Malawi and Scotland Together in the Talking Place Since 1859

4. Encounter and Transformation

ϱϮ  4. Encounter and Transformation By the time the British Protectorate was established in 1891, it was clear that the initial contact made by Livingstone and his friends thirty years earlier had been consolidated. Even by the 1880s it was clear, as James McCarthy remarks, that “there never was a region of Africa more replete with Scots whether missionaries, administrators, traders, or engineers, most if not all answering Livingstone’s call.”1 When a German traveller, Tom von Prince, visited Blantyre in the early 1890s, he noted the cold and un-African fog and described the place as “African Scotland”. He went on to observe that; “all around was the unmistakable accent of that kind of Englishmen. What is more, Livingston, who discovered that area, was a Scotsman. Almost all the inhabitants there seem to be Scottish, a breed of men which is very clever in monetary affairs. They combine the pleasant with the useful, are the best soldiers of England, and are very precise as businessmen.”2 Attention is naturally often focussed on the Blantyre and Livingstonia Missions which provided the outstanding institutional expression of Scottish influence but Scots made their mark in other spheres also, such as “Pitgaveny” the military officer who often led the forces of the British administration, invariably scorning the standard uniform and charging into battle in his Cameron Highlanders kilt;3 or John Buchanan and his brothers who were pioneers of estate agriculture well before the British Protectorate was established.4 Scots formed a clear majority of the 57 Europeans resident in Malawi in 1891.5 Scotland and the British Protectorate During the 1870s and 1880s the Livingstonia Mission, Blantyre Mission and African Lakes Company established Scottish influence in Malawi in a context where there was no overarching civil authority. As has been seen, this was not without its problems, particularly in the early days of the Missions when they succumbed to pressures to exercise civil authority themselves. They learned from their mistakes, however, and gradually developed their diplomatic skills in forming good working ϱϯ  relationships with the chiefs of the surrounding communities. In fact, they gained understanding of the structure of African societies and respect for chiefs who exercised their authority effectively. In turn, men such as Robert Laws and David Clement Scott won the respect and affection of chiefs with whom they were in contact. It is important to recognise that these early interactions took place in a pre-colonial political context. Malawians and Scots had already established relationships of mutual respect prior to the advent of British colonial rule. Had there been no external pressures to consider, it is possible that the Scottish Missions would have been quite happy to continue operating as they did in the 1880s. Towards the end of that decade, however, they became gravely concerned about the territorial ambitions of the Arabs and the Portuguese. An increase in Swahili-inspired slave-raiding led to the slaver Mlozi attempting to set up a new Swahili-controlled state at Karonga at the north end of the Lake. Meanwhile, the Portuguese claimed as their territory a large part of what is now southern Malawi, including the Shire Highlands, where Blantyre Mission was based. By 1889 David Clement Scott was ringing alarm bells: “Rumours from home speak of a division of territory between Portugal and Britain in which the Shire is the dividing line. This is disastrous if it is true: it is indeed ‘keeping the shell and giving Portugal the kernel’. We must hold fast to this stronghold and gateway of African civilization whatever comes...”6 The two threats were inter-linked in that it appeared as though it would be very difficult to confront the claims of Mlozi if the Portuguese were able to cut off the Scottish presence in Malawi from the outside world. It was only in January 1889 that D.J. Rankin discovered the Chinde mouth of the Zambesi which allowed the Zambesi-Shire route to be recognised as an international waterway. Meanwhile from 1886 Mlozi was seeking to impose his authority over the Ngonde people around Karonga, with increasing violence. A number of Ngonde took refuge at the Karonga station of the African Lakes Company, appealing to the Scots as their friends to come to their aid. The outcome, as described by Andrew Ross, was that: ϱϰ  The Livingstonia Mission, backed up the African Lakes Company in siding with the Ngonde people, and its supporters in...