A History Of Malawi 1859 1966

This title features a general history of Malawi, focusing mainly on the colonial period, when it was know as Nyassaland, but placing that period in the context of the pre-colonial past.

Nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa," "Land of the Lake," and "The Land of Smiling Faces," this small, landlocked country in southeast Africa offers travelers a true African experience. Within a single day, visitors can go on safari, enjoy sprawling tea gardens, and watch the sun sets over Lake Malawi, the third-largest lake in Africa and home to many rare species of fish. The country has nine unique national parks and wildlife reserves and has been home to many diverse African cultures, from the indigenous hunter-gathers to the incoming iron-working Bantu settlers. Dress, dance, masks, language, and traditional festivals all reflect waves of migrating tribes—those fleeing Shaka Zulu in the south, Swahili Arab slave traders in the east, and Bantu from Central Africa. Other cultural influences came through the slave trade routes, contact with Portuguese and Indian traders, and English missionaries who introduced Victorian-era buildings. This historic blend has produced a people who are strong, good-humored, conservative, traditional, yet adaptable, creative, loyal, and hard-working.

An engaging history of how the idea of development has shaped Africa's past and present encounters with the West.

How colonial governments in Asia and Africa financed their activities and why fiscal systems varied across colonies reveals the nature and long-term effects of colonial rule.

An updated and comprehensive single-volume history covering all periods from human origins to contemporary African situations.

The Chilembwe (or Nyasaland) Rising of January 1915 is one of the most fascinating episodes in the history of resistance in southern Africa. A small-scale event, suppressed within a matter of days, the Rising has been described by leading historian John Iliffe as the only significant rebellion in the whole of Africa prior to the First World War to be inspired by Christianity. Its leader, John Chilembwe, a Baptist minister trained in the United States, is now lauded in official circles as Malawi's first nationalist; his image is depicted on the country's banknotes. This book contains a comprehensive selection of the verbatim and written evidence presented to the Commission of Inquiry set up to examine the causes of the Rising. Witnesses included colonial officials, missionaries, and settlers, but also a substantial number of Malawians, among them Presbyterian ministers and teachers, government clerks, businessmen, chiefs, and headmen. Five European women, dramatically caught up in the Rising, add their own accounts of events; the Commission's report is published in full. Together, these testimonies are a fundamental source for an understanding of the causes and character of the Rising. More generally, they throw a revealing light on social and economic relations in early colonial Malawi. John McCracken provides extensive explanatory comments focusing, in particular, on the problematic nature of the sources. An appendix gives detailed notes on the individuals involved.

"This volume covers the period from the end of the Neolithic era to the beginning of the seventh century of our era. This lengthy period includes the civilization of Ancient Egypt, the history of Nubia, Ethiopia, North Africa and the Sahara, as well as of the other regions of the continent and its islands."--Publisher's description