full force of nationalism as an instrument of change became evident after 1958 under the leadership of Hastings Kamuzu Banda. The federation was dissolved in 1963, and Malawi became independent as a member of the Commonwealth of Nations on July 6, 1964. Zimani David Kadzamira Kings Mbacazwa G. Phiri The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica Soon after independence, a serious dispute arose between Banda, the prime minister, and other ministers. In September 1964 three ministers were dismissed and three others resigned in sympathy. Henry Chipembere, one of these ministers, escaped from house arrest and defied attempts to recapture him, becoming the focus for antigovernment opinion until his death in 1975. On July 6, 1966, Malawi became a republic, and Banda was elected president. He was made president for life in 1971. Malawi's 1966 constitution established a one-party state under the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), which in turn has been controlled by Banda, who has consistently suppressed any opposition. Since independence the MCP has been known as a conservative, pro-Western regime, which has concentrated its attention on economic development. Low turnout for the single-party parliamentary elections in June 1992 led to speculation that the government might hasten a move toward political reform. In external relations Banda pursued a policy at variance with that of most of the recently independent countries of tropical Africa. He accused the Organization of African Unity (OAU) of adopting attitudes that it was powerless to support, established friendly trading relations with the Republic of South Africa, and appealed to other African leaders to be more realistic in their attitude toward racial problems. James Clyde Mitchell Kenneth Ingham The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica Malawi joined the Southern African Development Coordination Conference, a union of majority-ruled nations neighbouring South Africa, in 1980 but refused to sever its formal diplomatic links with South Africa. Securing access to transportation routes to coastal ports was a primary factor in Malawi's regional policy, and it sought to assure better relations with its neighbours. For example, although at one time it was accused of supporting antigovernment Renamo forces in Mozambique, in the 1980s the two countries signed a series of agreements to cooperate on security matters; since 1987 Malawi troops have assisted the Mozambican government in defending the Nacala rail line against Renamo saboteurs. The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica The economy The backbone of the Malawi economy is agriculture, which regularly accounts for one-third of the gross domestic product and 90 percent of export earnings and which employs more than 80 percent of the working population. Since the mid-1960s, however, the sector has become increasingly concentrated on three cash cropstobacco, tea, and sugarand increasingly dependent on the market demand for these commodities. The small industrial sector is geared largely to processing agricultural products, with some limited manufacturing of import substitutes. The government has sought to strengthen the agricultural sector by encouraging integrated land use, higher crop yields, and irrigation schemes. In pursuit of these goals, several large-scale integrated rural development programs, covering one-fifth of the country's land area, have been put into operation. These projects include extension services; credit and marketing facilities; physical infrastructures such as roads, buildings, and water supplies; health centres; afforestation units; and crop storage and protection facilities. Outside the main program areas, advisory services and educational programs are available, and the Malawi Young Pioneers, a national youth movement, trains more than 2,000 young men and women yearly in techniques of rural development. Both higher incomes in the rural areas and continued public expenditure are factors that government planners hope will increase the purchasing power of the public as a whole and thus provide a stimulus for further industrial development. The government continues to promote the establishment of import-substitute industries, in hopes of reducing reliance on expensive imported goods, strengthening the balance-of-payments situation, and, at the same time, increasing employment opportunities. Resources Most of Malawi's mineral deposits are neither extensive enough for commercial exploitation nor easily accessible. Some small-scale mining of coal takes place at Livingstonia and Rumphi in the north, and quarrying of limestone for cement production is also important. Exploration and assessment studies continue on other minerals such as apatite, located south of Lake Chilwa; bauxite, on the Mulanje Massif; kyanite, on the Dedza-Kirk Range; vermiculite, south of Lake Malawi near Ntcheu; and rare-earth minerals, at Mount Kangankunde northwest of Zomba. Deposits of asbestos, uranium, and graphite are known to exist as well. More than half of Malawi's total land area is potentially arable, though only about one-fourth of it is cultivated regularly. Forests and woodlands cover nearly half of the country, and almost 4,000 square miles are in state-controlled forest reserves. The lakes and rivers of Malawi are estimated to provide more than 60 percent of the country's animal protein intake. Lake Malawi, in particular, is a rich source of fish within easy access for most of the country's population. Malawi's water resources are plentiful, although some rural areas are inadequately supplied. Treated water for the major cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe is supplied by the Walker's Ferry Scheme and the Kamuzu Dam, respectively. Most of the rivers are seasonal, but a few large ones, particularly the Shire River along its middle course, have a considerable irrigation and electricity-generating potential. The total hydroelectric potential of the country is estimated to be about 1,200 megawatts, of which more than 500 megawatts can be generated on the Shire River alone. Present power demands, which represent only about 10 percent of potential capacity, are met by the Nkula Falls (two plants) and Tedzani Falls hydroelectric schemes and by diesel plants. The land Relief While Malawi's landscape is highly varied, four basic regions can be identified: the East African (or Great) Rift Valley, the central plateaus, the highlands, and the isolated mountains. The East African Rift Valleyby far the dominant feature of the countryis a gigantic troughlike depression running through the country from north to south and containing Lake Malawi (north and central) and the Shire River valley (south). The lake's littoral, situated along the western and southern shores and ranging from 5 to 15 miles in width, covers about 8 percent of the total land area and is dotted with swamps and lagoons. The Shire valley stretches some 250 miles from the southern end of Lake Malawi at Mangochi to Nsanje at the Mozambique border and contains Lake Malombe at its northern end. The plateaus of central Malawi rise to an altitude of 2,500 to 4,500 feet (760 to 1,370 metres) and lie just west of the Lake Malawi littoral; the plateaus cover about three-quarters of the total land area. The highland areas are mainly isolated tracts that rise as much as 8,000 feet above sea level. They comprise the Nyika, Viphya, and Dowa highlands and Dedza-Kirk Mountain Range in the north and west and the Shire Highlands in the south. The isolated massifs of Mulanje (9,849 feet) and Zomba (6,841 feet) represent the fourth physical region. Surmounting the Shire Highlands, they descend rapidly in the east to the Lake ChilwaPhalombe plain. Drainage and soils The major drainage system is that of Lake Malawi, which covers some 11,430 square miles and extends beyond the Malawi border. It is fed by the North and South Rukuru, Dwangwa, Lilongwe, and Bua rivers. The Shire River, the lake's only outlet, flows through adjacent Lake Malombe and receives several tributaries before joining the Zambezi River in Mozambique. A second drainage system is that of Lake Chilwa, the rivers of which flow from the Lake ChilwaPhalombe plain and the adjacent highlands. Soils, composed primarily of red earths, with brown soils and yellow gritty clays on the plateaus, are distributed in a complex pattern. Alluvial soils occur on the lakeshores and in the Shire valley, while other soil types include hydromorphic (excessively moist) soils, black clays, and sandy dunes on the lakeshore. The people Nine major ethnic groups are historically associated with modern Malawithe Chewa, Nyanja, Lomwe, Yao, Tumbuka, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, and Ngonde (Nkonde). All the African languages spoken belong to the Bantu language family. Chichewa is the national language and English the official language, although English was understood by less than one-fifth of the population at independence. Chichewa is spoken by about two-thirds of the population. Other important languages are Chilomwe, Chiyao, and Chitumbuka. Some two-thirds of the population are Christian, of which more than half are members of various Protestant denominations and the remainder Roman Catholic. Muslims constitute almost one-fifth of the population, and traditional beliefs are adhered to by nearly everyone else. The population is growing at a rate well above average for sub-Saharan Africa. The birth rate is one of the highest on the continent, but the death rate is also high, and life expectancyat 47 yearsis significantly below average for a southern African country. With nearly one-half the population younger than age 15, high birth and population-growth rates should continue in the 21st century. By the early 1990s the problem of high population growth was compounded further by the then decade-long influx of refugees from Mozambiqueestimated to number about one millionfleeing the civil war in that country.