'Evolutionism' and colonial administrative policy: the case of Malawi in the era of H.H. Johnston, 1891-1897.

In this paper we shall endeavour to make an appraisal of, among . -other things, the attitudes and reactions of British officials in colonial Malawi on .the question of race, and to early manifestations of the pan- African spirit (1) during the time when Sir H.H, Johnston was the British Commissioner and Consul-General of British Central Africa and the British - South Africa Company's sphere of operations north of the Zambezi. In particular, we shall analyse the doctrine or philosophy of 'Evolutionism* and endeavour to elucidate its practical application as the basis of a racist colonial administrative ideology that moulded the social and politioal policies of the colonial regime. In this exercise, we shall in particular concentrate: bn analysing the evolutionist world, view of H.H. Johnston, the architect of .British, administration in colonial Malawi, and how his philosophical convictions and moral outlook influenced his own reactions to early manifestations of supra-tribal and 'Black'1 consciousness among the' indigenous colonial population and Blacks from the New World,

A seminar paper on British colonial governance in the Nyasaland (Malawi) during the period 1891 to 1897. Presented At University of Rhodesia, History Seminar Room, July 02, Mt. Pleasant, Harare.