Malawi is a country in Africa, bordered by Mozambique to the south and east, Tanzania to the north, Zambia to the west. Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi), the third largest lake in Africa, runs along most of its eastern border. It's described as the "Warm Heart of Africa", referring to the friendliness of the people.

Regions

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Northern Malawi

Central Malawi

Southern Malawi

Cities

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Lilongwe - the political capital of country.

Blantyre - the economic capital of the country.

Mzuzu - the largest town in northern, and a staging-post for transport to Tanzania.

Mangochi, formerly known as Fort Johnston, is found at the southern end of Lake Malawi where it empties into the Shire River and heads toward Liwonde. A medium-size town, it has all the usual conveniences for travelers (resthouses, restaurants, grocery stores) though none of them are worthy of much praise. By private vehicle, a drive to Mangochi from Blanytre will take about 2 to 2.5 hours.

Monkey Bay, is a popular large village as you head up the Lake Road from Mangochi toward Cape Maclear.

Cape Maclear - laid back fishing village on the southern end of the lake with good sandy beaches, a favorite among backpackers, boaters, and sunseekers.

Salima

Nkhota Kota

Nkhata Bay - a rocky bay towards the north of the lake - check into one of the lodges and you could be here for a while.

Livingstonia

Chilumba

Karonga

Rumphi

Other destinations

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Likoma and Chisumulu Islands - great sea life and a backdoor to Mozambique.

Mua

Zomba

Zomba Plateau

Thyolo Tea Estates

Kasungu National Park

Lake Malawi National Park

Lengwe National Park

Liwonde National Park

Nyika National Park

Mount Mulanje

Majete Wildlife Park

Shire Valley

Lake Chilwa

Nkhotakota

Viphya Plateau

See also African National Parks

Understand

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Established in 1891, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi on 6th July, 1964. After three decades of one-party rule, the country held multiparty elections in 1994 under a provisional constitution, which took full effect the following year. National multiparty elections were held again in 1999 and 2004 electing present president Bingu wa Mutharika.

Get in

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Most visitors from industrialized countries, including the United States, most European Union countries, Japan and Taiwan do not require a visa for Malawi.

By plane
Malawi's largest international airport is in Lilongwe, although there are also some flights from Blantyre to regional destinations.
Most travelers connect via Johannesburg (South Africa) or Nairobi (Kenya). State carrier Air Malawi claims to be "Africa's Friendliest Airline", but its limited network covers only nearby countries plus Middle Eastern hub Dubai.

There is a $30 departure tax payable when you leave the country by plane. This must be paid in cash in US dollars. While it is usually possible to convert your remaining kwacha to dollars at the airport the exchange rate is poor. It is much better to put aside the money at the beginning of your trip.

By train
There are trains twice a week from Blantyre to Cuamba and Nampula in northern Mozambique, although a 77-kilometer stretch of track between the Mozambique border and Cuamba is out of commission and must be covered by truck.

By boat
A ferry runs twice a week from Likoma Island to Cobuè in Mozambique.

By car
There is an excellent road from Lilongwe to Mchinji on the Zambian border (120 km).

By bus
To get into Malawi from Mozambique, in the south, one can take the bus from Tete (north-west Mozambique) to Zobwe. After crossing, take another bus from the border to Blantyre. This crossing is quite hectic, and it is closed at night, so one should plan on getting there early, and trying to keep it cool with all the border-hawkers.
Direct buses run from Lusaka, Zambia to Lilongwe, but are best avoided (or done in stretches) if 18-20 hours on a bus doesn't sound like your idea of a good time.

Get around

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Compared to its neighbors, the main roads in Malawi are in surprisingly good shape and travel times between major destinations should be reasonable. The volume of traffic is low and most people drive reasonably slowly. Road travel after dark is not advisable as road markings are poor to non-existent and not all cars have headlights.

The Malawian police force have check points along many of the major roadways. By and large, they are looking for illegal activities and often wave tourists through. Expect to be stopped on occasion and asked where you are going. You should not have any problems if you are polite and have the correct documentation (passport, drivers licence, permission to use the vehicle, etc.) available if they ask.

By boat
Traveling by boat is surely the most enjoyable mode of getting around in Malawi. The Ilala ferry runs north from Monkey Bay to Chilumba (Friday 10 am - Sunday 6:30 pm), and back southbound on the same route (departure Chilumba on Monday 2am, arriving at Monkey Bay on Wednesday at 2pm). Prices are rising with every year, but so is the ferry's reliability: some years back (before its privatization) it was perfectly normal to arrive a day late sometimes. The Ilala thus connects Likoma Island twice a week with the mainland, and the much closer Cobuè in Mozambique, respectively.
Prices in January 2006 were about 6000 Malawian Kwacha from Monkey Bay to Likoma, and 1600 from Likoma to Nkatha Bay.

By plane
Air Malawi has a monopoly on domestic flights and charges accordingly. They fly small propeller planes between the three big cities of Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Blantyre.

By bus
"Luxury" buses, medium-sized buses, and minibuses all service the country. They vary in comfort and price. Vehicle condition can be very poor and road accidents are relatively common. Generally, if police are going to hassle travelers, it will be individuals using these types of transportation.

By taxi
Taxis are available in Lilongwe, Blantyre and Zomba. Rental cars are also available in these towns. Costs vary depending on vehicle type, but expect a compact car to run about $60/day.

Talk

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English is one of the official languages of Malawi and is widely spoken in urban areas. The other official language is Chichewa (Nyanja), which is understood by almost all Malawians. Tumbuka is the first language for many people in the north of the country. Chiyao is spoken by the Yao people who live mostly in the Mangochi District, as well as areas surrounding Zomba into Machinga District as well.

Buy

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The local currency is the Malawi kwacha, abbreviated K or MK. The currency is freely convertible (if difficult to get rid of outside the country) and, as of May 2006, trades at around 138 kwacha to the US dollar. US dollars will also be accepted by almost everybody, particularly for larger purchases. For the current exchange rate visit Zikomo.net. In Blantyre and Llilongwe try Victoria Forex Bureau. Watch out for kwacha from neighboring Zambia, worth less than 1/20th of the Malawi version! Malawi Kwacha are exchangeable in the Zambian capital Lusaka, and at banks close to the border.

Credit card acceptance is spotty. Visa and MasterCard are accepted by larger hotels, including some ATM machines, but you can leave AmEx or anything else at home.

Travellers cheques can be changed in banks, forex bureaus and in some high-end hotels. The number of hotels accepting payment by travellers cheque seems to be shrinking. Don't rely on them unless you have spoken to the hotel. US dollars cash, is your best bet, and it gives a better exchange rate.

Eat

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Traditional Malawian food revolves around one staple, maize, served in one form, nsima (n'SEE-ma). Nsima is basically a type of thick porridge, rolled into balls with your right hand and dipped into a variety of stews known as relishes. Those who can afford them eat relishes of beef, chicken or fish, but the many who can't make do with beans, tiny dried fish (kapenta), pumpkin leaves (chibwabwa) and other vegetables. At breakfast, nsima can be served watered down into a soup, maybe with a little sugar. Local restaurants will serve nsima and relish for less than 100K ($1).

Food options in the major cities of Lilongwe and Blantyre are good. Fast food — to include burgers, pizza, and fried chicken — is very popular in Malawi. For sit-down meals, ethnic eateries (thanks to a significant ex-pat population) are popular. Do note that, in many restaurants, pork products are not served to accommodate the Muslim population.

Outside the larger cities, however, you might be a little underwhelmed with food options. Along the major roadways, you will find "tuck shops" featuring packaged cookies or Take Away Meals — meat pies or sausage rolls, for instance — which may or may not satisfy you.

Finally, in terms of hygiene outside the major cities, you are unlikely to find a proper washroom with running water. You will probably be given a bowl of water, a piece of soap, and a (damp) towel. Therefore, some travelers bring small bottles of anti-bacterial hand soap with them.

Drink

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Tap water in major towns like Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba and Mzuzu is generally potable, although it's advisable to boil it first. For those who fancy bottled water, it is widely available in the cities.

Soft drinks
A traditional local drink worth trying is mahewu (also maheu), a somewhat gritty and vaguely yogurty but refreshing beverage made from maize meal. Factory-produced maheu is sweet, comes in plastic bottles and is available in a variety of flavors including banana, chocolate and orange, while homemade versions are usually unflavored and less sweet.

Less traditional, but arguably more tasty, are the fizzy drinks by Southern Bottlers (Sobo), including a fine ginger ale. Sobo is also the licensed manufacturer of Coca Cola in Malawi.

Alcohol
Malawi has a significant Muslim population, including the former president, but alcohol is widely available even in muslim dominated regions. The only Carlsberg brewery in Africa is in Blantyre, and its products are available in fine establishments and questionable joints everywhere. Malawi Distilleries produces stronger stuff including Smirnoff Vodka (licensed), but also its own products like Mulanje Gold Coffee Liqueur. Perhaps one of the most popular drinks in the country is the MGT (Malawi Gin and Tonic) made with Malawi Gin, an aromatic version of this popular alcohol.

Sleep

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Western-standard hotels can be found in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.

Learn

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Secondary school are largely government run, however many private school have since become available to address the need for education in Malawi. Some private schools:

Kamuzu Academy

Walani Private School

Lilongwe Private School

St. Andrews

Bishop Mackenzie International School (referred to as Bishop Mac)

Malawi's largest tertiary education structure at present is the University of Malawi which is made up of Chancellor College located in the heart of Zomba, Blantyre Polytechnic in Chichiri and College of Medicine. Bunda College of Agriculture and Kamuzu College of Nursing are located in Lilongwe. There is also Mzuzu University in the Northern part of Malawi.

Stay safe

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Malawi is not known as a particularly dangerous travel locale for wester foreigners and expartriates. Muggings and robbery are not unknown within urban centres. It is advisable to avoid traveling alone at night in certain parts of the main cities. If you go out for the evening, make sure you know how you're going back home. Car-jackings happen occasionally so keep windows shut and doors locked during evening and night journeys. Road safety is the most dangerous thing with the standard of vehicles and drivers usually being relatively poor.

That said, Malawi does deserve its reputation as "the warm heart of Africa".

Stay healthy

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Eat food.

Respect

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Malawians follow a strict patriarchal society — men are afforded more respect than women, and older men are respected more than younger men. You might find, however, that a white person is afforded the most respect of all. A holdover from colonial times, this might make a traveler uncomfortable, but this is largely a Malawian's way of being courteous. Accept their hospitality.

Malawians are a curious people. To a Western mindset, this might be interpreted as unnecessarily staring at you or talking about you in front of you. Be prepared to greeted by kids yelling mzungu, mzungu! and answer lots of questions about yourself. Even relatively mundane items like mechanical pencils can draw a crowd of onlookers.

Malawians love to shake hands, and you should oblige them. However, Malawian men often like to hold hands for the duration of a conversation. This should not be interpreted as anything sexual; they are merely trying to "connect" with you. If you feel uncomfortable, simply pull your hand away.

Culturally, women should not wear shorts or mini-skirts, especially as they travel away from Lilongwe. (Thighs, to Malawian men, are huge turn-ons.) Low-cut tops, however, while discouraged, are not nearly as provocative.

Finally, when meeting a Malawian — even to ask a question — you should always say hello and ask how they are. Properly greeting a Malawian is very important. They are uncomfortable with the Western notion of simply "getting to the point."

Contact

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Embassy of the Republic of Malawi to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and France

Get out

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Tanzania

South Luangwa National Park — Kiboko Camp and some other travel agencies run roundtrip safaris from Lilongwe to this fantastic national park in Zambia.

Mozambique

The Republic of Malawi ( or malaβi; formerly Nyasaland) is a democratic, densely populated country located in southeastern Africa. It has Zambia to the north-west, Tanzania to the north, and Mozambique surrounding it on the east, south, and west. The origin of the name Malawi remains unclear; it is held to be either derived from that of southern tribes, or noting the "glitter of the sun rising across the lake" (as seen in its flag).

History

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The earliest inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers.

They were largely replaced by Bantu tribes during Bantu migrations. What is now called Malawi was the Maravi state, founded by the Chewa people in the 16th century. The Chewa were themselves an off-shoot of the Luba Empire. In the early to mid 19th century, they were joined by Zulu-related Ndwandwe people from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, the Ngoni, under their king Zwangendaba.

The first significant Western contact was the arrival of David Livingstone along the north shore of Lake Malawi in 1859, and subsequently Scottish Presbyterian churches establishing missions. In 1883, a consul of the British Government was accredited to the "Kings and Chiefs of Central Africa," and in 1891, the British established the British Central Africa Protectorate, by 1907, the Nyasaland Protectorate. Although the British remained in control during the first half of the 20th century, this period was marked by a number of unsuccessful Malawian attempts to obtain independence. During the 1950s, pressure for independence increased when Nyasaland was joined with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in 1953 to form the Central African Federation. In July 1958, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda returned to the country after a long absence. He assumed leadership of the NAC, which later became the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). In 1959, Banda was sent to Gwelo Prison in Southern Rhodesia (now Gweru) for his political activities but was released in 1960 to participate in a constitutional conference in London.

On April 15, 1961 the MCP won an overwhelming victory in elections for a new Legislative Council. In a second constitutional conference in London in November 1962, the British Government agreed to give Nyasaland self-governing status the following year. This announcement sealed the fate of the Central African Federation, which lost its reason for existence with an independent Nyasaland. Banda became Prime Minister on February 1, 1963, although the British still controlled Malawi's financial, security, and judicial systems. A new constitution took effect in May 1963, providing for virtually complete internal self-government. The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved on December 31, 1963, and Malawi became a fully independent member of the British Commonwealth on July 6, 1964. Two years later, Malawi became a republic with Dr. Banda as its first President, and was also declared a one-party state. In 1970 Banda was declared President for life of the MCP, and in 1971 Banda consolidated his power and was named President for Life of Malawi itself.

However, increasing domestic unrest and pressure from Malawian churches and from the international community led to a referendum in which the Malawian people were asked to vote for a new form of government. On June 14, 1993, the people of Malawi voted overwhelmingly in favor of multi-party democracy. Free and fair national elections were held on May 17, 1994. Bakili Muluzi, leader of the United Democratic Front (UDF), was elected President in those elections. The UDF won 82 of the 177 seats in the National Assembly and formed a coalition government with the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD). That coalition disbanded in June 1996, but some of its members remained in the government. Malawi's newly written constitution (1995) eliminated special powers previously reserved for the Malawi Congress Party. Accelerated economic liberalization and structural reform accompanied the political transition.

Malawi saw its first transition between democratically elected presidents in May 2004, when the UDF's presidential candidate Bingu wa Mutharika defeated MCP candidate John Tembo and Gwanda Chakuamba, who was backed by a grouping of opposition parties. Through the politicking of party chairperson and former President Bakili Muluzi, the party successfully secured a majority by forming a "government of national unity" with several opposition parties.

Politics

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For almost thirty years, the government of Malawi and the Malawi Congress Party were one. When Malawi was declared a republic in 1966, the country was formally declared a one-party state. Under Banda, all citizens had to be members of the party. This situation changed in a 1993 referendum, which instituted a multiparty system. In the country's first democratic elections, Banda and the MCP were soundly defeated.

Under the 1995 constitution, the president, who is both chief of state and head of the 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 political party. The members of the presidentially appointed cabinet can be drawn from either within or outside of the legislature. Malawi's National Assembly has 193 seats, all directly elected to serve 5-year terms. The constitution also provides for a second chamber, a Senate of 80 seats, but to date no action has been taken to create the Senate. The Senate is intended to provide representation for traditional leaders and the different geographical districts, as well as various special interest groups, such as women, youth, and the disabled.

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary. Malawi's judicial system, based on the English model, is made up of magisterial lower courts, a High Court, and a Supreme Court of Appeal. Local government is carried out in 27 districts within three regions administered by regional administrators and district commissioners who are appointed by the central government. Local elections, the first in the multi-party era, took place in on November 21, 2000. The UDF party won 70% of the seats in this election.

The third multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections, originally planned for May 18, 2004 were postponed by two days following a High Court appeal by the main opposition Mgwirizano (Unity) coalition. The run-up to the poll was overshadowed by opposition claims of irregularities in the voters' roll. European Union and Commonwealth observers said although voting passed peacefully, they were concerned about "serious inadequacies" in the poll.

Administrative divisions

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Malawi is divided into three regions (the Northern, Central and Southern regions), which are further divided into twenty-seven districts, which in turn are further divided into 137 traditional authorities and 68 sub-chiefs. The districts are:

Balaka

Blantyre

Chikwawa

Chiradzulu

Chitipa

Dedza

Dowa

Karonga

Kasungu

Likoma

Lilongwe

Machinga

Mangochi

Mchinji

Mulanje

Mwanza

Mzimba

Neno

Nkhata Bay

Nkhotakota

Nsanje

Ntcheu

Ntchisi

Phalombe

Rumphi

Salima

Thyolo

Zomba

Geography

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Malawi is situated in southeastern Africa. It has the Great Rift Valley running through the country from north to south. In this deep trough lies Lake Malawi (also called Lake Nyasa), the third-largest lake in Africa, making about 20% of Malawi's area. The Shire River flows from the south end of the lake and joins the Zambezi River 400 km (250 mi) farther south in Mozambique. East and west of the Rift Valley are high plateaus, generally between 900 and 1,200 m (3,000–4,000 ft) above sea level. The Nyika Uplands rise as high as 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in the north; south of the lake lie the Shire Highlands, with an elevation of 600–1,600 m (2,000–5,000 ft), rising to Mts. Zomba and Mulanje, 2,130 and 3,048 m (7,000 and 10,000 ft). In the extreme south, the elevation is only 60–90 m (200–300 ft) above sea level.

Malawi is one of Sub-Saharan Africa's most densely populated countries. Lilongwe, Malawi's capital since 1971, has a population which exceeds 400,000. All government ministries and the Parliament are located in Lilongwe. Blantyre remains Malawi's major commercial center and largest city, having grown from an estimated 109,000 inhabitants in 1966 to nearly 500,000 in 1998. Malawi's President resides in Lilongwe. The Supreme Court is seated in Blantyre.

Malawi's climate is subtropical. A rainy season runs from November through April. There is little to no rainfall throughout most of the country from May to October. It is hot and humid from October to April along the lake and in the Lower Shire Valley. Lilongwe is also hot and humid during these months, a little less than in the south. The rest of the country is warm during those months. From June through August, the lake areas and far south are comfortably warm, but the rest of Malawi can be chilly at night, with temperatures ranging from 5 °–14 °C (41°–57°F).

Lake Malawi is sometimes called the Calendar Lake as it is about 365 miles long and 52 miles wide.

Malawi has five national parks: Cape Maclear; Kasungu; Lengwe; Liwonde; and Nyika.

Economy

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Malawi has a GDP per capita of 596 US dollars. It is a landlocked, densely populated country. Its economy is heavily dependent on agriculture. Malawi has few exploitable mineral resources. Its three most important export crops are (in order) tobacco, tea and sugar. Malawi's president recently urged farmers to consider growing other crops, such as cotton (), as an alternative to the country's principal crop, tobacco, as cigarette consumption in the West continues to decline. Traditionally Malawi has been self-sufficient in its staple food, maize, and during the 1980s exported substantial quantities to its drought-stricken neighbors. Agriculture represents 38.6% of the GDP, accounts for over 80% of the labor force, and represents about 80% of all exports. Nearly 90% of the population engages in subsistence farming. Smallholder farmers produce a variety of crops, including maize (corn), beans, rice, cassava, tobacco, and groundnuts (peanuts).The agricultural sector contributes about 63.7% of total income for the rural population, 65% of manufacturing sector’s raw materials, and approximately 87% of total employment. Financial wealth is generally concentrated in the hands of a small elite. Malawi's manufacturing industries are situated around the city of Blantyre.

Malawi's economic reliance on the export of agricultural commodities renders it particularly vulnerable to external shocks such as declining terms of trade and drought. High transport costs, which can comprise over 30% of its total import bill, constitute a serious impediment to economic development and trade. Malawi must import all its fuel products. Paucity of skilled labor; difficulty in obtaining expatriate employment permits; bureaucratic red tape; corruption; and inadequate and deteriorating road, electricity, water, and telecommunications infrastructure further hinder economic development in Malawi. However, recent government initiatives targeting improvements in the road infrastructure, together with private sector participation in railroad and telecommunications, have begun to render the investment environment more attractive.

Malawi has undertaken economic structural adjustment programs supported by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other donors since 1981. Broad reform objectives include stimulation of private sector activity and participation through the elimination of price controls and industrial licensing, liberalization of trade and foreign exchange, rationalization of taxes, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and civil service reform. Malawi qualifies for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief.

As of late May 2004, the IMF program (begun in 2000) was canceled and a Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) was implemented. In the wake of questions about fiscal credibility, the SMP’s goal is to give Malawi’s newly-elected government the chance to establish a track record of fiscal discipline.

Real GDP increased by an estimated 3.9% in 2004, from 4.3% in 2003 and 2.4% in 2002. Inflation has been largely under control since 2003, averaging 10% in that year and 11.1% (est.) in 2004. Discount and commercial lending rates also declined from 40%-45% in 2003 to 25% in early 2004. The Kwacha slid from 90 to 101 against the U.S. dollar in mid-2003 and was at 108 to the U.S. dollar at the end of 2004.

Malawi has bilateral trade agreements with its two major trading partners, South Africa and Zimbabwe, both of which allow duty-free entry of Malawian products into their countries.

Humanitarian situation

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Life expectancy in Malawi is now as low as 36.5 years, five years lower than it was 50 years ago. This drop is due to the population's impoverishment, which is constituted by many factors, including:

insufficient nutrition

poor access to medical treatment

low income (the mean per capita income in Malawi is less than $1 per day)

extreme lack of foresight by Government

Mis-use of international donations

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insufficient school education

spread of HIV/AIDS

government economic restrictions

corruption

climate change

Health
Child mortality is 103/1,000. There are more than a million orphans, 700,000 of whom became orphans when their parents died of AIDS.

According to Malawi government estimates, 14.2% of the population are HIV-positive, and 90,000 deaths in 2003 were due to AIDS. Unofficial estimates based on private hospital entries give a HIV infection percentage of 30%. Their life expectancy is 41.7 for men and 41.2 for women.

Nutrition
Malawi's staple food is maize but like other countries in Southern Africa, Malawi has repeatedly been affected by famines since 2002, when food was scarce for almost one third of the population. In 2003, 30 percent of the population were affected.

These repeated famines are caused by different factors including:

widespread monocultures

poor distribution of fertilizers

droughts

government corruption

widespread AIDS epidemic

bilharzia

malaria

Some relief organisations, such as the Community of Sant'Egidio, Catholic Relief Services and other local and international organisations try to respond to the famine by distributing food parcels. The government also had a starter pack farm input programme for maize seed and fertilizer. The scheme was however subject to gross abuses and sometimes the poorest people did not receive any of the items that were purportedly earmarked for them. This programme was discontinued by the Bingu Wa Muntharika administration, which instead subsidised fertilizer for the local subsistence farmers. The government of Taiwan has also donated millions of bags of rice each year and has a permanent agricultural and medical technical aid mission in Malawi.

Foreign relations

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Malawi has continued the pro-Western foreign policy established by former President Banda. It maintains excellent diplomatic relations with principal Western countries. Malawi's close relations with South Africa throughout the apartheid era strained its relations with other African nations. Following the collapse of apartheid in 1994, Malawi developed and currently maintains strong diplomatic relations with all African countries.

Between 1985 and 1995 Malawi accommodated more than a million refugees from Mozambique. The refugee crisis placed a substantial strain on Malawi's government but also drew significant inflows of international assistance. The accommodation and eventual repatriation of the Mozambicans is considered a major success by international organizations. In 1996, Malawi received a number of Rwandan and Congolese refugees seeking asylum. The government did not turn away refugees, but it did invoke the principle of "first country of asylum." Under this principle, refugees who requested asylum in another country first, or who had the opportunity to do so, would not subsequently be granted asylum in Malawi. There were no reports of the forcible repatriation of refugees.

Important bilateral donors, in addition to the U.S., include Canada, Libya, Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Taiwan, Flanders and the United Kingdom. Multilateral donors include the World Bank, the IMF, the European Union, the African Development Bank, and the United Nations organizations.

Malawi is a member of the following international organizations: UN and some of its specialized and related agencies (i.e. UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO), IMF, World Bank, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Berne Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, African Union, Lome Convention, African Development Bank (AFDB), Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Nonaligned Movement, G-77, and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Malawi is also a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military (as covered under Article 98).

Demographics

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Malawi derives its name from the Maravi, a Bantu people who came from the southern Congo basin circa 1400. On reaching the area north of Lake Malawi, the Maravi divided. One branch, the ancestors of the present-day Chewas, moved south to the west bank of the lake. The other, the ancestors of the Nyanjas, moved down the east bank to the southern part of the country. By 1500, the two divisions of the tribe had established a kingdom stretching from north of the present-day city of Nkhotakota to the Zambezi River in the south, and from Lake Malawi in the east, to the Luangwa River in Zambia in the west.

Migrations and tribal conflicts precluded the formation of a cohesive Malawian society until the turn of the 20th century. In more recent years, ethnic and tribal distinctions have diminished, although regional distinctions and rivalries persist. Despite some clear differences, no significant friction currently exists between tribal groups, and the concept of a Malawian nationality has begun to take hold. Predominantly a rural people, Malawians are generally traditionalist, which includes nonviolence.

The Chewas constitute 90% of the population of the central region; the Nyanja tribe predominates in the south and the Tumbuka in the north. In addition, significant numbers of the Tongas live in the north; Ngonis—an offshoot of the Zulus who came from South Africa in the early 1800s—live in the lower northern and lower central regions; and the Yao, who are mostly Muslim, live along the southeastern border with Mozambique. Bantus of other tribes came from Mozambique as refugees.

Europeans and Asians also live in Malawi. Most Europeans are British and Portuguese from Mozambique, and Asians are mostly Indians.

Culture

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African Baptist Assembly of Malawi

Malawian English

Music of Malawi

Athletics in Malawi

See also

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List of cities in Malawi

Transport in Malawi

Malawi national football team

Military of Malawi

Raising Malawi

References

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Owen J. M. Kalinga and Cynthia A. Crosby, Historical Dictionary of Malawi, 3rd ed. (Scarecrow Press, 2001) ISBN 0-8108-3481-2

Mitchell, Maura. "Living Our Faith:" The Lenten Pastoral Letter of the Bishops of Malawi and the Shift to Multiparty Democracy, 1992–1993. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 2002 Mar; 41(1):5–18. (This article looks in depth at the role religion played in the transition to democracy in Malawi.)

External links

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Malawi In Figures (Zomba: National Statistical Office, 2005)

CIA World Factbook entry

BBC News profile

;Directories

Stanford University - Africa South of the Sahara: Malawi directory category

The Index on Africa - Malawi directory category

University of Pennsylvania - African Studies Center: Malawi directory category

Open Directory Project - Malawi directory category

- Malawi Free Malawi Directory Listings

;Government

Government of the Republic of Malawi official site

Malawi National Assembly official site

Ministry of Information and Tourism official site

Embassy of the Republic of Malawi to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and France official site

;News

Nyasa Times Malawi's premier and fastest growing online newspaper for news, careers, business-to-business, online marketplace and community networking

The Nation Online daily national newspaper

The Daily Times daily Blantyre-based newspaper

allAfrica.com - Malawi news headline links

- Local News Straight from the Locals News told by the People

;Tourism

Malawi detailed & up-to-date travel guide

Visit Malawi official tourism site

;Other

Il nostro Malawi.netMissionary site

Malawi's location on a 3D globe (Java)

Child Rights in Malawi

Human Rights in Malawi

Malawi Articles

Malawi National Game

2005 Malawi Famine

Community of Sant'Egidio's page about the predicted 2005 Malawi famine

Watering Malawi, a project to help irrigate the country

Water Wells For Africa, an organization committed to providing fresh drinking water to the Malawian people

Medic Malawi, healthcare projects in Malawi

Marion Medical Mission Shallow Well Project, bringing clean drinking water to Malawi, to reduce preventable deaths from disease

Video: Solar power projects in Malawi