See Also: Chewa(encyclopedia)

Chewa (sh)




Bantu-speaking people of eastern Zambia, northwestern Zimbabwe, and Malawi.

They practice shifting (slash-and-burn) agriculture and they hunt and fish. Slavery was once universal among the Chewa. Descent, inheritance, and succession are matrilineal and polygyny is general. Chewa settlements are governed by a hereditary headman and a council of elders.