Fishing and the Colonial Economy: The Case of Malawi

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Periodical article

Title:	Fishing and the Colonial Economy: The Case of Malawi
Author:	McCracken, John
Year:	1987
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	28
Issue:	3
Pages:	413-429
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Malawi United Kingdom
Subjects:	colonialism marketing fish inland fisheries History and Exploration Economics and Trade
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/182193
Abstract:	This paper focuses on the evolution of fishing and fishtrading at the south end of Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi), emphasizing the interaction between ecological change and changes in market opportunity. During the late 19th century, fishing played an important role in the economy of the Mang'anja people alongside agricultural production. Little changed initially with the establishment of colonial rule. The establishment of military camps during the First World War, combined with the sudden drying up of Lake Chilwa, created the opportunity for enterprising fishermen to start a regular trade in dried fish to Blantyre and Zomba from about 1917. This was stimulated in the 1920s by the rise of water levels on the Shire River. The advent in the 1930s of non-African commercial fishermen did not prevent a further expansion of African fishing and fishtrading. By the 1950s, European companies were recorded as being responsible for over half the fish caught in Malawi, but in contrast to underdevelopment stereotypes, the indigenous industry continued to expand. Notes, ref.