Expansion of Maravi state system in Chewa-speaking area of the Shire Valley. The state was centered at Manthimba on the southwest side of Lake Malawi. It integrated pre-Maravi inhabitants through ritual and appointments, and expanded, around 1575, by settlement of lineage heads in adjacent territories.
Portuguese transformed Swahili bazaars in lower Zambezi into feiras, central areas for Afro-Portuguese commerce, on land granted by local chiefs. The most celebrated feira was Dambarane.
NEW CROPS from Europe and Asia and the Americas entered southern Zambezi, including rice, yams, various fruit trees, groundnuts, cowpeas, and maize. New crops contributed to population increase.
Chewa-Maravi peoples became most important group in subregion north of Zambezi River; the Portuguese were forced to cooperate with them in the Zambezi Valley.
