Chichewa — also called Nyanja — is the national and co-official language of Malawi, spoken by a majority of the population across the central and southern regions of the country. It belongs to the Eastern Bantu group and is closely related to the Nyanja spoken in Zambia, with the names 'Chichewa' and 'Chinyanja' sometimes used interchangeably. The language takes its name from the Chewa people, who established the powerful Maravi Confederacy in the Lake Malawi basin from around the 15th century, a kingdom whose name survives in the country's own. Scottish missionary David Livingstone arrived at Lake Malawi in 1859, and his reports drew British colonial attention; the area became the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1891 and later Nyasaland. Colonial rule promoted Chinyanja for administrative purposes in the south while suppressing Chitumbuka in the north during the one-party state of Hastings Banda (1966–1994), who elevated Chichewa to the sole national language. Multi-party democracy restored some recognition of regional languages, but Chichewa remains the dominant language of national public life.
