Blantyre, Malawi
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This article is about the location in Malawi. See also Blantyre, South Lanarkshire.
Blantyre is the largest city in Malawi and the capital of the country's Southern Region as well as the Blantyre District. It is more established and lively than the capital, Lilongwe and is considered the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi. Blantyre had an official population of 646,235 in 2003. There is a small but very influential expatriate population of about 25000. These people are mainly from England, the rest of Europe, and also South Africa. The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), the country's state broadcaster and the provider of Malawi's only television channel, has its headquarters in Blantyre (see List of TV stations). The Supreme Court is also located here.
The city also houses the College of Medicine, the Malawi Polytechnic and the Kamuzu college of nursing, constituent colleges of the University of Malawi, located along the Chipembere highway. The rather unconventional location of the city has meant that Blantyre is overlooked by Mount Soche, Ndirande mountain, Chiradzulu mountain and Michiru mountain[1] which consolidates the Michiru Mountain Conservation Area.
[edit] History
Blantyre is named after the town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, where the explorer David Livingstone was born. Livingstone's missionary endeavours saw the establishment of the St Michael's and All Angels church. The church dates from 1891 and was famously built by a team of local workmen with no knowledge of architecture of building techniques.[1]. Urban development began in the colonial era with the arrival of missionaries, traders, and administrators and was further stimulated by the construction of the railway.[2] In 1956 it was merged with its sister city, Limbe to form one city.Image:Independace arch.jpg As Malawi's main economic and financial hub, the city plays host to an international trade fair every year which takes place during the month of May. The event seeks to showcase the best of Malawian commerce, industry, agriculture and information technology and opened under a theme of “Building Productivity Capacity to Achieve Export Competitiveness” in 2007.[3] Blantyre is also home to the Malawi Stock Exchange located on victoria avenue, the heart of the city. It opened its doors in November 1996 and operates under the Capital Market Development Act 1990 and the Companies Act 1984. Prior to the listing of the first company, the major activities that were being undertaken were the provision of a facility for secondary market trading in Government of Malawi bonds namely, Treasury Bills and Local Registered Stocks.[4]
[edit] Shopping
Blantyre has many shops which offer international standards of goods at reasonably affordable prices, perhaps the rule unto why many non-Blantyre residents frequent the city. Shoprite at the Chichiri roundabout offers the best prices on groceries. This unrivaled complex in Malawi also boasts the South African "Game Stores" which dazzles the nation with a wide variety of things ranging from electronics to sports equipement. There is a wide variety of restaurants to choose from in Blantyre, from a Chinese at the Hong Kong restaurant, to an Indian at the Bombay Palace, to pizza at Jungle Pepper and even Ethiopian on victoria avenue. Alternatively, 21 grill on hannover avenue provides .
[edit] Transport
Transport throughout the city is provided by privately run minibuses which ferry passengers to all corners of the city. In September 2007, President Bingu wa Mutharika commissioned locomotives donated by the Taiwanese government which will provide passenger train services for the city of Blantyre to other parts of the country. A government subsidised passenger rail service operated thrice weekly from Blantyre to Makhanga and to the border with Mozambique at Nayuchi prior to this. Taxi's mainly found outside the city's top hotel's, Mount Soche and Ryalls, also provide an alternative mode of transport to the residents of Blantyre. Chileka International Airport serves Blantyre with flights to South Africa and other African countries and is the main base for the country's flagship airline, Air Malawi whose destinations include London Gatwick and Dubai.
Blantyre is also twinned with Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England.
