HISTORY
Early History
Based on notes taken by Portuguese-commissioned explorer Gaspar Bocarro, the Maravi are known to have settled by 1616 in the territory north of the Zambezi River that is now Malawi (Theal 1899: 254-435). Recent archaeological evidence suggests that the Maravi arrived in southern Malawi by the mid-15th century and encountered earlier settlements of less centralized Bantu-speakers who had settled in the 13th century. The Maravi assimilated these groups, though the autochthones retained some control of spiritual matters (Juwayeyi 2010).
The so-called “Maravi Empire,” which was never a formal political entity but instead a group of kings, chiefs, and headmen who controlled trade routes to and from the Indian Ocean, lasted through the18th century under the supreme direction of Kalonga and his subsidiary chief, Undi (Alpers 1975; Hafkin 1973). The confederation began to fall apart when the Portuguese undermined Kalonga’s authority by trading directly with minor chiefs, negating the leader’s role in amassing and redistributing resources. Economic led to political independence, and remaining power quickly disintegrated in the early nineteenth century as the Swahili gained an upper hand in the slave trade (Langworthy 1969). Zwangendaba Ngoni migrants crossed the Zambezi by 1835, and within four years they occupied the area around Lake Malawi. This destroyed any last vestiges of the Maravi Empire (Newitt 1995: 262-263).
After Bocarro’s seventeenth century encounter there are few firsthand accounts of the Maravi until David Livingstone came across them in 1859, near the end of his epic journey across the African continent. Livingstone was, in fact, the first recorded European to set eyes on Lake Niassa, the body of water known for years to the outside world only through hearsay, and marked vaguely on maps with names such as Zaflan, Zambre, Hemozura, Maravi, Nyanja Grande, Sumba, and Uniamesi (Ransford 1966: 11). Yao porters told Livingstone the lake was called “Niarra,” meaning “lake” in Chiyao. Livingstone heard “Niassa,” and so called it “Lake Niassa,” creating, as with so many others geographic features in Africa, a repetitious proper name out of a common noun.
Reaching the lake just months after Livingstone was German explorer Albrecht Roscher, who was unceremoniously murdered by lakeshore inhabitants shortly thereafter (Wand 1984). Livingstone, Roscher, and other regional explorers paint a dismal picture of life near Lake Niassa at the end of the 19th century – the land was depopulated, villages were abandoned, and the paths were littered with the bodies of those who fell at the direct hands of raiders or indirectly through starvation wrought by fear and lack of manpower to work the fields. The region was in a state of political and social upheaval (Langworthy 1969; Mandala 2005; Vaughan 1987).
The so-called “Maravi Empire,” which was never a formal political entity but instead a group of kings, chiefs, and headmen who controlled trade routes to and from the Indian Ocean, lasted through the18th century under the supreme direction of Kalonga and his subsidiary chief, Undi (Alpers 1975; Hafkin 1973). The confederation began to fall apart when the Portuguese undermined Kalonga’s authority by trading directly with minor chiefs, negating the leader’s role in amassing and redistributing resources. Economic led to political independence, and remaining power quickly disintegrated in the early nineteenth century as the Swahili gained an upper hand in the slave trade (Langworthy 1969). Zwangendaba Ngoni migrants crossed the Zambezi by 1835, and within four years they occupied the area around Lake Malawi. This destroyed any last vestiges of the Maravi Empire (Newitt 1995: 262-263).
After Bocarro’s seventeenth century encounter there are few firsthand accounts of the Maravi until David Livingstone came across them in 1859, near the end of his epic journey across the African continent. Livingstone was, in fact, the first recorded European to set eyes on Lake Niassa, the body of water known for years to the outside world only through hearsay, and marked vaguely on maps with names such as Zaflan, Zambre, Hemozura, Maravi, Nyanja Grande, Sumba, and Uniamesi (Ransford 1966: 11). Yao porters told Livingstone the lake was called “Niarra,” meaning “lake” in Chiyao. Livingstone heard “Niassa,” and so called it “Lake Niassa,” creating, as with so many others geographic features in Africa, a repetitious proper name out of a common noun.
Reaching the lake just months after Livingstone was German explorer Albrecht Roscher, who was unceremoniously murdered by lakeshore inhabitants shortly thereafter (Wand 1984). Livingstone, Roscher, and other regional explorers paint a dismal picture of life near Lake Niassa at the end of the 19th century – the land was depopulated, villages were abandoned, and the paths were littered with the bodies of those who fell at the direct hands of raiders or indirectly through starvation wrought by fear and lack of manpower to work the fields. The region was in a state of political and social upheaval (Langworthy 1969; Mandala 2005; Vaughan 1987).
Migration to the Eastern LakeSshore
Apart from Roscher and the British vassal Edward Young, who led an expedition in 1867 in search of David Livingstone (Young 1877), there are no first-hand accounts of life along the eastern shore of Lake Niassa before 1882. Unfortunately, Roscher’s and Young’s recordings provide no indication of when Nyanja migrants may have arrived.
While it is thus difficult to know the exact date of the settlement that led to the founding of Metangula and other lakeshore villages (Stuart 1974: 12), the matching of oral accounts with historic events indicates arrival ca. 1830-1840, simultaneous with the beginnings of 19th century disorder described above. In a written account, Assahel Jonassane Mazula used oral history to suggest that the Nyanja were prompted to spread east through a direct mandate of Undi (1970: 31). Such a demand seems plausible where the leader was losing power and would thus be interested in expanding his territory to guarantee the continuation of tribute. Harry W. Langworthy found that Undi employed this exact strategy during his demise (1969: 64).
In my discussions of local history with elders in Lago District, informants rarely mentioned their ancestors’ specific motives for migration to the eastern lakeshore, several only vaguely mentioning “fighting” or “hunger.” They did, however, nearly unanimously cite low lake levels during the journey. Scientific studies and firsthand accounts show that mid-nineteenth century lake levels were as far as 150 meters lower than in the 21st century (Owen, et.al. 1990), with especially low levels from the late 18th century through the 1840s (Nicholson 1998: 215), and very high levels between 1857 and 1863 (Good 2004: 164), which complements the ca. 1830-1840 arrival estimate.
Elders also stated that the first chief of Metangula died at the hands of slave raiders, who would have been active in the region from around 1845 through the end of the century, with not only Zwangendaba, but the splinter Gwangwara, as well as the Maseko Ngoni actively traversing the eastern coast of Lake Niassa through the end of the nineteenth century (Newitt 2005: 262-263). The approximation of an early-to-mid-19th century arrival also roughly corresponds with the six to nine recorded generations of chiefly succession on the eastern lakeshore. William P. Johnson, the first (and only) person to write extensively on the culture and history of the area, likewise suggested that eastern lakeshore communities as he found them in 1882 were “certainly recent migrants” that could not have been there for longer than several generations (1969: 94-96). While Langworthy (1969) warns of a trend toward “telescoping” in Maravi oral histories, through which events of many centuries are collapsed into several generations, and lifetimes of many leaders are attributed to a single person, Nyanja settling on the eastern lakeshore around 1830-1840 seems feasible, and likely.
While it is thus difficult to know the exact date of the settlement that led to the founding of Metangula and other lakeshore villages (Stuart 1974: 12), the matching of oral accounts with historic events indicates arrival ca. 1830-1840, simultaneous with the beginnings of 19th century disorder described above. In a written account, Assahel Jonassane Mazula used oral history to suggest that the Nyanja were prompted to spread east through a direct mandate of Undi (1970: 31). Such a demand seems plausible where the leader was losing power and would thus be interested in expanding his territory to guarantee the continuation of tribute. Harry W. Langworthy found that Undi employed this exact strategy during his demise (1969: 64).
In my discussions of local history with elders in Lago District, informants rarely mentioned their ancestors’ specific motives for migration to the eastern lakeshore, several only vaguely mentioning “fighting” or “hunger.” They did, however, nearly unanimously cite low lake levels during the journey. Scientific studies and firsthand accounts show that mid-nineteenth century lake levels were as far as 150 meters lower than in the 21st century (Owen, et.al. 1990), with especially low levels from the late 18th century through the 1840s (Nicholson 1998: 215), and very high levels between 1857 and 1863 (Good 2004: 164), which complements the ca. 1830-1840 arrival estimate.
Elders also stated that the first chief of Metangula died at the hands of slave raiders, who would have been active in the region from around 1845 through the end of the century, with not only Zwangendaba, but the splinter Gwangwara, as well as the Maseko Ngoni actively traversing the eastern coast of Lake Niassa through the end of the nineteenth century (Newitt 2005: 262-263). The approximation of an early-to-mid-19th century arrival also roughly corresponds with the six to nine recorded generations of chiefly succession on the eastern lakeshore. William P. Johnson, the first (and only) person to write extensively on the culture and history of the area, likewise suggested that eastern lakeshore communities as he found them in 1882 were “certainly recent migrants” that could not have been there for longer than several generations (1969: 94-96). While Langworthy (1969) warns of a trend toward “telescoping” in Maravi oral histories, through which events of many centuries are collapsed into several generations, and lifetimes of many leaders are attributed to a single person, Nyanja settling on the eastern lakeshore around 1830-1840 seems feasible, and likely.
Founding of Metangula
The first Chief of metangula took the nickname “Uandionelapati.” (Umali 1996: 9). Legend has it that the village name “Metangula” originated with his death. There had been a slave raid, and Chilombe Uandionelapati was wounded. He ran from his attackers to the Luchemanje River, where he collapsed on top of a rock. After the raid, surviving villagers regrouped and searched for their founding chief. When they finally found him three days later, he was exhausted and lying lifeless. They attempted to feed him porridge but he was too weak to consume it, and he was too exhausted to walk. He had lost too much blood, and he died. The villagers were terribly saddened when they heard the news that the chief had passed away. The rock where he died was called miala watenguka – rock of exhaustion and lifelessness, which was eventually adopted as the village name, shortened as M’tenguka, later corrupted as Mtengula, and then finally in the colonial era Metangula. The root verb kutenguka means not only debility from hunger, but also the weakness that is felt from hearing a shocking story, both of which were applicable in the case of the first Chilombe’s death (Umali 1996:56). The rock where it happened is reportedly large and curved, such that it forms a small shelter. It is now deep underneath the waters of Lake Niassa. Chilombe Uandionelapati has since been succeeded by: Chilombe II Acupela, Chilombe III Chipaca, Chilombe IV Maglassi, Chilombe V Bernardo Calande, and the chief during my own fieldwork, Chilombe VI Barnabe Mpalila (Umali 1996: 9), who has since passed and been replaced by Chilombe VII.