Malawi

===Pre-colonial history===
[[File:Chongoni Rock-Art Area-110124.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chongoni Rock Art Area]]]]
The area of Africa now known as Malawi had a very small population of [[hunter-gatherer]]s before waves of [[Bantu peoples]] began emigrating from the north around the 10th century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kasuka|first=Bridgette|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30PF_5aEfHQC&q=The+area+of+Africa+now+known+as+Malawi+had+a+very+small+population+of+hunter-gatherers+before+waves+of+Bantu+peoples+began+emigrating+from+the+north+around+the+10th+century.&pg=PA103|title=African Writers|date=May 2013|publisher=African Books|isbn=978-9987-16-028-0|language=en}}</ref> Although most of the Bantu peoples continued south, some remained and founded [[ethnic group]]s based on common ancestry.<ref name="Cutter142">Cutter, ''Africa 2006'', p. 142</ref> By 1500&nbsp;AD, the tribes had established the [[Maravi|Kingdom of Maravi]] that reached from north of what is now [[Nkhotakota]] to the [[Zambezi River]] and from [[Lake Malawi]] to the [[Luangwa River]] in what is now [[Zambia]].<ref name="StateDept" />

Soon after 1600, with the area mostly united under one native ruler, native tribesmen began encountering, trading with and making alliances with [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] traders and members of the military. By 1700, however, the empire had broken up into areas controlled by many individual ethnic groups.<ref>Davidson, ''Africa in History'', pp. 164–165</ref> The [[Indian Ocean slave trade]] reached its height in the mid-1800s, when approximately 20,000 people were enslaved and considered to be carried yearly from [[Nkhotakota]] to [[Kilwa Kisiwani|Kilwa]] where they were sold.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5603/ |title=Malawi Slave Routes and Dr. David Livingstone Trail – UNESCO World Heritage Centre |website=Whc.unesco.org |date=9 July 2015 |access-date=9 February 2016}}</ref>