African Cichlids

THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE MALAWI

The Continent of Africa has always been hailed by Archaeologists and Anthropologists alike, as the birthplace of humanity. It was its’ vast natural resources, and wide varieties of fauna and flora that lured European explorers to its shores beginning in the early 17th Century.

During the late 1600’s, and early 1700’s, foreign travelers new to the continent began to hear rumors and stories of a huge and breathtaking lake. They were told that it was located somewhere within the interior of south central Africa. Some explorers had even claimed to havevisited the expansive body of water, but their tales of its beauty and size were dismissed as an imaginary oasis.

The rumors of a lake continued. Sometime around 1707, two French cartographers, Guillaume de L’Isle and Jean Baptiste Bourguinon d”Anville, were both given cohesive evidence of this lake, and began producing maps that portrayed the lakes’ position, shape, and location with a fair amount of accuracy.

It wasn’t until 1856 that solid evidence was finally obtained, and brought the stories of a magnificent lake into more than stories and legend. The Scottish explorer David Livingstone was visiting the African nation of Mozambique, and whilst staying in the city of Tete, he made the acquaintance of a fellow explorer, the Spaniard Candido C. Cardosa. Cardosa told Livingstone all about his visit to a glorious lake along The Nankumba Peninsula in 1846.

Livingstone’s original plan was to explore the Zambezi River. He was forced to alter his route when he realized that his party would be unable to traverse the dangerous rapids of Kebabrasa. As a result, he chose another route and decided to explore along the Shire River, which led him to what we now call Lake Malawi in September of 1859. Though aware of the fact that he was not the first European explorer to have visited the lake, his reputation allowed him claim the honor of having “discovered” it.

Not long after his arrival, Livingstone observed that its nearby inhabitants were transporting individuals they had kidnapped across the lake. Those unfortunates were being sold into slavery, and Livingstone was appalled by what he saw. He wrote to the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, and pleaded with them to send missionaries to the area, convinced that if the message of Christianity could be brought to the local people, it would put an end to the slave trade. Missionaries arrived in 1875. The slave trade finally ended in 1891.

Along with the Victorian missionaries, came traders and small steam ships. Despite the introduction of foreign visitors, Lake Malawi remains unchanged, and today continues to maintain the richest variety of tropical fish of any freshwater lake in the world. Up to 550 species of cichlids are unique to the lake.

In 1980 an area of the southern part of this huge inland sea, which is Africa’s third largest lake, was proclaimed a world Heritage Site.