Malawi occupies a narrow strip along the western and southern shores of Lake Malawi, positioned within the Great Rift Valley system. The country extends approximately 900 kilometers north to south but measures only 90 to 160 kilometers east to west. Lake Malawi itself stretches 580 kilometers in length and represents the third largest lake in Africa by surface area. The Shire River flows southward as the lake's only outlet, draining through the Shire Highlands before continuing into Mozambique. The Mulanje Massif rises to 3,002 meters at Sapitwa Peak, marking Malawi's highest point. The Nyika Plateau occupies the northern highlands at elevations between 2,000 and 2,600 meters. Zomba Plateau forms a distinctive flat-topped mountain south of the capital region.
Bantu-speaking populations settled the region beginning in the 10th century. By the 15th century, the Maravi Empire had established a loose confederacy controlling territory west and south of Lake Malawi. The Maravi state fragmented into smaller chiefdoms including the Chewa, Nyanja, and Manganja groups by the 18th century. The Ngoni people arrived from South Africa in the 1830s and 1840s, fleeing the Mfecane wars, and established kingdoms in the northern and central regions. The Yao people migrated from Mozambique during the same period, settling primarily in the southern lakeshore areas. Arab and Swahili traders penetrated inland from the east coast beginning in the 1840s, establishing routes that moved enslaved people, ivory, and other goods toward Kilwa and Zanzibar.
David Livingstone reached Lake Malawi in 1859 during his Zambezi expedition. Scottish Presbyterian missions established stations at Cape Maclear in 1875 and at Livingstonia in 1894. British influence expanded through treaty agreements with local chiefs during the 1880s. The British government declared the area the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1891, with Harry Johnston serving as the first commissioner. The protectorate was renamed Nyasaland in 1907. Britain governed the territory as a source of labor for mines and plantations in Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. The colonial administration imposed a hut tax in 1892, forcing subsistence farmers into wage labor to meet payment demands.
John Chilembwe, educated at a Baptist seminary in the United States, returned to Nyasaland in 1900 and founded the Providence Industrial Mission near Blantyre. He became increasingly critical of land appropriation by European estates and forced labor conditions. On January 23, 1915, Chilembwe led an armed uprising against colonial rule, attacking the A.L. Bruce estate and killing three European men. Colonial forces suppressed the rebellion within two weeks. Chilembwe was shot and killed on February 3, 1915, while attempting to cross into Mozambique. The colonial government executed approximately 40 participants and demolished the mission buildings. The uprising entered Malawian historical memory as an early assertion of resistance against colonial exploitation.
Britain joined Nyasaland with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in the Central African Federation from 1953 to 1963, despite African opposition. Hastings Kamuzu Banda returned from medical practice in Britain and Ghana in 1958 to lead the Nyasaland African Congress. Colonial authorities arrested Banda in March 1959 during a state of emergency and detained him for thirteen months. The Malawi Congress Party succeeded the banned Nyasaland African Congress in 1959. Nyasaland gained internal self-government in 1963, with Banda as prime minister. The Federation dissolved on December 31, 1963. Malawi achieved full independence on July 6, 1964, within the Commonwealth. The country became a republic on July 6, 1966, with Banda as president.
Banda consolidated power rapidly after independence, eliminating political rivals within the cabinet by 1965. Parliament declared him president for life in 1971. The Malawi Congress Party functioned as the sole legal party until 1993. Banda maintained close diplomatic and economic ties with apartheid South Africa and white-ruled Rhodesia, receiving financial support and trade access while most African states imposed sanctions. The government detained political opponents without trial at Mikuyu Prison and other facilities. Censorship extended to music, dress codes, and published materials. Banda personally approved films and banned long hair on men and short skirts on women. The political imprisonment and torture of dissidents continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s.