Malawi, Lake

Fishing village on Lake Malawi (or Lake Nyasa). Malawi is very undeveloped and faces severe social, economic, and environmental difficulties, among them the siltation of Lake Malawi's spawning grounds, which is endangering fish stocks.

Lake, bordered by Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique, formed in a southern section of the Great Rift Valley. It is about 500 m/1,650 ft above sea level and 560 km/350 mi long, with an area of 28,749 sq km/11,100 sq mi and a depth of 700 m/2,296 ft, making it the ninth biggest lake in the world. It is intermittently drained to the south by the River Shire into the Zambezi. The lake is rich in a great variety of fish and this has helped its neighbouring areas, especially in Malawi, to become densely populated.

The lake was seen by Portuguese explorers in the 17th century and rediscovered for Europeans by the British missionary and explorer David Livingstone in 1859.