Karonga

Karonga, town, northern Malawi, situated on the western shore of Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) in the traditional homeland of the Ngonde people. Karonga became the stronghold of the Swahili-Arab trader Mlozi about 1880. The modern town, however, was founded with the opening of a British trading post there in 1883. Following a protracted conflict between Mlozi and British interests in the area, British explorer and colonial administrator Sir Harry Johnston took possession of the post in 1895, ending the Swahili-Arab commercial activities in the area and establishing British dominance in the wider region. Karonga then grew as a commercial centre and entrepôt for local agricultural produce. The economy of the hinterland, based on the cotton and rice production along the lake and on coffee, corn (maize), beans, and livestock in the west, is augmented by subsistence fishing. Pop. (2008) 41,074.