Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Happy Independence Day to Malawi


Today Malawi celebrates 46 years of independence from Britain. In colonial times Malawi was known as British Central Africa, Nyasaland and a member of the the Federation of Rhodesia. The region was part of the Maravi Empire in the late 15th century.

The Maravi Empire was founded by the Amaravi people, who eventually became known as the Chewa (a word possibly derived from a term meaning "foreigner"), migrated to Malawi from the region of the modern day Republic of Congo to escape unrest and disease. They were renown as iron workers and Maravi is thought to mean "rays of light". To read more about the history of Malawi click here.

Speaking of light, today, July 6th is also the Dalai Lama's birthday. To send him a 75th birthday greetings click here.

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