Miscellaneous Malawi Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Bantus

The Bantu migrations profoundly shaped most of sub-Saharan Africa. Most anthropologists place the Bantu motherland around Nigeria, and ties of language, culture, and agricultural techniques can be traced throughout the continent. That being said, these migrations left Bantu language and kinship very fragmented, with different tribes speaking distinct dialects.

Answer: Drought and flooding

From November to April (summer and autumn), Malawi has a violent rainy season, and floods are a constant danger. During the rest of the year, precipitation is markedly absent. Between 1982 and 2007, Malawi had twenty-two floods and six droughts, but the droughts were reckoned to be ten times as damaging by the International Disaster Database.

Answer: Great Britain

It is easy to find English speakers in Malawi, especially in the larger towns. It isn't the mother tongue of most Malawians, though, and most prefer to speak Bantu-family languages like Chichewa (which is spoken by over half the population) Chinyanja, Chiyao, and Chitumbuka.

Answer: True

The defining features of Malawi's geography are the renamed Lake Malawi, which is roughly three-fourths of its eastern border, the Shire River, which delineates the rest of the border, and the Great Rift Valley, a geologic collection of rifts that runs as far north as the Sinai Peninsula.

The boundaries of the various British protectorates changed through the colonial period, and it was proposed more than once to fold what would become Malawi into Rhodesia, but nothing ever came of the idea.

Answer: False

Religion was one area where Western influence has been profound in Malawi. About 80% of the country is Christian (with denominations ranging the full gamut from Roman Catholic to Anglican to Presbyterian to Baptist) and Bible study was required in Malawi's schools until the year 2000. Less than 13% of the country is Muslim, with the remainder being divided between Jews, Rastafarians, and traditional African practices.

It is important to note that Christianity in Malawi is often syncretic with pre-colonial beliefs. Traditional healers are still frequented by many Christians, and polygamy is not unknown in Christian communities. This mirrors Christianity's popular practice in Europe as well, where various Christmas traditions, like the Christmas tree and the holiday's timing, have been appropriated from pagan religions.

Answer: Hastings Banda

Banda left Malawi in 1925 to study in Britain. He earned his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1941. While practicing medicine, he associated with other African expatriates like Kenyan nationalist Jomo Kenyatta and Ghanan leader Kwame Nkrumah. Along with these and other African activists, Banda took part in 1946's Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester, a gathering that would plant the seeds of nationalism and independence for many African countries. Banda returned to Malawi in 1958, heading up the Nyasaland African Congress, later known as the Malawi Congress Party. Though initially jailed by the British for, ostensibly, inciting riots in his homeland, Banda was released in 1960 to negotiate for Malawian self-rule. He was elected Prime Minister in 1963 and declared Malawi an independent republic in 1966.

In 1970, he declared himself President for Life, a title he would hold into the 1990s. Banda's business dealings alone accounted for 10% of Malawi's gross domestic product at the height of his influence.

Answer: There was a series of genocidal assaults against the Christian tribes of the north.

As mentioned above, Malawi is a majority Christian country, and depredations against that religion do not figure prominently in its history -- though there was a good deal of anti-Muslim property damage in 1999 following the re-election of Muslim Bakili Muluzi as president.

In addition to the above, the Banda regime enforced strict censorship on films and print material, both on moral and political grounds. The government monitored mail and phone communications with a rigor befitting East Germany, and Banda was prosecuted for murder after finally being deposed in 1993.

Answer: Madonna

Though AIDS is not mentioned in Raising Malawi's official charter, the disease is often invoked in fundraising and education by the group. Chief among these is the 2008 documentary 'I Am Because We Are' which follows the lives of several Malawian orphans and their families. Among its most powerful scenes is actual footage of a mother dying from the disease.

The film is available for free on YouTube and various mirrors around the Internet by permission of its creators; it provides far more information than can be conveyed here.

Answer: "Vampires" sucking blood with sleeping gas and hypodermic needles

Rumors of strange men who go around kidnapping Africans and draining their blood go back to at least the 1920s. During the imperial period, mysterious squads of vampires were said to drain buckets of blood to ship back to Britain; these rumors spread through Kenya, Uganda, Rhodesia, and other British colonies.

In the 21st century, this idea was revived, this time with wealthy countries like Saudi Arabia suspected of bartering food aid for blood. Though the government tried to quell the wild stories and arrested upwards of 40 would-be vampire hunters, denunciations from unpopular politicians like then-President Bakili Muluzi may have actually fanned the violence.

Answer: Mozambique

Malawi shares borders with Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique to the east. Border relations between Mozambique have been strained at times by the smuggling of sugar from Malawi, but historic diplomacy between the two countries has been cordial since Banda's ouster -- though the iconoclastic leader did raise the ire of Mozambique and Tanzania by recognizing South Africa during that country's apartheid years while every other African country denied recognition.