Abstract:
Although land and labour have been major themes in
Malawi's colonial history, class formation and the development
of the tea industry in the country's Southern Region
have received very little attention. This paper is a first
attempt to begin a discussion of these issues by focussing
on the Lomwe people who immigrated into Malwi from Mozambique
after 1890. Entering the country as refugees, most
Lomwe had to accept servility under Yao and Mang'an j a headmen
or as tenants on estates. As their numbers grew they formed
their own villages on Crown Land and became a peasantry
producing cotton and tobacco as cash crops and maize for
sale to Lomwe migrants employed as seasonal labourers on the
estates. The tea plantations themselves were inefficient
and poorly managed, depending largely on the exploitation of
their workers for profits.
