# Talk:Maravi

The contention of an earlier contributor (19 December 2014) that 'the basis of Chewa is Sotho' in particular the Sepedi dialect of Northern Sotho cannot be justified. It can be seen from the numbers, for example (Sepedi: tee, pedi, tharo, nne, hlano = Chewa: -modzi -wiri -tatu -nayi -sano) that the two languages are related only very distantly. His contention that the Maravi Empire was founded by a Sotho monarchy also seems to be without any historical foundation.Kanjuzi (talk) 04:23, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

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@Tumbuka Arch:, PRE-COLONIAL STATES OF CENTRAL MALAŴI: TOWARDS A RECONSTRUCTION OF THEIR HISTORY (1988) page 6 says The maravi expanded northwards into Tumbuka and Tonga country during the reign of Mphunga (1555-1580). Page 12 says There was also considerable outward movement of Maravi leaders and their followers from the Kalonga's kingdom, northwards into Tumbuka and Tonga areas. The leaders involved here included Chulu, Kaluluma, Kanyenda and Kabunduli. Chulu and Kaluluma, for example, migrated into the southern Tumbuka area called Chimaliro. Here, they claim to have encountered a people amongst whom there was little political or military co-operation. Thus, it was relatively easy for the immigrants to overawe the local inhabitants and to impose the institution of territorial chieftainship on them.(35) Kanyenda and Kabunduli, on the other hand, migrated into Tongaland. There, Kabunduli is said to have occupied land that was rich in resources so that in subsequent periods he was followed by several other immigrants from the Maravi heartland, such as the Kapunda Banda.(36). I don't think it means they ruled over all of Tumbuka and Tonga lands, just part of it.
The map in the infobox is very similar to the map at page 199 of this except the infobox one shows area of influence as directly controlled. The map from the book doesn't show the Maravi ruling over part of northern Malawi where the Tumbuka and Tonga were, though bizarrely the map on page 57 shows expansion further north. I can put something in the caption saying the lands to the east were under Maravi influence rather than directly controlled? Uticulo appears to have been a Makua settlement Kowal2701 (talk) 17:40, 31 May 2025 (UTC)

The infobox map is from page 69 of this Kowal2701 (talk) 17:46, 31 May 2025 (UTC)
@Kowal2701 True. The kingdom may have stretched to reach other sides of other kingdoms.
Putting a caption would give a clue. Tumbuka Arch (talk) 02:57, 1 June 2025 (UTC)
Complicating things, the first source mentioned says Culturally, a considerable synthesis of Maravi and Makua customs and traditions took place, particularly in what is now Quelimane district.(24) As a result, by the beginning of the 17th Century, the Lundu controlled a vast area north of the lower Zambezi, from the Lower Shire in the west to within reach of the Indian Ocean in the east. Not only was he then recognised as "the second most powerful person in the empire of Maravi (after the Kalonga)", but his warriors periodically descended on the Makua part of the coast to raid Portuguese settlements there.(25 and that Makua and Lolo headmen were made vassals. Since the whole state was made up of tributaries, I'm not sure there's much wrong with how the infobox map depicts it, but I'll put that the state was made up tributaries Kowal2701 (talk) 21:51, 1 June 2025 (UTC)