Nyasaland was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963,Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After the Federation was dissolved,Nyasaland became independent from Britain on 6 July 1964 and was renamed Malawi.
The British Central Africa Protectorate (BCA) was a British protectorate proclaimed in 1889 and ratified in 1891 that occupied the same area as present-day Malawi:it was renamed Nyasaland in 1907. British interest in the area arose from visits made by David Livingstone from 1858 onward during his exploration of the Zambezi area. This encouraged missionary activity that started in the 1860s,undertaken by the Universities' Mission to Central Africa,the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland,and which was followed by a small number of settlers. The Portuguese government attempted to claim much of the area in which the missionaries and settlers operated,but this was disputed by the British government. To forestall a Portuguese expedition claiming effective occupation,a protectorate was proclaimed,first over the south of this area,then over the whole of it in 1889. After negotiations with the Portuguese and German governments on its boundaries,the protectorate was formally ratified by the British government in May 1891.
The Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) was an organisation that evolved into a political party in Nyasaland during the colonial period. The NAC was suppressed in 1959,but was succeeded in 1960 by the Malawi Congress Party,which went to on decisively win the first universal suffrage elections in 1961,and to lead the country to independence as Malawi in 1964.
Dunduzu Kaluli Chisiza(8 August 1930 –2 September 1962),also known as Gladstone Chisiza,was an African nationalist who was active in the independence movements in Rhodesia and Nyasaland,respectively present-day Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Henry Masauko Blasius Chipembere was a Malawian nationalist politician who played a significant role in bringing independence from colonial rule to his native country,formerly known as Nyasaland. From an early age Chipembere was a strong believer in natural justice and,on his return in 1954 from university in South Africa,he joined his country's independence struggle as a nationalist strategist and spokesman. In 1957,considering that the independence movement needed a strong leader similar to Kwame Nkrumah,and considering himself too young for this task,he joined with other young nationalists in inviting Hastings Kamuzu Banda to return to Nyasaland as the movement's leader.
Orton Chirwa was a lawyer and political leader in colonial Nyasaland and after independence became Malawi's Minister of Justice and Attorney General. After a dispute with Malawi's autocratic President Hastings Kamuzu Banda,he and his wife Vera were exiled. After being kidnapped abroad they were tried in Malawi on charges of treason and sentenced to death. Amnesty International named the couple prisoners of conscience. After spending nearly eleven years on death row in Malawi,Orton Chirwa died in prison on 20 October 1992.
James Ralph Nthinda Chinyama was a leading member of the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) during the period of British colonial rule in Nyasaland,which became the independent state of Malawi in 1964.
Levi Zililo Mumba was a leading local politician and the first President of the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) during the period of British colonial rule in Nyasaland,which became the independent state of Malawi in 1964. Mumba was probably the most important figure in the development of Malawi politics between World War I and World War II.
Thamar Dillon Thomas Banda ("TDT") was a politician in Nyasaland in the years prior to independence. He was President-General of the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) from 1957 to 1958,and founded the Congress Liberation Party in 1959.
Charles Jameson Matinga was a politician in Nyasaland before the colony obtained independence from the British.
Rose Lomathinda Chibambo was a prominent politician in the British Protectorate of Nyasaland in the years leading up to independence as the state of Malawi in 1964,and immediately after.
General elections were held for the first time in Nyasaland on 15 March 1956.
The Devlin Commission,officially the Nyasaland Commission of Inquiry,was a Commission of Inquiry set up in 1959 under the chairmanship of Mr.Justice Devlin,later Lord Devlin,after African opposition to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland,particularly its farming and rural conservation policies,and demands for progress towards majority rule promoted by the Nyasaland African Congress under its leader Dr Hastings Banda led to widespread disturbances in Nyasaland and some deaths. A state of emergency was declared in March 1959;about 1,300 people,many of whom were members of the Nyasaland African Congress party,were detained without trial,over were 2,000 imprisoned for offences related to the emergency and the Congress itself was banned. During the State of Emergency and the week preceding it,a total of 51 people were killed by troops or the police. Although the four members of the Commission were members of The British Establishment,its findings were highly unfavourable to the Nyasaland Government.
John Buchanan (1855–1896),was a Scottish horticulturist who went to Central Africa,now Malawi,in 1876 as a lay member of the missionary party that established Blantyre Mission. Buchanan came to Central Africa as an ambitious artisan:his character was described as dour and devout but also as restlessly ambitious,and he saw in Central Africa a gateway to personal achievement. He started a mission farm on the site of Zomba,Malawi but was dismissed from the mission in 1881 for brutality. From being a disgraced missionary,Buchanan first became a very influential planter owning,with his brothers,extensive estates in Zomba District. He then achieved the highest position he could in the British administration as Acting British Consul to Central Africa from 1887 to 1891. In that capacity declared a protectorate over the Shire Highlands in 1889 to pre-empt a Portuguese expedition that intended to claim sovereignty over that region. In 1891,the Shire Highlands became part of the British Central Africa Protectorate. John Buchanan died at Chinde in Mozambique in March 1896 on his way to visit Scotland,and his estates were later acquired by the Blantyre and East Africa Ltd.
The Armitage Report was a report into the actions of the Nyasaland government in declaring a State of Emergency in March 1959 and actions of the police and troops in the aftermath of that declaration. It was supposed to have been a despatch prepared in Nyasaland by the Governor of that protectorate,Robert Perceval Armitage,but was in fact prepared in London by a working party that included Armitage,British government ministers and senior Colonial Office officials,in an attempt to counteract various criticisms contained in the Report of the Devlin Commission. Both reports accepted that a State of Emergency was necessary in view of the level of unrest in Nyasaland,but the Armitage Report approved of the subsequent actions of the police and troops,whereas the Devlin Report criticised their illegal use of force and stigmatised the Nyasaland government's suppression of criticism as justifying it being called a "police state". Although the Armitage Report was used by the government of the day to discredit the Devlin Report initially,and to justify its rejection of many of the Devlin Commission's findings,in the longer term the Devlin Report helped to convince the British Government that the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was not acceptable to its African majority and should be dissolved. Devlin was vindicated and approached for advice on constitutional change,but Armitage was seen as an obstacle to progress and asked to leave Nyasaland prematurely.
The cabinet crisis of 1964 in Malawi occurred in August and September 1964 shortly after independence when,after an unresolved confrontation between the Prime Minister,Hastings Banda and the cabinet ministers present on 26 August 1964,three ministers and a parliamentary secretary were dismissed on 7 September. These dismissals were followed by the resignations of three more cabinet ministers and another parliamentary secretary,in sympathy with those dismissed. Initially,this only left the President and one other minister in post,although one of those who had resigned rescinded his resignation within a few hours. The reasons that the ex-ministers put forward for the confrontation and subsequent resignations were the autocratic attitude of Banda,who failed to consult other ministers and kept power in his own hands,his insistence on maintaining diplomatic relations with South Africa and Portugal and a number of domestic austerity measures. It is unclear whether the former ministers intended to remove Banda entirely,to reduce his role to that of a non-executive figurehead or simply to force him to recognise collective cabinet responsibility. Banda seized the initiative,firstly,by dismissing some of the dissidents rather than negotiating,and secondly,by holding a debate on a motion of confidence on 8 and 9 September 1964. As the result of the debate was an overwhelming vote of confidence,Banda declined to reinstate any of the ministers or offer them any other posts,despite the urging of the Governor-General to compromise. After some unrest,and clashes between supporters of the ex-ministers and of Banda,most of the former left Malawi in October with their families and leading supporters,for Zambia or Tanzania. One ex-minister,Henry Chipembere went into hiding inside Malawi and,in February 1965 led a small,unsuccessful armed uprising. After its failure,he was able to arrange for his transfer to the USA. Another ex-minister,Yatuta Chisiza,organised an even smaller incursion from Mozambique in 1967,in which he was killed. Several of the former ministers died in exile or,in the case of Orton Chirwa in a Malawian jail,but some survived to return to Malawi after Banda was deposed and to return to public life.
Operation Sunrise was the name given to a police and military action conducted by the authorities in the Central African protectorate of Nyasaland which started on 3 March 1959,initially to detain and intern 350 individuals who were considered a potential threat to law and order in anticipation of the declaration of a State of Emergency. Although it is sometimes considered to involve only the incidents of 3 March,the Devlin Commission report is clear that it was one of two distinct operations by the security forces,reinforced from outside Nyasaland,involving the arrest and detention members of the Nyasaland African Congress. It involved not only those members of Congress initially arrested,but others arrested and detained without trial in the course of the emergency. The operation was described in some detail in the Devlin Commission report and that account has been amplified by Colonial Office documents not made available to the Devlin Commission.
George Simeon Mwase was a government clerk and later businessman and politician in colonial Nyasaland. He became politically active in the 1920s under the influence of the ideas of Marcus Garvey and his "Africa for the Africans" movement,and was instrumental in founding the Central Province Native Association in 1927. Mwase joined the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) in 1944,soon after its formation,and later participated in its executive. By the late 1950s,the gradualism of Mwase and many of his contemporaries was rejected by a younger generation of more radical NAC members. He was marginalised and left the NAC and became a supporter of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
The Southworth Commission was a Commission of inquiry appointed by the governor of the British Nyasaland Protectorate to investigate allegations of police brutality against demonstrators protesting against the State of Emergency that the governor had declared in February 1959. The demonstration took place during the visit of the British Prime Minister,Harold Macmillan to Blantyre in January 1960 as part of his African tour,and was witnessed by British and other journalists,some of whom made allegations against senior European police officers. The inquiry cleared the police of brutality but went beyond its terms of reference by heavily criticising several British correspondents for distorting events.
The Nyasaland emergency of 1959 was a state of emergency in the protectorate of Nyasaland,which was declared by its governor,Sir Robert Armitage,on 3 March 1959 and which ended on 16 June 1960. Under the emergency powers that operated during the Emergency,over 1,300 members or supporters of the Nyasaland African Congress (Congress) were detained without trial,and most of the party's leaders including its president,Dr. Hastings Banda,were imprisoned in Southern Rhodesia after being arrested on 3 March. Many other Africans were jailed for offences related to the Emergency,including rioting and criminal damage. In the week before the Emergency was declared and during its first month,over 50 Africans were killed and many more wounded by the colonial security forces,which included many European troops from Southern Rhodesia. Others were beaten by troops or armed police or had their huts destroyed and their property seized during punitive operations undertaken during the Emergency.
