Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
Roots
Hominids existed in the area now known as Malawi as long as 2.5 million years ago, evid-
enced by the discovery of a jawbone in Karonga in 1993.
The first major influx of humans were hunter gatherers, around 3000 years ago; the
second wave began in the 1st century AD with the Bantu people. A further wave of
Bantu-speaking peoples arrived around the 14th century AD, and soon coalesced into the
Maravi kingdom (late-15th to late-18th century), centred in the Shire River Valley.
But let's rewind a little. By the first century AD, eastern Africa had started trading with
the ever-intrepid Phoenicians. This contact with the outside world was to steadily increase
through trade with the Persians, and by AD 1300 the trading city of Kilwa was established
on an island 2km off modern-day Tanzania. Gold filtered through from the powerful
Shona Kingdom in what was known as Great Zimbabwe, and trade occurred between the
Shona, the Swahili and the Persians. Then the Portuguese arrived, and under the pretext of
protecting the region from the spread of Islam, proceeded to monopolise the gold trade.
By 1596 Portugal controlled the Zambezi River and the flow of gold from the Shona
kingdom by instituting their own puppet ruler in the Zambezi Valley. Ivory had by this
time joined gold as a much-sought-after commodity by traders, and the Portuguese were
understandably respectful and more than a little fearful of the dynastic king Chief Masula
who ruled much of what is today southern and central Malawi, known then as Maravi.
Migration into the area of Malawi stepped up with the arrival of the Maravi people
(from whom the modern-day Chewa are descended), who established a large and powerful
kingdom in the south in the late 15th century, and the Tumbuka and Phoka groups, who
settled around the highlands of Nyika and Viphya during the 17th century. The early 19th
century brought with it two more significant migrations. The Yao invaded southern
Malawi from western Mozambique, displacing the Maravi, while groups of Zulu migrated
northward from southern Africa to settle in central and northern Malawi.
The Difaqane ('The Crushing')
Also known as the
Mfecane
, meaning the 'crushing' or 'scattering', the period between
1815 to about 1840 saw indigenous tribes in southern Africa involved in internecine
bloody struggles. Much of this can be attributed to one man, Shaka, king of the Zulu tribe.
In the early 19th century there were three centralised kingdoms: the Ngwane, Mdwandwe
