Malawi

Settled in the 1200s by a tribe whose descendants remain important in the country, and by the Ngoni some 600 years later, the area that would become Malawi was made a British-controlled protectorate in 1891. The Nyasaland protectorate federated with both the Rhodesias (later Zambia and Zimbabwe) in 1953 with the intention of seeking independence. Self government was granted in 1962 and Malawi Congress party leader Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda became prime minister in 1963. The next year, full independence was achieved. Banda soon mandated single-party politics and in 1971, made himself president for life. In the ensuing repression, corruption ran rife and the population grew poorer and poorer. In 1992, violence by workers resulted in the deaths of dozens of people. The next year, Malawi's citizens voted decisively to restore a multiparty political structure and proceeded to vote Banda out.

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