Introduction

No period in the colonial history of Malawi is more important than the two decades following the declaration of a British Protectorate. During these years the British not only established their territorial hegemony through force, they also brought about a fundamental reshaping of the country's economy along lines that are still familiar today. Long distance trade in gathered items such as ivory declined and was gradually replaced by trade in agricultural staples: principally coffee, cotton and tobacco. In the Shire Highlands much land was alienated to a small group of settlers. But the plantation economy they created had to compete for labour from the early years of the twentieth century with a peasant sector based principally on the Upper and Lower Shire Valley and with a labour exporting zone, located principally but not exclusively in the north. At different times the colonial state gave precedence to different sectors of the economy. Overall, however, its impact was notably uneven in the sense that while some local communities were massively affected by its interventions, others survived the first stage of colonial penetration largely unscathed. In all cases, however, the general tendency was for non-agricultural economic activities to diminish and, particularly in the southern third of the country, for the production of food to become increasingly commercialised.