Southern and Central Malawi

The Maravi Kingdom was established in the Shire River Valley area in the 15th century by a Bantu group who, led by chief Kalonga, had migrated from the lower Congo basin across Zambia to settle in this location. Kalonga set about extending the territory for his people, who became known as the Cewa, dispatching a number of his matrilineal relatives to establish settlements throughout southern and central present-day Malawi and eastern Zambia. This expansion continued along the Zambezi River well into Mozambique. Other Bantu groups arrived in Malawi much later than the Cewa, such as the Tumbuka and Tonga who came from the Congo region via Tanzania and settled in the north, and the Lomwe from Mozambique. However, two migrations in the early 19th century brought about the decline of what had become the Maravi Empire: the Yao from western Mozambique invaded the southern highlands and the Nguni, fleeing the turbulence of Zulu king Shaka?s reign, began moving up into southern Malawi. These militaristic Nguni under Zwangendaba spread northwards, overpowering many local peoples as far north as the Tumbuka, but the Yao, brandishing firearms supplied by the Swahili-Arab traders on the coast, expanded their flourishing slave trade which decimated mid 19th century Malawian tribes at a rate of 80,000 to 100,000 persons per year.
- from the liner notes