| Summary/Abstract |
British colonial rule in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), from 1891 to 1966, occurred alongside various businesses owned by British nationals. This article uses the case of the British South Africa Company (BSAC), which fell into the “export production business” category. Departing from earlier studies that emphasize the active and influential role of British businesses in the decolonization process, this study argues to the contrary, and does so by using archival materials, to analyze the history of the company’s involvement in the Protectorate’s economy, before analyzing three main reasons for its decolonization the year that Nyasaland attained its republican status in 1966. The reasons include that the company was not operational having decided not to invest its resources in the Protectorate; the desire by nationalist leaders to have a share in the business sector and to reward other local/African businessmen; and the policy direction of the newly independent administration to revoke dubious claims of land ownership of the colonial period, with a plan to boost the country’s agriculturally based economy to the benefit of the African majority. Nonetheless, as this article posits, most of the people were also disadvantaged by the land policies enacted by the post-colonial political elites. This reality denied them (the ordinary people) an immediate chance to enjoy the “fruits of independence.”
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