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98-676: Malawi ( / m ə ˈ l ɑː w i / ; lit.   ' flames ' in Chichewa and Chitumbuka ), officially the Republic of Malawi and formerly known as Nyasaland , is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa . It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over 118,484 km (45,747 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 21,240,689 (as of 2024). Malawi's capital and largest city

196-598: A referendum in 1993, where the populace voted for a multi-party democracy . In late 1993, a presidential council was formed, the life presidency was abolished and a new constitution was put into place, effectively ending the MCP's rule. In 1994 the first multi-party elections were held in Malawi, and Banda was defeated by Bakili Muluzi (a former Secretary General of the MCP and former Banda Cabinet Minister). Re-elected in 1999, Muluzi remained president until 2004, when Bingu wa Mutharika

294-407: A 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.74/10, ranking it 96th globally out of 172 countries. Malawi is among the world's least developed countries. Around 85% of the population lives in rural areas. The economy is based on agriculture, and more than one-third of GDP and 90% of export revenues come from this. In the past, the economy has been dependent on substantial economic aid from

392-519: A British Consul took up residence there in 1883. The Portuguese government was also interested in the area, so, to prevent Portuguese occupation, the British government sent Harry Johnston as British consul with instructions to make treaties with local rulers beyond Portuguese jurisdiction. In 1889, a British protectorate was proclaimed over the Shire Highlands, which was extended in 1891 to include

490-613: A Malawian slave, known by the Swahili name Salimini, who had been captured in Malawi some ten years earlier. Salimini, who came from a place called Mphande apparently in the Lilongwe region, also noted some differences between his own dialect, which he called Kikamtunda , the "language of the plateau", and the Kimaravi dialect spoken further south; for example, the Maravi gave the name mombo to

588-533: A President who is both Head of State and Head of Government , first and second Vice Presidents, and the Cabinet of Malawi . The President and Vice President are elected together every five years. A second Vice President may be appointed by the President if so chosen, although they must be from a different party. The members of the Cabinet of Malawi are appointed by the President and can be from either inside or outside of

686-439: A couple perceived as homosexual (a man and a trans woman ) faced extensive jail time when convicted. The convicted pair, sentenced to the maximum of 14 years of hard labour each, were pardoned two weeks later following the intervention of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon . In May 2012, then-President Joyce Banda pledged to repeal laws criminalising homosexuality. It was her successor, Peter Mutharika , who imposed

784-420: A lack of foreign exchange reserves erupted. The protests left 18 people dead and at least 44 others suffering from gunshot wounds. The Malawian flag was modified in 2010, altering three colored stripes with the white sun. It existed for a short while until 2012 when the colors of black-red-green of the old flag were restored. In April 2012, Mutharika died of a heart attack. Over a period of 48 hours, his death

882-499: A low life expectancy and high infant mortality . HIV/AIDS is highly prevalent, which both reduces the labour force and requires increased government expenditures. The country has a diverse population that includes native peoples , Asians , and Europeans . Several languages are spoken, and there is an array of religious beliefs. Although in the past there was a periodic regional conflict fuelled in part by ethnic divisions, by 2008 this internal conflict had considerably diminished, and

980-486: A moratorium in 2015 that suspended the country's anti-gay laws pending further review of the same laws. On 26 June 2021, the country's LGBT community held the first Pride parade in Lilongwe. Malawi is a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique to the south, southwest, and southeast. It lies between latitudes 9° and 18°S , and longitudes 32° and 36°E . The Great Rift Valley runs through

1078-399: A nationwide fuel shortage, which was officially blamed on logistical problems, was more likely due to the hard currency shortage caused by the jet purchase. In addition, some setbacks have been experienced, and Malawi has lost some of its ability to pay for imports due to a general shortage of foreign exchange, as investment fell 23% in 2009. There are many investment barriers in Malawi, which

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1176-467: A new constitution for Nyasaland, with a clause granting Africans the majority in the colony's Legislative Council. In 1961, Banda's Malawi Congress Party (MCP) gained a majority in the Legislative Council elections , and Banda became Prime Minister in 1963. The Federation was dissolved in 1963, and on 6 July 1964, Nyasaland became independent from British rule and renamed itself Malawi, and that

1274-491: A new constitution in 1966, Malawi became a republic with prime minister Hastings Banda becoming its first president. Under the country's 1966, 1994 and 1995 constitutions, the president is executive head of state and government, and serves a five-year term. The first president, Banda, was elected by the National Assembly , and was named president for life in 1971. Subsequent presidents have been popularly elected. After

1372-749: A one-party state to a multi-party democracy strengthened Malawian ties with the United States. Significant numbers of students from Malawi travel to the US for schooling, and the US has active branches of the Peace Corps , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the Department of Health and Human Services , and the Agency for International Development in Malawi. Malawi maintained close relations with South Africa throughout

1470-504: A pause in the middle of a sentence the speaker's voice tends to rise up; this rise is referred to as a boundary tone . Other intonational tones are sometimes heard, for example a rising or falling tone at the end of a yes-no question. Chewa nouns are divided for convenience into a number of classes, which are referred to by the Malawians themselves by names such as "Mu-A-", but by Bantu specialists by numbers such as "1/2", corresponding to

1568-489: A presidentially appointed cabinet . The members of the cabinet of Malawi can be drawn from either within or outside of the legislature . The President is also concurrently the Minister of Defence. The current president is Lazarus Chakwera sworn in as president of Malawi on 28 June 2020. On 6 July 1964, Nyasaland became independent from British rule and renamed itself Malawi, with Elizabeth II as Queen of Malawi . Under

1666-499: A result, Tumbuka was removed from the school curriculum, the national radio, and the print media. With the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, Tumbuka programmes were started again on the radio, but the number of books and other publications in Tumbuka remains low. Chewa is the most widely known language of Malawi , spoken mostly in the Central and Southern Regions of that country. It

1764-498: A share of GDP) than any other African country: 28% of GDP. Beginning in 2006, the country began mixing unleaded petrol with 10% ethanol , produced in-country at two plants, to reduce dependence on imported fuel. In 2006, in response to low agricultural harvests, Malawi began a programme of fertilizer subsidies, the Fertiliser Input Subsidy Programme (FISP). It has been reported that this programme, championed by

1862-448: A word like bambo 'father', even though it is singular, will take plural concords (e.g. bambo a nga akuyenda, ndiku wa ona 'my father is walking, I see him'); they note that to use the singular object-marker -mu- would be 'grossly impolite'. The various prefixes are shown on the table below: There are 17 different noun classes, but because some of them share concords there are in fact only 12 distinct sets of prefixes. In

1960-472: Is Lazarus Chakwera , who has served since being elected in June 2020. Under the 1995 constitution , the president , who is both head of state and head of government , is chosen through universal direct suffrage every five years. Malawi has a vice-president who is elected with the president. The president has the option of appointing a second vice-president, who must be from a different party. It also includes

2058-405: Is Lilongwe . Its second-largest is Blantyre , its third-largest is Mzuzu , and its fourth-largest is Zomba , the former capital. The part of Africa now known as Malawi was settled around the 10th century by migrating Bantu groups. They formed various kingdoms such as Maravi kingdom and Nkhamanga Kingdom , among others that flourished from the 16th century. In 1891, the area was colonised by

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2156-739: Is also spoken in Eastern Province of Zambia , as well as in Mozambique , especially in the provinces of Tete and Niassa . It was one of the 55 languages featured on the Voyager spacecraft . The Chewa were a branch of the Maravi people who lived in the Eastern Province of Zambia and in northern Mozambique as far south as the River Zambezi from the 16th century or earlier. The name "Chewa" (in

2254-465: Is at 457 metres (1,500 ft) above sea level, with a maximum depth of 701 metres (2,300 ft), which means the lake bottom is over 213 metres (700 ft) below sea level at some points. In the mountainous sections of Malawi surrounding the Rift Valley, plateaus rise generally 914 to 1,219 metres (3,000 to 4,000 ft) above sea level, although some rise as high as 2,438 metres (8,000 ft) in

2352-579: Is based upon the English model and consists of a Supreme Court of Appeal, a High Court divided into three sections (general, constitutional, and commercial), an Industrial Relations Court and Magistrates Courts, the last of which is divided into five grades and includes Child Justice Courts. The judicial system has been changed several times since Malawi gained independence in 1964. Conventional courts and traditional courts have been used in varying combinations, with varying degrees of success and corruption. Malawi

2450-469: Is commemorated as the nation's Independence Day, a public holiday . Under a new constitution, Malawi became a republic with Banda as its first president. The new document also formally made Malawi a one-party state with the MCP as the only legal party. In 1971, Banda was declared president-for-life . For almost 30 years, Banda presided over a rigidly totalitarian regime, which ensured that Malawi did not suffer armed conflict. Opposition parties, including

2548-482: Is composed of three regions (the Northern, Central, and Southern regions), which are divided into 28  districts , and further into approximately 250 traditional authorities and 110 administrative wards. Local government is administered by central government-appointed regional administrators and district commissioners. For the first time in the multi-party era, local elections took place on 21 November 2000, with

2646-455: Is encouraging farmers away from tobacco towards more profitable crops, including spices such as paprika . The move away from tobacco is further fueled by likely World Health Organisation moves against the particular type of tobacco that Malawi produces, burley leaf . It is seen to be more harmful to human health than other tobacco products. India hemp is another possible alternative, but arguments have been made that it will bring more crime to

2744-454: Is estimated at 10% (2009). The country makes no significant use of natural gas. As of 2008, Malawi does not import or export any electricity but does import all its petroleum, with no production in the country. In 2008, Malawi began testing cars that ran solely on ethanol, and the country is continuing to increase its use of ethanol. As of 2009, Malawi exports an estimated US$ 945 million in goods per year. Tobacco's world prices declined, and

2842-670: Is no prefix, or where the prefix is ambiguous, the concords (see below) are used as a guide to the noun class. For example, katúndu 'possessions' is put in class 1, since it takes the class 1 demonstrative uyu 'this'. Some nouns belong to one class only, e.g. tomáto 'tomato(es)' (class 1), mowa 'beer' (class 3), malayá 'shirt(s)' (class 6), udzudzú 'mosquito(es)' (class 14), and do not change between singular and plural. Despite this, such words can still be counted if appropriate: tomáto muwíri 'two tomatoes', mowa uwíri 'two beers', malayá amódzi 'one shirt', udzudzú umódzi 'one mosquito'. Class 11 (Lu-)

2940-547: Is not found in Chewa. Words like lumo 'razor' and lusó 'skill' are considered to belong to class 5/6 (Li-Ma-) and take the concords of that class. Infinitive class: Locative classes: Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs have to show agreement with nouns in Chichewa. This is done by means of prefixes, for example: Class 2 (the plural of class 1) is often used for respect when referring to elders. According to Corbett and Mtenje,

3038-567: Is not obligatory in Chewa (for example, ndagula means 'I have bought (them)'). If used, it comes immediately before the verb root, and agrees with the object: The object infix of classes 16, 17, and 18 is usually replaced by a suffix: ndaonámo 'I have seen inside it'. The same infix with verbs with the applicative suffix -ira represents the indirect object, e.g. ndamúlembera 'I have written to him'. Numeral concords are used with numbers -módzi 'one', -wíri 'two', -tátu 'three', -náyi 'four', -sanu 'five', and

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3136-403: Is only one high tone in a word (generally on one of the last three syllables), or none. However, in compound words there can be more than one high tone, for example: A second important use of tone is in the verb. Each tense of the verb has its own characteristic tonal pattern (negative tenses usually have a different pattern from positive ones). For example, the present habitual has high tones on

3234-404: Is that they are clusters. The consonant inventory under a cluster analysis is as follows: Consonants in parentheses are marginal or found mainly in loanwords. The lateral is an approximant [l] word-initially and a flap [𝼈] medially. If the more complex syllable onsets are analyzed as single consonants, the inventory is as follows: The spelling used here is that introduced in 1973, which

3332-492: Is the one generally in use in the Malawi at the present time, replacing the Chinyanja Orthography Rules of 1931. Notes on the consonants Like most other Bantu languages, Chewa is a tonal language; that is to say, the pitch of the syllables (high or low) plays an important role in it. Tone is used in various ways in the language. First of all, each word has its own tonal pattern, for example: Usually there

3430-403: The 2020 Malawian presidential election and he became the new president. Malawi is divided into 28 districts within three regions: Central Region Northern Region Southern Region Former President Hastings Banda established a pro-Western foreign policy that continued into early 2011. It included good diplomatic relationships with many Western countries. The transition from

3528-601: The Apartheid era, which strained Malawi's relationships with other African countries. Following the collapse of apartheid in 1994, diplomatic relationships were made and maintained into 2011 between Malawi and all other African countries. In 2010, however, Malawi's relationship with Mozambique became strained, partially due to disputes over the use of the Zambezi River and an inter-country electrical grid. In 2007, Malawi established diplomatic ties with China, and Chinese investment in

3626-534: The Shire Highlands south of the lake as an area suitable for European settlement. 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, a small mission and trading settlement were established at Blantyre in 1876, and

3724-560: The UNESCO World Heritage List . Lake Malawi National Park was first listed in 1984, and the Chongoni Rock Art Area was listed in 2006. Malawi's climate is hot in the low-lying areas in the south of the country and temperate in the northern highlands. The altitude moderates what would otherwise be an equatorial climate. Between November and April, the temperature is warm with equatorial rains and thunderstorms, with

3822-768: The United Nations , the Commonwealth of Nations , the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the African Union (AU). Malawi is one of the world's least-developed countries . The economy is heavily based on agriculture , and it has a largely rural and growing population. Key indicators of progress in the economy, education, and healthcare were seen in 2007 and 2008. Malawi has

3920-653: The World Bank , the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other countries. Malawi was ranked the 119th safest investment destination in the world in the March 2011 Euromoney Country Risk rankings. The Malawian government faces challenges in developing a market economy, improving environmental protection, dealing with the rapidly growing HIV/AIDS problem, improving the education system, and satisfying its foreign donors to become financially independent. In December 2000,

4018-625: The Africans of Nyasaland to promote local interests to the British government. In 1953, Britain linked Nyasaland with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in what was the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland , often called the Central African Federation (CAF), for mainly political reasons. Even though the Federation was semi-independent, the linking provoked opposition from African nationalists, and

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4116-554: The British as the British Central African Protectorate , and it was renamed Nyasaland in 1907. In 1964, Nyasaland became an independent country as a Commonwealth realm under Prime Minister Hastings Banda , and was renamed Malawi . Two years later, Banda became president by converting the country into a one-party presidential republic. Banda was declared President for life in 1971. Independence were characterized by Banda's highly repressive dictatorship. After

4214-473: The IMF stopped aid disbursements due to corruption concerns, and many individual donors followed, resulting in an almost 80% drop in Malawi's development budget. However, in 2005, Malawi was the recipient of over US$ 575 million in aid. Many analysts believe that economic progress for Malawi depends on its ability to control population growth. A 2009 purchase of a private presidential jet followed almost immediately by

4312-532: The Malawi Freedom Movement of Orton Chirwa and the Socialist League of Malawi , were founded in exile. Malawi's economy, while Banda was president, was often cited as an example of how a poor, landlocked, and heavily populated country deficient in mineral resources could achieve progress in both agriculture and industrial development. Under pressure for increased political freedom , Banda agreed to

4410-685: The Malawi or Maravi people ( Maraves ) were those ruled by King Undi south of the Chambwe stream (not far south of the present border between Mozambique and Zambia), while the Chewa lived north of the Chambwe. Another, more extensive, list of 263 words and phrases of the language was made by the German missionary Sigismund Koelle who, working in Sierra Leone in West Africa, interviewed some 160 former slaves and recorded vocabularies in their languages. He published

4508-591: The Malawian economy but have also drawn significant inflows of aid from other countries. Donors to Malawi include the United States, Canada, and Germany, as well as international institutions such as the World Bank , the International Monetary Fund , the European Union , the African Development Bank , and UN organizations. Malawi is a member of several international organizations, including the Commonwealth ,

4606-539: The NAC gained popular support. An influential opponent of the CAF was Hastings Banda , a European-trained doctor working in Ghana who was persuaded to return to Nyasaland in 1958 to assist the nationalist cause. Banda was elected president of the NAC and worked to mobilize nationalist sentiment before being jailed by colonial authorities in 1959. He was released in 1960 and asked to help draft

4704-651: The UDF party winning 70% of the available seats. There was scheduled to be a second round of constitutionally mandated local elections in May 2005, but these were cancelled by the government. In February 2005, President Mutharika split with the United Democratic Front and began his own party, the Democratic Progressive Party , which had attracted reform-minded officials from other parties and won by-elections across

4802-698: The UN and some of its child agencies, the IMF, the World Bank, the African Union , and the World Health Organization . The country was the first in southern Africa to receive peacekeeping training under the African Crisis Response Initiative . Malawi is the 79th most peaceful country in the world (of 163), according to the 2024 Global Peace Index . As of 2017, international observers noted issues in several human rights areas. Excessive force

4900-487: The US, and China. In 2016, Malawi was hit by a drought, and in January 2017, the country reported an outbreak of armyworms around Zomba. The moth is capable of wiping out entire fields of corn, the staple grain of residents. On 14 January 2017, the agriculture minister George Chaponda reported that 2,000 hectares of crop had been destroyed, having spread to nine of twenty-eight districts. Chichewa Chewa belongs to

4998-409: The United States followed suit, freezing a US$ 350 million grant, citing concerns regarding the government's suppression and intimidation of demonstrators and civic groups, as well as restriction of the press and police violence. Malawi has been seen as a haven for refugees from other African countries, including Mozambique and Rwanda , since 1985. These influxes of refugees have placed a strain on

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5096-399: The affricate bz , the place of gy is taken by j , and that of sy by sh . Voiced and aspirated consonants, as well as [f] and [s], can also be preceded by a homorganic nasal: It is debated whether these are consonant clusters /NC/, /Cy/ and /Cw/ , or whether Chichewa has prenasalized , palatalized and labialized consonants /ᴺC/, /Cʲ/, /Cʷ/ . The most straightforward analysis

5194-404: The classes in other Bantu languages . Conventionally, they are grouped into pairs of singular and plural. However, irregular pairings are also possible, especially with loanwords; for example, bánki 'bank', which takes the concords of class 9 in the singular, has a plural mabánki (class 6). When assigning nouns to a particular class, initially the prefix of the noun is used. Where there

5292-687: The continental average, it was lower than the regional average for southern Africa. Its highest scores were for safety and rule of law, and its lowest scores were for sustainable economic opportunity, with a ranking of 47th on the continent for educational opportunities. Malawi's governance score had improved between 2000 and 2011. Malawi held elections in May 2019, with President Peter Mutharika winning re-election over challengers Lazarus Chakwera, Atupele Muluzi, and Saulos Chilima. In 2020 Malawi Constitutional Court annulled President Peter Mutharika's narrow election victory last year because of widespread fraud and irregularities. Opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won

5390-578: The country from north to south, and to the east of the valley lies Lake Malawi (also called Lake Nyasa ), making up over three-quarters of Malawi's eastern boundary. Lake Malawi is sometimes called the Calendar Lake as it is about 365 miles (587 km) long and 52 miles (84 km) wide. The Shire River flows from the south end of the lake and joins the Zambezi River 400 kilometres (250 mi) farther south in Mozambique . The surface of Lake Malawi

5488-619: The country has continued to increase since then, despite concerns regarding the treatment of workers by Chinese companies and competition of Chinese business with local companies. In 2011, a document was released in which the British ambassador to Malawi criticised President Mutharika. Mutharika expelled the ambassador from Malawi, and in July 2011, the UK announced that it was suspending all budgetary aid because of Mutharika's lack of response to criticisms of his government and economic mismanagement. On 26 July 2011,

5586-466: The country in 2006. In 2008, President Mutharika had implemented reforms to address the country's major corruption problem, with at least five senior UDF party members facing criminal charges. In 2012, Malawi was ranked 7th of all countries in sub-Saharan Africa in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance , an index that measures several variables. Although the country's governance score was higher than

5684-424: The country through its resemblance to varieties of cannabis used as a recreational drug and the difficulty in distinguishing between the two types. The cultivation of Malawian cannabis, known as Malawi Gold , as a drug has increased significantly. Malawi is known for growing "the best and finest" cannabis in the world for recreational drug use , according to a recent World Bank report, and cultivation and sales of

5782-660: The country's president, is causing Malawi to become a net exporter of food to nearby countries. The FISP ended with President Mutharika's death. In 2020, the programme was replaced with the Affordable Inputs Program (AIP), which extends the subsidy on maize seed and fertiliser to sorghum and rice seed. The main agricultural products of Malawi include tobacco , sugarcane , cotton , tea , corn , potatoes, sorghum, cattle, and goats. The main industries are tobacco, tea, and sugar processing, sawmill products, cement, and consumer goods . The industrial production growth rate

5880-608: The crop may contribute to corruption within the police force. Other exported goods are cotton, peanuts, wood products, and apparel . The main destination locations for the country's exports are South Africa, Germany, Egypt, Zimbabwe, the United States, Russia, and the Netherlands. Malawi currently imports an estimated US$ 1.625 billion in goods per year, with the main commodities being food, petroleum products, consumer goods, and transportation equipment. The main countries that Malawi imports from are South Africa, India, Zambia, Tanzania,

5978-562: The disabled, youth, and women. The Malawi Congress Party is the ruling party together with several other parties in the Tonse Alliance led by Lazarus Chakwera while the Democratic Progressive Party is the main opposition party. Suffrage is universal at 18 years of age, and the central government budget for 2021/2022 is $ 2.4 billion from $ 2.8 billion for the 2020/2021 financial year. The independent judicial branch

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6076-419: The elections (coming third) and was replaced by Peter Mutharika , the brother of ex-President Mutharika. In the 2019 Malawian general election president Peter Mutharika was narrowly re-elected. In February 2020 Malawi Constitutional Court overturned the result because of irregularities and widespread fraud. In May 2020 Malawi Supreme Court upheld the decision and announced a new election was held on July 2. This

6174-596: The examples below, the concords are illustrated mainly with nouns of classes 1 and 2. The shortened forms are more common. Prefixed by a supporting vowel, or by ná 'with' or ndi 'it is', these make the pronouns 'he/she' and 'they': For classes other than classes 1 and 2, a demonstrative is used instead of a freestanding pronoun, for example in class 6 ichi or icho . But forms prefixed by ná- and ndi- such as nácho and ndichó are found. The three pronominal adjectives yénse 'all', yékha 'alone', yémwe 'that same' (or 'who') have

6272-519: The form Chévas ) was first recorded by António Gamitto , who at the age of 26 in 1831 was appointed as second-in-command of an expedition from Tete to the court of King Kazembe in what became Zambia. His route took him through the country of King Undi west of the Dzalanyama mountains, across a corner of present-day Malawi and on into Zambia. Later he wrote an account including some ethnographic and linguistic notes and vocabularies. According to Gamitto,

6370-422: The government has failed to address, including high service costs and poor infrastructure for power, water, and telecommunications. As of 2017, it was estimated that Malawi had a purchasing power parity (PPP) of $ 22.42 billion, with a per capita GDP of $ 1200, and inflation estimated at 12.2% in 2017. Agriculture accounts for 35% of GDP, industry for 19%, and services for the remaining 46%. Malawi has one of

6468-749: The government is seen as a major issue, despite the Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau's (ACB) attempts to reduce it. Corruption within security forces is also an issue. Malawi had one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. In 2015, Malawi raised the legal age for marriage from 15 to 18. Societal issues found included violence against women , human trafficking , and child labour . Other issues that have been raised are lack of adequate legal protection of women from sexual abuse and harassment, very high maternal mortality rate, and abuse related to accusations of witchcraft . As of 2010, homosexuality has been illegal in Malawi. In one 2010 case,

6566-585: The help of some Malawians. This has recently (2016) been reissued in a revised and slightly modernised version. Another early grammar, concentrating on the Kasungu dialect of the language, was Mark Hanna Watkins ' A Grammar of Chichewa (1937). This book, the first grammar of any African language to be written by an American, was a work of cooperation between a young black PhD student and young student from Nyasaland studying in Chicago, Hastings Kamuzu Banda , who in 1966

6664-608: The idea of identifying with one's Malawian nationality had reemerged. The first name given to what is known now as Malawi was Nyasaland , a combination of the Lomwe word nyasa "lake" and the English word "land". The combined name was formed by David Livingstone , a Scottish explorer and missionary who led the Zambezi Expedition through the area in the mid-1800s. The current name Malawi , meaning "flames" in Chichewa and Chitumbuka ,

6762-420: The initial syllable and the penultimate, the other syllables being low: The recent past continuous and present continuous, on the other hand, have a tone on the third syllable: Tones can also indicate whether a verb is being used in a main clause or in a dependent clause such as a relative clause: A third use of tones in Chewa is to show phrasing and sentence intonation . For example, immediately before

6860-403: The international community increases pressure to limit tobacco production. Malawi's dependence on tobacco is growing, with the product jumping from 53% to 70% of export revenues between 2007 and 2008. The country also relies heavily on tea, sugar, and coffee, with these three plus tobacco making up more than 90% of Malawi's export revenue. Due to a rise in costs and a decline in sales prices, Malawi

6958-511: The introduction of a multiparty system in 1993, Banda lost the 1994 general election . Today, Malawi has a democratic , multi-party republic headed by an elected president. According to the 2024 V-Dem Democracy indices , Malawi is ranked 74th electoral democracy worldwide and 11th electoral democracy in Africa . The country maintains positive diplomatic relations with most countries, and participates in several international organisations , including

7056-465: The legislature. The legislative branch consists of a unicameral National Assembly of 193 members who are elected every five years, and although the Malawian constitution provides for a Senate of 80 seats, one does not exist in practice. If created, the Senate would provide representation for traditional leaders and a variety of geographic districts, as well as special interest groups, including

7154-482: The lowest per capita incomes in the world, although economic growth was estimated at 9.7% in 2008 and strong growth is predicted by the International Monetary Fund for 2009. The poverty rate in Malawi is decreasing through the work of the government and supporting organisations, with people living under the poverty line decreasing from 54% in 1990 to 40% in 2006, and the percentage of "ultra-poor" decreasing from 24% in 1990 to 15% in 2007. In January 2015, southern Malawi

7252-432: The military. By 1700, however, the empire had broken up into areas controlled by many individual ethnic groups. The Indian Ocean slave trade reached its height in the mid-1800s, when approximately 20,000 people per year were believed to have been enslaved and transported from Nkhotakota to Kilwa where they were sold. Missionary and explorer David Livingstone reached Lake Malawi (then Lake Nyasa ) in 1859 and identified

7350-482: The north. To the south of Lake Malawi lies the Shire Highlands , gently rolling land at approximately 914 metres (3,000 ft) above sea level. In this area, the Zomba and Mulanje mountain peaks rise to respective heights of 2,134 and 3,048 metres (7,000 and 10,000 ft). Malawi's capital is Lilongwe , and its commercial centre is Blantyre , with a population of over 500,000 people. Malawi has two sites listed on

7448-400: The penultimate vowel always remains short. The added 'u' or 'i' in borrowed words such as láputopu 'laptop' or íntaneti 'internet' tends to be very short. Vowels are generally lengthened in the penultimate syllable of a prosodic phrase. Chewa consonants can be simple (directly preceding a vowel) or may be followed by w or y : In the orthography, the place of by is taken by

7546-447: The restoration of multiparty democracy in 1993, the presidency was hedged about with a number of checks and balances to prevent its total dominance over the political system. The president is elected by a majority vote (50% + 1) of the electorate through direct, universal and equal suffrage. All Malawian citizens that have attained the age of 18 are eligible to vote in all elections. Every presidential candidate shall declare who shall be

7644-461: The results in a book called Polyglotta Africana in 1854. Among other slaves was one Mateke, who spoke what he calls "Maravi". Mateke's language is clearly an early form of Nyanja, but in a southern dialect. For example, the modern Chichewa phrase zaka ziwiri 'two years' was dzaka dziŵiri in Mateke's speech, whereas for Johannes Rebmann's informant Salimini, who came from the Lilongwe region, it

7742-578: The richest lake fish faunas in the world , being the home for some 200 mammals, 650 birds, 30+ mollusk, and 5,500+ plant species. Seven terrestrial ecoregions lie within Malawi's borders: Central Zambezian miombo woodlands , Eastern miombo woodlands , Southern miombo woodlands , Zambezian and mopane woodlands , Zambezian flooded grasslands , South Malawi montane forest-grassland mosaic , and Southern Rift montane forest-grassland mosaic . There are five national parks , four wildlife and game reserves and two other protected areas in Malawi. The country had

7840-473: The same language group ( Guthrie Zone N ) as Tumbuka , Sena and Nsenga . Throughout the history of Malawi, only Chewa and Tumbuka have at one time been the primary dominant national languages used by government officials and in school curricula. However, the Tumbuka language suffered a lot during the rule of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, since in 1968 as a result of his one-nation, one-language policy it lost its status as an official language in Malawi. As

7938-403: The same pronominal concords yé- and (w)ó- , this time as prefixes: In classes 2 and 6, ó- often becomes wó- (e.g. wónse for ónse etc.). The commonly used word álíyensé 'every' is compounded from the verb áli 'who is' and yénse 'all'. Both parts of the word have concords: As with other Bantu languages , all Chewa verbs have a prefix which agrees with

8036-542: The storms reaching their peak severity in late March. After March, the rainfall rapidly diminishes, and from May to September, wet mists float from the highlands into the plateaus, with almost no rainfall during these months. Animal life indigenous to Malawi includes mammals such as elephants, hippos, antelopes, buffaloes, big cats, monkeys, rhinos, and bats; a great variety of birds , including birds of prey, parrots, and falcons; waterfowl and large waders; and owls and songbirds. Lake Malawi has been described as having one of

8134-418: The subject of the verb. In modern Chewa, the class 2 prefix (formerly ŵa- ) has become a- , identical with the prefix of class 1: The perfect tense ( wapita 'he/she has gone', apita 'they have gone') has different subject prefixes from the other tenses (see below). The relative pronoun améne 'who' and demonstrative améneyo use the same prefixes as a verb: The use of an object infix

8232-660: The tree which he himself called kamphoni . The first grammar, A Grammar of the Chinyanja language as spoken at Lake Nyasa with Chinyanja–English and English–Chinyanja vocabulary , was written by Alexander Riddel in 1880. Further early grammars and vocabularies include A grammar of Chinyanja, a language spoken in British Central Africa, on and near the shores of Lake Nyasa by George Henry (1891) and M.E. Woodward's A vocabulary of English–Chinyanja and Chinyanja–English: as spoken at Likoma, Lake Nyasa (1895). The whole Bible

8330-516: The tribes had established several kingdoms such as the Maravi that reached from north of what is now Nkhotakota to the Zambezi River and from Lake Malawi to the Luangwa River in what is now Zambia and the Nkhamanga. 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

8428-404: The villages and the language of city-dwellers. Chewa has five short vowel sounds: a, ɛ, i, ɔ, u; these are written a , e , i , o , u . Long vowels are sometimes found, e.g. áákúlu 'big' (class 2), kufúula 'to shout'. When a word comes at the end of a phrase, its penultimate vowel tends to be lengthened, except for non-Chewa names and words, such as Muthárika or ófesi , in which

8526-568: 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 an example of what is sometimes called the "Thin White Line" of colonial authority in Africa, the colonial government of Nyasaland was formed in 1891. The administrators were given a budget of £10,000 (1891 nominal value) per year, which

8624-569: The words -ngáti? 'how many', -ngápo 'several': President of Malawi The president of the Republic of Malawi ( Chichewa : Mtsogoleri wa Dziko la Malawi ) is the head of state and head of government of Malawi . The president leads the executive branch of the Government of Malawi and is the commander-in-chief of the Malawian Defence Force . The current president

8722-545: Was bzaka bziŵiri . The same dialect difference survives today in the word dzala or bzala '(to) plant'. Apart from the few words recorded by Gamitto and Koelle, the first extensive record of the Chewa language was made by Johannes Rebmann in his Dictionary of the Kiniassa Language , published in 1877 but written in 1853–4. Rebmann was a missionary living near Mombasa in Kenya, and he obtained his information from

8820-566: Was elected . Although the political environment was described as "challenging", it was stated in 2009 that a multi-party system still existed in Malawi. Multiparty parliamentary and presidential elections were held for the fourth time in Malawi in May 2009, and President Mutharika was successfully re-elected, despite charges of election fraud from his rival. President Mutharika was seen by some as increasingly autocratic and dismissive of human rights, and in July 2011 protests over high costs of living, devolving foreign relations, poor governance and

8918-494: Was chosen by the first president of Malawi , Kamuzu Banda , after the country achieved its independence from Great Britain in 1964. The area of Africa now known as Malawi had a very small population of hunter-gatherers before waves of Bantu peoples began emigrating from the north around the 10th century CE. Although most of the Bantu peoples continued south, some remained and founded ethnic groups based on common ancestry. By 1500,

9016-476: Was enough to employ ten European civilians, two military officers, seventy Punjabi Sikhs and eighty-five Zanzibar porters . These few employees were then expected to administer and police a territory of around 94,000 square kilometres with between one and two million people. That same year, slavery came to its complete cessation. In 1944, the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) was formed by

9114-623: Was hit by floods. These floods affected more than a million people across the country, including 336,000 who were displaced, according to UNICEF . Over 100 people were killed, and an estimated 64,000 hectares of cropland were washed away. The economy of Malawi is predominantly agricultural. Over 80% of the population is engaged in subsistence farming, even though agriculture only contributed to 27% of GDP in 2013. The services sector accounts for more than half of GDP (54%), compared to 11% for manufacturing and 8% for other industries, including natural uranium mining. Malawi invests more in agriculture (as

9212-471: Was kept secret, including an elaborate flight with the body to South Africa, where the ambulance drivers refused to move the body, saying they were not licensed to move a corpse. After the South African government threatened to reveal the information, the presidential title was taken over by Vice-President Joyce Banda (no relation to Hastings Banda). In the 2014 Malawian general election , Joyce Banda lost

9310-458: Was seen to be used by police forces and security forces with impunity, mob violence was occasionally seen, and prison conditions continued to be harsh and sometimes life-threatening. However, the government was seen to make some effort to prosecute security forces who used excessive force. Other legal issues included limits on free speech and freedom of the press , lengthy pretrial detentions, and arbitrary arrests and detentions. Corruption within

9408-477: Was the first time an election in the country was legally challenged. Opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won the 2020 Malawian presidential election and he was sworn in as the new president of Malawi. Malawi is a unitary presidential republic under the leadership of President Lazarus Chakwera . The current constitution was put into place on 18 May 1995. The branches of the government consist of executive , legislative , and judicial . The executive includes

9506-410: Was to become the first President of the Republic of Malawi. This grammar is also remarkable in that it was the first to mark the tones of the words. Modern monographs on aspects of Chichewa grammar include Mtenje (1986), Kanerva (1990), Mchombo (2004) and Downing & Mtenje (2017). In recent years the language has changed considerably, and a dichotomy has grown between the traditional Chichewa of

9604-588: Was translated into the Likoma Island dialect of Nyanja by William Percival Johnson and published as Chikalakala choyera: ndicho Malangano ya Kale ndi Malangano ya Chapano in 1912. Another Bible translation, known as the Buku Lopatulika ndilo Mau a Mulungu , was made in a more standard Central Region dialect about 1900–1922 by missionaries of the Dutch Reformed Mission and Church of Scotland with

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