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50 free Malawi trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Malawi calls itself the Warm Heart of Africa, and it has a lake with more fish species than any other on Earth, a mountain that rises sheer out of the plains, a city named after David Livingstone's Scottish birthplace, and a name that means "flames". It was ruled for thirty years by a life president who had trained as a doctor in Edinburgh, and it produced a teenager who built a windmill from scrap to power his village. This Malawi trivia quiz covers all of it. Forty-four questions run from geography (Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba, Lake Malawi, the Shire, Mulanje and Sapitwa, Likoma, Nyika) through history (the Maravi, the slave trade, Livingstone, the Central Africa Protectorate, Nyasaland, the Federation, 6 July 1964, Hastings Banda, the 1993 referendum, Muluzi, the Mutharikas, Joyce Banda, Chakwera) to culture and economy (the flag, the kwacha, Chichewa, nsima and chambo, Gule Wamkulu, tobacco and tea, the Flames and the Queens, William Kamkwamba). Roughly a third are easy, a third medium, and the rest are for people who really know southern Africa. Every answer has been checked against encyclopaedia and official pages, so the dates, numbers and names are ones you can rely on.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Malawi?
Lilongwe
It became capital in 1975, replacing Zomba, though parliament stayed in the old capital until 1994.
Q 02Which city was Malawi's capital until 1975, and before that the colonial capital?
Zomba
The city in the Shire Highlands is known for its British colonial architecture.
Q 03Malawi's commercial capital, Blantyre, was named after the Scottish birthplace of which explorer?
David Livingstone
The city grew from a Church of Scotland mission founded in 1876 and is now the country's second-largest.
Q 04What does the name Malawi mean in the local languages?
Flames
Hastings Banda chose the name at independence in 1964; it derives from the Maravi people who arrived around 1400.
Q 05By what affectionate nickname is Malawi widely known?
The Warm Heart of Africa
It refers to the perceived loving nature of the Malawian people.
Q 06Lake Malawi holds what world record among lakes?
More fish species than any other
It has at least 700 species of cichlids alone, and is Africa's third-largest and second-deepest lake.
Q 07Lake Malawi is nicknamed the "Calendar Lake" because of what?
It is about 365 miles long and 52 miles wide
It makes up over three-quarters of Malawi's eastern boundary and is called Lake Nyasa in Tanzania.
Q 08Which river flows out of the southern end of Lake Malawi to join the Zambezi?
Shire
It joins the Zambezi 400 km to the south in Mozambique.
Q 09What is Malawi's highest point, at 3,002 m on the Mulanje Massif?
Sapitwa Peak
The great inselberg rises sharply from the plains 65 km east of Blantyre; Sapitwa was first climbed in 1894.
Q 10Likoma and Chizumulu islands are exclaves of Malawi entirely surrounded by which country's waters?
Mozambique
The two islands in Lake Malawi together form Likoma District.
Q 11Which is Malawi's largest national park, covering a plateau in the north?
Nyika
It spans about 3,200 km2, roughly 480 km north of the capital.
Q 12Malawi's two UNESCO World Heritage Sites are Lake Malawi National Park and what?
Chongoni Rock Art Area
The lake park was listed in 1984 and the rock art in 2006; the lake park exists mainly to protect fish and aquatic habitats.
Q 13Which Bantu kingdom, source of the country's name, flourished between Lake Malawi and the Zambezi?
Maravi
The Nkhamanga kingdom flourished in the same era; the earlier Akafula hunter-gatherers were displaced by Bantu farmers.
Q 21Who defeated Banda in Malawi's first multi-party election in 1994?
Bakili Muluzi
A 1993 referendum had voted for a multi-party system; Muluzi was re-elected in 1999.
Q 22Who became Malawi's president in 2012 after the death of Bingu wa Mutharika?
Joyce Banda
The vice-president took over after South Africa threatened to reveal the death; she is no relation to Hastings Banda.
Q 23Which opposition leader won Malawi's 2020 presidential election?
Lazarus Chakwera
Peter Mutharika, brother of the late Bingu, returned to power in the 2025 election.
Q 14Mid-19th-century slavers shipped about 20,000 people a year from Nkhotakota to which port?
Kilwa
The Indian Ocean slave trade peaked just as Livingstone reached the lake in 1859.
Q 15The Scottish missionary-explorer who put the lake on European maps reached it in which year?
1859
He identified the Shire Highlands as suitable for European settlement, and missions followed in the 1860s and 1870s.
Q 16Under what name was Malawi a British protectorate from 1907 until independence?
Nyasaland
It had been the British Central Africa Protectorate since 1891, run by a "thin white line" of just ten European civilians.
Q 17From 1953 to 1963 the colony was joined with which two territories in a federation?
Northern and Southern Rhodesia
The Central African Federation was created for mainly political reasons and fiercely opposed by Hastings Banda.
Q 18On what date did the colony become independent as Malawi?
6 July 1964
The date is celebrated as Independence Day; the country became a republic in 1966.
Q 19Who led Malawi from independence in 1964 until his election defeat in 1994?
Hastings Banda
The European-trained doctor returned from Ghana in 1958, was jailed in 1959 and became prime minister in 1963.
Q 20In which year was Malawi's first president declared president for life?
1971
His party had already made him its president for life in 1970; his regime was rigidly totalitarian for almost 30 years.
Q 24Malawi is divided into three regions and how many districts?
28
The regions are Northern, Central and Southern, further split into about 250 traditional authorities.
Q 25What is the currency of Malawi?
Kwacha
It replaced the Malawian pound in 1971 and is divided into 100 tambala.
Q 26What symbol sits at the centre of the black stripe on Malawi's flag?
A red rising sun
The black stands for the African people, red for martyrs' blood, green for nature, and the sun for the dawn of freedom.
Q 27Which language, spoken by about 42% of Malawians, is used for instruction in all public primary schools?
Chichewa
The constitution names no national language; private schools may teach in English.
Q 28Nsima, Malawi's staple food, is made from what?
Ground maize
It is served with side dishes of meat and vegetables, often with fish from the lake.
Q 29Chambo, the prized fish of Lake Malawi, is similar to which fish?
Bream
Usipa resembles sardines and mpasa resembles salmon; tea and fish are popular features of the cuisine.
Q 30Which crop supplies the bulk of Malawi's export revenue?
Tobacco
Its share jumped from 53% to 70% of exports between 2007 and 2008; the burley leaf grown is unusually harmful, so farmers are urged towards spices.