ABSTRACT
The term Maravi was used by early travellers to cover an agglomeration of peoples living north of the Zambezi, on either side of Lake Nyasa. 1 In the past the term seems to have been loosely applied to the inhabitants of the whole area between the Zambezi and Lake Tanganyika extending to the east coast. It is now revived to designate the peoples who were certainly once members of the Maravi confederation, and who now share a common history, culture, and religion.z Variant spellings are Marave, Maraves, Malawi. Sometimes the whole group is referred to by the name of one of its dominant members, such as the Cewa (c pronounced as ell in English 'church'),3 also variously spelt, Aneheya, Sllevas, Macheba, Chevas;4 or Nyasa (also spelt Wan yassa) , or Mang'anja (also spelt Maganja, Waganga,S or Mangandia),6 or Anyanja (generally spelt Nyanja). The last three terms are variants of the word meaning 'lake people'. DISTRIBUTION AND GROUPING
The Maravi have affinities with all the matrilineal peoples of Central Africa supposed to have migrated at various times from the region of the Congo. In particular their neighbours on the east, the Yao and the Makonde-Makua-Lomwe peoples, have so many points of social organization in common with them that it is possible to distinguish them as two separate ethnic groups only on the basis of historical separation, language, and variations in their initiation rites.
