Malawi (Republic of Malawi) is a country in south-east Africa. It has borders with the countries of Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique. The capital of Malawi is Lilongwe and the spoken languages are English and Chichewa. The official language of Malawi is English. The total size is about 118480 km² and there are about 100 people per km². The country is also called "The Warm Heart of Africa". Malawi is one of the smallest countries in Africa. Lake Malawi takes about a third of Malawi's area.
Bantu people started living in Malawi in the 10th century. In 1891 the area became a colony of the United Kingdom. In 1953 Malawi, then called as Nyasaland, as a protectorate of the United Kingdom, became an almost independent country called Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Federation was ended in 1963. In 1964 the protection of the United Kingdom over Nyasaland was ended. Nyasaland became an independent country which was ruled by Queen Elizabeth and was called Malawi. Two years later it became a republic. After getting independence it became a one-party rule which was ruled by Hastings Banda. He was president until 1994. Peter Mutharika is the current president. Malawi has a democratic, many party government. Malawi has a small military: army, a navy and an air support. Malawi has good relations with Western countries and most countries in the world. Malawi has joined some international organizations.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. Economy is based in farming. Most of the population live in field areas. Country gets aid from other countries. Government has a hard time building and expanding the economy and develop health care, education and environment safety. Since 2005 some programs have been developed to focus on these problems.
Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality. People become ill with AIDS. Africans, Asians and Europeans are living in the country and they speak in different languages.