Lake Malawi changed to Lake Nyasa?

[Davy]

We had to learn all the countries and major bodies of water in Africa for World History class. Our teacher told us that Lake Malawi is now called Lake Nyasa. Has anyone else heard this? It's going to be kinda odd becasue all my books about fish say Lake Malawi but it's now Lake Nyasa.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I'm not sure....i never knew it was CHANGED but that is another name for it i guess. I still call it lake malawi and many others do as well. Interesting.

I think it was changed TO Lake Malawi? Idk...

 

[fishdude07]

yeah it seems like it was changed TO lake malawi...but i have no idea. i still see it labeled as lake malawi on maps and stuff

 

[Davy]

We labeled our maps as Lake Malawi and the next day she told us that she had done some research that night and found out it had been changed to Nyasa. She very well could have been misinformed though. Who knows. I think I'll stick with Malawi since most people know it as that anyways.

 

[Blair]

when Dr Livingstone (sp) discovered Lake Malawi he asked his native guides what the lake was called. They said Nyasa so he called it Lake Nyasa. Nyasa in their language means lake. Nyasa is actually an old name for Lake Malawi.

 

[Davy]

Ahhhh, so my teacher told us backwards. What a fine education I'm receiving.

 

[Lotus]

I think the country may have changed it back to Nyasa. I was looking at the CIA factbook online (updated Sept. 2004) and it had it labeled as Lake Nyasa. I couldn't find any info on when or why it changed again.

 

[wayne]

Try the webpage for the Malawian Government - on the map images section (hard to find) it's called Lake Malawi. Nyasa was the colonial name- it was changed back to Malawi in the 60's I think.
Good to see the CIA's African data is as reliable and up to date as it's Middle Eastern

 

[TaffyFish]

Let me get this straight, you have maps to OTHER countries in America? What will they think of next......passports?

LOL, just pulling your chains guys! ;-)

 

[ridgewalker]

The History that I learnt at school....

Its now known as Lake Malawi but still appears as Lake Nyasa on many British maps. Lake Nyasa was in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from the days of the colonial British Empire. Rhodesia and Nyasaland gained independants and became Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi which was presumably their former names.

 

[Davy]

This is way to confusing. How about we call it whatever we like.

Lake 'O Cichlids.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Ah but then you get it mixed up with some SA/CA lakes as well as the other rift lakes in africa