Editing Malawi (section)

===Colonialisation (1859–1960)===
{{Main|Political history of Malawi}}
Missionary and explorer David Livingstone reached Lake Malawi (then [[Lake Nyasa]]) in 1859 and identified the [[Shire Highlands]] south of the lake as an area suitable for European settlement. As the result of Livingstone's visit, several [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] and [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] missions were established in the area in the 1860s and 1870s; the [[African Lakes]] Company Limited was established in 1878 to set up a trade and transport concern, a small mission and trading settlement were established at [[Blantyre]] in 1876, and a British [[Consul (representative)|Consul]] took up residence there in 1883. The Portuguese government was also interested in the area, so, to prevent Portuguese occupation, the British government sent [[Harry Johnston]] as British consul with instructions to make treaties with local rulers beyond Portuguese jurisdiction.<ref>John G Pike, (1969). Malawi: A Political and Economic History, London, Pall Mall Press pp.77–9, 83–4.</ref>
[[File:Stamp British Central Africa 1897 6p.jpg|thumb|upright|left|1897 [[British Central Africa Protectorate|British Central Africa]] stamp issued by the United Kingdom]]

In 1889, a British [[protectorate]] was proclaimed over the Shire Highlands, which was extended in 1891 to include the whole of present-day Malawi as the [[British Central Africa Protectorate]].<ref>F Axelson, (1967). Portugal and the Scramble for Africa, pp. 182–3, 198–200. Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press.</ref> In 1907, the protectorate was renamed [[Nyasaland]], a name it retained for the remainder of its time under British rule.<ref name="CA">Murphy, ''Central Africa'', p. xxvii</ref> In an example of what is sometimes called the "Thin White Line" of colonial authority in Africa, the colonial government of Nyasaland was formed in 1891. The administrators were given a budget of £10,000 (1891 nominal value) per year, which was enough to employ ten European civilians, two military officers, seventy [[Punjab region|Punjabi]] [[Sikhs]] and eighty-five [[Zanzibar]] [[porter (carrier)|porters]]. These few employees were then expected to administer and police a territory of around 94,000&nbsp;square kilometres with between one and two million people.<ref>Reader, ''Africa'', p. 579</ref> The same year, slavery came to its complete cessation.

In 1944, the [[Nyasaland African Congress]] (NAC) was formed by the Africans of Nyasaland to promote local interests to the British government.<ref>Murphy, ''Central Africa'', p. 28</ref> In 1953, Britain linked Nyasaland with Northern and Southern [[Rhodesia]] in what was the [[Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland]], often called the Central African Federation (CAF),<ref name=CA/> for mainly political reasons.<ref>Murphy, ''Central Africa'', p. li</ref> Even though the Federation was semi-independent, the linking provoked opposition from African nationalists, and the NAC gained popular support. An influential opponent of the CAF was [[Hastings Banda]], a European-trained doctor working in [[Ghana]] who was persuaded to return to Nyasaland in 1958 to assist the nationalist cause. Banda was elected president of the NAC and worked to mobilize nationalist sentiment before being jailed by colonial authorities in 1959. He was released in 1960 and asked to help draft a new constitution for Nyasaland, with a clause granting Africans the majority in the colony's Legislative Council.<ref name="Cutter142" />