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Lake Location:
Africa | Lake Area:
11,150 sq. miles | Lake Depth:
2,280 feet |
Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi (also known as Lake Nyasa, Lake Nyassa, Lake Niassa, and Lago Niassa in Mozambique), is the most southerly lake in the Great African Rift Valley system. The lake, third largest in Africa and the ninth largest in the world, is situated between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. The lake's tropical waters teem with more fish species than any other lake on Earth. Famously visited by the Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone, Lake Malawi has sometimes historically been referred to by English-speaking people as "Livingstone's Lake."
Lake Malawi is between 560 and 579 km long and is 75 km wide at its widest point; it's total surface area is approximately 29,600 km2. The lake is bordered by western Mozambique, eastern Malawi, and southern Tanganyika, the mainland portion of Tanzania. Its largest tributary is the Ruhuhu and its outlet is the Shire River, a tributary of the Zambezi.
Lake Malawi lies in the Great African Rift Valley, a large graben caused by crustal extension. It is around 40,000 years old.
David Livingstone was the first European to reach the lake, arriving at its shores in 1859 and naming it "Lake Nyasa." Much of the area surrounding the lake was subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom to form the colony of Nyasaland. Although Portugal took control of the eastern shores of the lake, the islands of Likoma and Chizumulu (which lie just off the shore) were colonised by Scottish missionaries from Nyasaland, and as a result were incorporated as part of Nyasaland rather than Mozambique. Today they form lacustrine enclaves: Malawian territory surrounded by Mozambique waters.
In 1914, the lake saw a brief naval engagement when a British ship, on hearing that World War I had begun, sank a German ship in German East Africa's territorial waters. (Germany controlled what would become Tanzania at this point.)
The largest part of the lake is in Malawi, while about a quarter of the lake area is under the jurisdiction Mozambique; this includes the area surrounding the Malawian islands of Likoma and Chizumulu, which are the lake's only two inhabited islands. Likoma is dominated by a huge stone Anglican cathedral, built by missionaries in the early 20th century. A notable feature of both islands is the large number of Baobab trees. The islands support a population of several thousand people, who, besides fishing the waters of the lake, grow cassava, bananas and mangos.
The name of the lake itself is also disputed. Malawi claims the lake is named 'Lake Malawi' while international maps and other countries (most notably Tanzania) claim the name of the lake to be 'Lake Nyasa'. The origins of the dispute in the name have their background in geopolitical disputes that began prior to Malawi's independence in 1964, when it was previously known as Nyasaland.
Further complications emerged for different political reasons in the 1960s, when the then President Banda (of Malawi) became the only African leader to establish diplomatic relations with white South Africa. This was fiercely repudiated by other African leaders, including the then President Nyerere (of Tanzania). The contrasting attitudes and policies gave further impetus to disputes between the two governments, on the name of the lake itself, and the boundary between the two countries.
At present, the dispute between the two governments is largely dormant. Intergovernmental relations between Malawi and Tanzania are largely cordial.
The partition of the lake area between Malawi and Tanzania is disputed. Tanzania claims international borders through the lake along the lines of the borders between the German and British territories before 1914; Malawi, meanwhile, claims the whole non-Mozambican lake, including the waters next to the Tanzanian shore. The foundations of the dispute were set when the British colonial government, which had recently captured Tanganyika from Germany, put the water under the jurisdiction of Nyasaland without a separate administration for the Tanganyika portion. The dispute has led to conflicts in the past, though for several years Malawi has declined to enforce its claims to the disputed portion.
Occasional flare-ups in in the 1990s and in recent times have impacted fishing rights, particularly of Tanzanian's who reside on the lake shore, who have occasionally been accused of fishing in Malawian waters. (Source)
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