Former kingdom which straddled the current borders of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia
15°S
35°E
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15°S 35°E
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-15; 35
Kingdom of Maravi
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The Maravi Kingdom at its greatest extent in the 17th century.
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Capital
| Manthimba
,
Mankhamba
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Common languages
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Government
| Monarchy
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History
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? Established
| c.
1480
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? Disestablished
| 1891
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Today part of
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Maravi
was a kingdom which straddled the current borders of Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, in the 16th century. The present-day name "
Mala?i
" is said to derive from the
Chewa
word
mala?i
, which means "flames". "Maravi" is a general name of the peoples of Malawi, eastern Zambia, and northeastern Mozambique. The
Chewa language
, which is also referred to as Nyanja, Chinyanja or Chichewa, and is spoken in southern and central Malawi, in Zambia and to some extent in Mozambique, is the main language that emerged from this empire.
The
Maravi Confederacy
was founded by
Bantu people
immigrating into the valley of the
Shire River
(flowing out of Lake Nyassa) around 1480 AD. It prospered into the late 18th century, extending to reach what is now belonging to Zambia and Mozambique.
At its greatest extent, the state included territory from the
Tonga
and
Tumbuka people
's areas in the north to the
Lower Shire
in the south, and as far west as the
Luangwa
and
Zambezi
river valleys. Maravi's rulers belonged to the Mwale
matriclan
and held the title
Kalonga
. They ruled from
Manthimba
, the secular/administrative capital, and were the driving force behind the state's establishment. Meanwhile, the patrilineal Banda clan, which traditionally provided healers, sages and metallurgists, took care of religious affairs from their capital
Mankhamba
near
Ntakataka
.
History
[
edit
]
Beginning as early as the thirteenth century, the first signs of a large-scale migration of related clans entered the region of Lake Malawi. Traditional accounts indicate that these people originated in the
Congo Basin
to the west of
Lake Mweru
, in an area that subsequently formed part of the Luba Kingdom. The movement continued during the succeeding two or three centuries, but it appears certain that by the sixteenth century the main body of these people, known collectively as the Maravi, were settled in the Shire River valley and over a wide area lying generally west and southwest of Lake Malawi, including parts of present-day Zambia and Mozambique.
After contact with the
Portuguese
, trade intensified. It included such items as beads of the
Khami
type and
Chinese
porcelain
imported via Portuguese intermediaries. The first (colonial) historical account of the Maravi was by
Gaspar Bocarro
, a Portuguese man who traveled through their territory in 1616.
[1]
The picture presented in the 1660s by Father Manuel Barretto, a Jesuit priest, was of a strong, economically active confederation that swept an area from the coast of Mozambique between the Zambezi River and the bay of Quelimane for several hundred kilometres into the mainland. An account from the following century implied that the western limits of the confederation were near the
Luangwa River
and that it extended on the north to the
Dwangwa River
.
[2]
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the state declined as many clans grew more autonomous.
[3]
Maravi was invaded by
Ngoni people
fleeing the
Mfecane
[4]
and was frequently raided by the neighboring
Yao people (East Africa)
, selling captive Maravi on the slave markets of Kilwa and Zanzibar. In the 1860s, Islam was introduced into the region through contact with Swahili slave traders. The region was visited by David Livingstone and stations were set up by Protestant missionaries in 1873. A British consul was also sent there in 1883.
David Livingstone
visited Lake Nyasa in 1859, and other
Protestant
missionaries soon followed.
References
[
edit
]
https://axis.gallery/exhibitions/nyau-masks/
External links
[
edit
]