Geographers
2 total works
“I certainly had very extreme views, very violent views… and I certainly did advocate… extreme methods.” So a leading Nyasaland nationalist characterised the struggle for independent Malawi, but Dr Hastings Banda, a highly respected medical doctor based for many years in London was invited back to Nyasaland to lead the movement to independent Malawi and the Malawi National Congress. Here was, or so it seemed, a loyal and progressive Government with pro-Western leadership – a final success in the story of British decolonisation.
Yet within three months all but one of the cabinet ministers had resigned or were dismissed, former ministers fled the country including distinguished members of the independence movement. Even the pro-Congress Europeans feared for their lives.
Colin Baker unravels this potentially disastrous episode in Malawi’s history and in the story of decolonisation. He illuminates not only the immediate post-independence problems of Malawi, a newly independent African state, but charts the growth of Banda’s autocracy. This detailed and revealing study reveals the problems inherent in the whole momentous story of Africa in independence and decolonisation.
Yet within three months all but one of the cabinet ministers had resigned or were dismissed, former ministers fled the country including distinguished members of the independence movement. Even the pro-Congress Europeans feared for their lives.
Colin Baker unravels this potentially disastrous episode in Malawi’s history and in the story of decolonisation. He illuminates not only the immediate post-independence problems of Malawi, a newly independent African state, but charts the growth of Banda’s autocracy. This detailed and revealing study reveals the problems inherent in the whole momentous story of Africa in independence and decolonisation.
Sir Glyn Jones, as last governor of Nyasaland, oversaw the transition of the country to Malawi. Involving widespread unrest, the removal of a governor, a state of emergency and commision of enquiry from London, these were some of the most stormy episodes in the story of the end of empire.
This biography, based on original sources, including the Glyn Jones papers to which the author had first and exclusive access, reveals Jones’ relationship with Hastings Banda in a new and controversial light. Jones’ appointment was the pinnacle of a distinguished career in the colonial service, which began in Northern Rhodesia as an administrative cadet in 1931. In 1960, as the demand for early constitutional advance in the northern territories of the Central Africa Federation and secession from that federation became more insistent, Jones moved from Northern Rhodesia to neighbouring Nyasaland, where he stayed for the most critical years of his colonial service career. These years saw Jones’s promotion to Governor and Governor-General.
This revealing account is the third volume of Baker’s biographical studies of the last three governors of Nyasaland.
This biography, based on original sources, including the Glyn Jones papers to which the author had first and exclusive access, reveals Jones’ relationship with Hastings Banda in a new and controversial light. Jones’ appointment was the pinnacle of a distinguished career in the colonial service, which began in Northern Rhodesia as an administrative cadet in 1931. In 1960, as the demand for early constitutional advance in the northern territories of the Central Africa Federation and secession from that federation became more insistent, Jones moved from Northern Rhodesia to neighbouring Nyasaland, where he stayed for the most critical years of his colonial service career. These years saw Jones’s promotion to Governor and Governor-General.
This revealing account is the third volume of Baker’s biographical studies of the last three governors of Nyasaland.