MALAWI - Republic of Malawi / Dziko la Malaŵi

Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique surrounding on the east, south and southwest. Malawi spans over 118,484 km² (45,747 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 18,143,217 (as of July 2018). Lake Malawi takes up about a third of Malawi's area. Its capital is Lilongwe, which is also Malawi's largest city; the second largest is Blantyre, the third largest is Mzuzu and the fourth largest is its old capital Zomba. The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, an old name of the Nyanja people that inhabit the area. The country is nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa" because of the friendliness of the people.

The part of Africa now known as Malawi was settled by migrating Bantu groups around the 10th century. Centuries later in 1891 the area was colonised by the British. In 1953 Malawi, then known as Nyasaland, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, became a protectorate within the semi-independent Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Federation was dissolved in 1963. In 1964 the protectorate over Nyasaland was ended and Nyasaland became an independent country under Queen Elizabeth II with the new name Malawi. Two years later it became a republic. In 1889, a British protectorate was proclaimed over the Shire Highlands, which was extended in 1891 to include the whole of present-day Malawi as the British Central Africa Protectorate. In 1907, the protectorate was renamed Nyasaland, a name it retained for the remainder of its time under British rule. n 1944, the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) was formed by the Africans of Nyasaland to promote local interests to the British government. In 1953, Britain linked Nyasaland with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in what was the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, often called the Central African Federation (CAF), for mainly political reasons. on 6 July 1964, Nyasaland became independent from British rule and renamed itself Malawi, and that is commemorated as the nation's Independence Day, a public holiday.

Animal life indigenous to Malawi includes mammals such as elephants, hippos, big cats, monkeys, and bats; a great variety of birds including birds of prey, parrots and falcons, waterfowl and large waders, owls and songbirds. Lake Malawi has been described as having one of the richest lake fish faunas in the world, being the home for some 200 mammal, 650 bird, 30+ mollusc, and 5,500+ plant species. The ecoregions include tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands of the miombo woodland, dominated by miombo trees; and the Zambezian and mopane woodlands, characterized by the mopane tree; and also flooded grassland providing grassland and swamp vegetation. There are five national parks, four wildlife and game reserves and two other protected areas in Malawi. Malawi's population is made up of the Chewa, Tumbuka, Yao, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, and Ngonde native ethnic groups, as well as populations of Asians and Europeans.

On 6 July 1907 the British Central Africa Protectorate became the Nyasaland Protectorate and its first stamps were issued on 22 July 1908. Stamps were marked Nyasaland Protectorate and later just Nyasaland. From 1953 to 1963 Nyasaland was united with Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia and used stamps of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Nyasaland resumed issuing stamps in 1963 before becoming independent. After independence in 1964, stamps were marked Malawi. The first stamps of Malawi were issued on 6 July 1964. Stamps had previously been issued under the names of the British Central Africa Protectorate from 1891 and later the Nyasaland Protectorate and Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1908 and 1954, respectively.

The covers posted on May 10, 2016 and I received on May 28, 2016.