17 Facts About Nyasaland

1.

Nyasaland was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name.

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2.

Nyasaland's history was marked by the massive loss of African communal lands in the early colonial period.

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3.

When Nyasaland was forced in 1953 into a Federation with Southern and Northern Rhodesia, there was a rise in civic unrest, as this was deeply unpopular among the people of the territory.

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4.

Unlike Europeans of British origin, Nyasaland natives did not hold British citizenship under British nationality law, but had the lesser status of British protected person.

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5.

The development of Nyasaland was likely adversely affected by the drain of workers to other countries.

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6.

The Nyasaland government estimated that 58,000 adult males were working outside Nyasaland in 1935.

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7.

From 1953 to the end of 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which was not a fully independent state as it was constitutionally subordinate to the British government.

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8.

Nyasaland remained a protectorate and its Governors retained responsibilities for local administration, labour and trade unions, African primary and secondary education, African agriculture and forestry, and internal policing.

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9.

Nyasaland acknowledged that it had a large African population who required sufficient land for their own use, although his successors did not share this view.

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10.

In 1946 the Nyasaland government appointed a commission, the Abrahams Commission to inquire into land issues following the riots and disturbances by tenants on European-owned estates in 1943 and 1945.

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11.

Nyasaland suffered local famines in 1918 and at various times between 1920 and 1924, and significant food shortages in other years.

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12.

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was pushed through in 1953 against very strong African opposition including riots and deaths in Cholo District although there were local land issues.

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13.

On 3 March 1959 Sir Robert Armitage, as governor of Nyasaland, declared a State of Emergency over the whole of the protectorate and, in a police and military undertaking which it called Operation Sunrise arrested Dr Hastings Banda its president and other members of its executive committee, as well as over a hundred local party officials.

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14.

Report concluded that the Nyasaland administration had lost the support of Nyasaland's African people, noting their almost universal rejection of Federation.

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15.

Devlin's conclusions that excessive force was used and that Nyasaland was a "police state" caused political uproar.

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16.

Nyasaland's report was largely rejected and the state of emergency lasted until June 1960.

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17.

From 1953 to 1964 Nyasaland was united with Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

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