马拉威(Malawi)

正式名称马拉威共和国（Republic of Malawi）

旧称尼亚萨兰（Nyasaland）

非洲东南部国家。面积118,484平方公里。人口约10,491,000（2001）。首都︰里郎威。全国人口几乎全是操班图语的非洲黑人。语言：英语（官方语）和奇切瓦语。宗教：基督教、天主教、伊斯兰教及信奉万物有灵的传统宗教。货币︰马拉威夸查（MK）。境内地形以引人注目的高地和广阔的湖泊为特徵，森林约占土地总面积的2/5。大裂谷（东非裂谷系）由北向南纵贯，有马拉威湖（尼亚沙湖）。农业占用了4/5的劳动力，粮食作物有玉米、花生、大豆和豌豆，经济作物包括烟草、茶叶、甘蔗和棉花；煤和石灰岩的开采促进了经济。主要工业产品有糖、啤酒、香烟、肥皂、化学品和纺织品。政府形式为共和国，一院制。总统为国家元首暨政府首脑。

自西元前8000年即有居民。西元1～4世纪操班图语的各部族定居於该地区，後建立了分散的邦；大约1480年组成马拉威联邦，占有马拉威中部和南部的大部分地区。1600年左右，恩戈迪人（Ngonde）在马拉威北部建立了一个王国；到18世纪又建立齐库拉玛耶比（Chikulamayembe）国。18～19世纪马拉威盛行贩奴活动，约在此时期，伊斯兰教和基督教传入该地区。1891年英国在此建立起殖民统治，设立尼亚萨兰保护区，1893年成为英属中非保护国，1907年改称尼亚萨兰。1951～1953年北罗得西亚、南罗得西亚和尼亚萨兰等殖民地组成联邦。1963年联邦解体，翌年马拉威成为国协的一员，并获得独立。1966年成为共和国，班达（H. K. Banda）当选总统，1971年成为终身总统。其统治长达三十年之久，直到1994年在多党总统选举中被击败。1995年通过新宪法。

English version：

Malawi

formerlyNyasalandCountry, South Africa. Area: 45,747 sq mi (118,484 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 9,610,000. Capital: Lilongwe. Almost the entire population consists of Bantu-speaking black Africans. Languages: English (official), Chichewa. Religions: Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Islam, animism. Currency: kwacha. Malawi's terrain is characterized by dramatic highlands and extensive lakes, with forests occupying about two-fifths of the total land area. The Great Rift Valley runs north-south and contains Lake Malawi. Agriculture employs four-fifths of the workforce; staple crops include corn, peanuts, beans, and peas, and cash crops include tobacco, tea, sugarcane, and cotton. Coal mining and the quarrying of limestone also contribute to the economy. Major industrial products are sugar, beer, cigarettes, soap, chemicals, and textiles. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. Inhabited since 8000 BC, the region was settled by Bantu-speaking peoples between the 1st and 4th century AD. They established separate states, and c. 1480 they founded the Maravi Confederacy, which encompassed most of central and southern Malawi. In northern Malawi the Ngonde people established a kingdom c. 1600, and in the 18th century the Chikulamayembe state was founded. The slave trade flourished during the 18th-19th century, the same era in which Islam and Christianity arrived in the region. Britain established colonial authority in 1891, creating the Nyasaland Districts Protectorate. It became the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1893 and Nyasaland in 1907. The colonies of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland formed a federation (1951-53), which was dissolved in 1963. The next year Malawi achieved independence as a member of the British Commonwealth. In 1966 it became a republic, with Hastings Banda as president. In 1971 he was designated president for life, and he ruled for three decades before being defeated in multiparty presidential elections in 1994. A new constitution was adopted in 1995.