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The Karonga War: commercial rivalry and politics of survival

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Owen J. M. Kalinga
Owen J. M. Kalinga
Affiliation:
University of Malawi
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Extract

This article suggests a new explanation for the Karonga War of 1887–9. It argues that the advent of different groups of people into northern Malawi in the 1870s and 1880s drastically altered the delicate balance of power in the region. Initially it had been advantageous to the Ngonde to welcome the Swahili both commercially and as a means of deterring further attacks. The settlement of the Henga-Kamanga in the area greatly increased the security of Ungonde and the Nyakyusa ceased to be a serious threat. This fairly comfortable situation in Ungonde was completely disrupted by the arrival of the Europeans. In the first place the African Lakes Company befriended the Nyakyusa and then the Ngonde, forming a trading post at Karonga which was used by all peoples. The Nyakyusa and the Ngonde thereafter had a common interest and were no longer enemies. In consequence the Henga-Kamanga ceased to have an important role in Ungonde. Secondly, the African Lakes Company seemed to offer better trading prospects. This, plus the fact that the Ngoni were no longer threatening the Ngonde, marked the decline in power of the Swahili. The newly formed alliance between the Ngonde, the Nyakyusa and the Europeans posed a threat to the future of the Henga-Kamanga and the Swahili in Ungonde. All this finally led to the Karonga War.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 1980 , pp. 209 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

1 I am grateful to the Malawi Government and the University of Malawi for the research grant which enabled me to carry out field work in northern Malawi. I also wish to thank Professor J. B. Webster lately of the University of Malawi for his useful comments and suggestions during the course of writing the paper. My thanks also go to Dr A. D. Roberts for his comments on an earlier draft of the paper. I am, however, responsible for the conclusions and whatever errors remain.

2 For a general account of the war and of the situation in the northern Lake Malawi region in the 1880s see Fotheringham, L. M., Adventures in Nyassaland (London, 1891)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hanna, A. J., The Beginnings of Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia 1859–95 (Oxford, 1956), 79–105, 151–3Google Scholar; Terry, P. T., ‘The Arab War on Lake Nyasa 1887–1895’, Nyasaland Journal, xviii (1965), i, 55–77Google Scholar; ii, 13–52; Macmillan, H. W., ‘The origins and development of the African Lakes Company 1878–1908’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1970), 250–80.Google Scholar

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5 Wright, M. and Lary, P., ‘Swahili settlements in Northern Zambia and Malawi’, African Historical Studies, iv (1971), iii, 563–70Google Scholar. So far this is the best analysis of the war, but it too does not satisfactorily place it within the wider political and diplomatic framework of the time.

6 Macmillan, H. W., ‘Notes on the origins of the Arab War’, in Pachai, B. (ed.), The Early History of Malawi (London, 1972), 276.Google Scholar

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8 Kalinga, , ‘Ngonde Kingdom’, 195–205Google Scholar; oral tradition: Mwayibale Munthali, 10 Aug. 1971Google Scholar; Zinde Gondwe and Group, 14 Aug. 1971Google Scholar. Although, as McCracken has recently pointed out, these external attacks on the Ngonde tended to be short, the cumulative effect on the Ngonde was to make them constantly worried about further attacks and to try to prevent them. See McCracken, John, Politics and Christianity in Malawi, 1879–1940 (Cambridge, 1977), 106–7Google Scholar. For the relations between the Ngonde and the British after the Karonga war see Owen J. M. Kalinga, ‘The British and the Kyungus: a study of the changing status of the Ngonde rulers during the period 1895–1933’ (Staff Seminar paper, University of Malawi, 1977).

9 Wright, Marcia, ‘Chief Merere and the Germans’, Tanzania Notes and Records, lxix (1968), 42–3Google Scholar; Roberts, , History of the Bemba, 196–214.Google Scholar

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12 Bain, to Laws, 21 Feb. 1887Google Scholar, MS 7890, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.

13 Buchanan, to Hawes, 12 April 1888Google Scholar (Central Africa, confidential no. 17), F.O. 84/1883, Public Record Office, London; oral traditions: Mwakasungula, R. K., 18 Aug. 1971Google Scholar; Mwaibeyu Mwalwimba, 14 Oct. 1971.Google Scholar

14 Carrying here refers to porterage. Moir, Frederick L., ‘Eastern route to Central Africa’, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1 (April 1885), 107Google Scholar; idem, After Livingstone (London, 1923), 90.Google Scholar

15 Oral tradition: John, and Mwandenga, Jacob, 26 Oct. 1971.Google Scholar

16 Elton, J. F. (ed. Cotterill, H. B.), Travels and Researches among the Lakes and Mountains of Eastern and Central Africa (London, 1879), 335–60.Google Scholar

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18 C. O. 525/135, internal file 33359; C. O. 529/141, Public Record Office, London.

19 Wright, Marcia, German Missions in Tanganyika (London, 1971), 39.Google Scholar

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22 Prince Mwafongo's ambitions were never realized. He died in 1912a frustrated man. The early colonial administrators also found him difficult to deal with. Until his death he continued to regard himself as the head of the House of Ngana. North Nyasa District Notebook, vols. 1 and 11, National Archives of Malawi, Zomba.

23 Kanyoli died fighting the Nyakyusa: Nyirenda, ‘History of the Tumbuka-Henga’, 66Google Scholar; oral tradition: Munthali, Mwaibale, 10 Aug. 1971.Google Scholar