Malawi

Malawi is a small, long and narrow landlocked country in Southern Africa, lying along a huge lake that takes up almost its entire eastern side. About 21 million people live there, in one of the most densely populated countries in Africa; the capital is Lilongwe. Despite deep poverty, the country calls itself the "warm heart of Africa", a nickname that comes from its people's reputation for hospitality.

The country is dominated by Lake Malawi, one of the largest and deepest lakes in Africa, a clear inland sea lined with beaches that holds more fish species than any other lake in the world, most of them found nowhere else. It fills a branch of the great Rift Valley, the vast fracture running through the continent. Around it rise highlands and green mountains such as the Mulanje massif, ringed by tea estates. Between the lake and the uplands lie farmed hills, villages and savanna.

Settled by Bantu migrations, the region saw the rise of the Maravi kingdom, whose name, "flames", gave the country its own. In the 19th century the explorer David Livingstone travelled these lands and campaigned against the slave trade to the Indian Ocean that ravaged them. As the British protectorate of Nyasaland, the country became independent in 1964 under the name Malawi. It then spent three decades under the authoritarian rule of Hastings Banda, before multiparty politics arrived in 1994. In 2020 its Constitutional Court overturned a fraudulent presidential election, a rare event on the continent.

The national language is Chichewa, a Bantu language spoken by the majority, alongside others such as Yao and Tumbuka; English, inherited from colonial rule, remains the official language. Malawi is overwhelmingly Christian, with a large Muslim minority, especially among the Yao, a legacy of old trade with the Indian Ocean coast. Respect for ancestors and tradition often runs through this faith.

Malawian culture is that of its many peoples, rich in dances and rituals. The best known is Gule Wamkulu, the "great dance" of the Chewa, a secret society of masked dancers who embody spirits and ancestors, on UNESCO's intangible heritage list. Life revolves around the lake and the land: fishing, farming and above all nsima, the stiff maize porridge at the heart of every meal, eaten with vegetables, beans and fish from the lake.