From January 23-26, 1915, the Chilembwe uprising occurred in Malawi while it was still a British protectorate called Nyasaland; the leader of the uprising, John Chilembwe, was shot and killed by a police patrol on February 3, 1915. After the uprising was quelled, 36 Malawians were executed for a combination of murder and high treason. Unlike most British colonial executions, which were carried out by hanging, some of these executions were carried out by firing squad. To maximize the deterrent effect, some of the uprising’s ringleaders were publicly hanged on a main road close to an estate where many European colonial authorities had been killed during the uprising.