A country of southeast Africa. Center of the widespread Malawi kingdom from the 1400s to the late 1700s, the region became a British protectorate in 1891 and was known as Nyasaland from 1907 until 1964. It joined Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) in a federation from 1953 to 1963 and became independent as Malawi in 1964. Lilongwe is the capital and Blantyre the largest city.