The early history of the Chewa is only a small part of the larger history of Malawi, which scholars must continue to investigate. The few published works that exist, such as those of Pachai and McCracken, are relatively incomplete, since they did not address specific ethnic groups in any detail. Moreover, their treatment of events before the colonial period was limited. The major topics they dealt with were the country’s experiences with the slave trade, the arrival of immigrants such as the Yao, Ngoni and the British, and the colonial and postcolonial history. The authors had access to written records.

However, Malawi's history before the second half of the nineteenth century is part of the country's prehistory. Because there are no comprehensive written records for this period, writing this history requires information from oral traditions, ethnography and, most importantly, archaeology. Weaving the data from the three sources into one coherent account requires careful analysis, particularly of oral traditions. Sometimes informants of oral traditions narrated information that promoted their personal or ethnic interests and, in the process, altered or modified the traditions. Further, one cannot be entirely certain that recorders of oral traditions did not have their own interests too. Still, archaeologists whose research interests cover the last several centuries of the second millennium cannot afford to ignore oral traditions and ethnographic data. Equally important to the interpretation of the history is the physical environment. People made settlement choices based on the type of resources that the physical environment was likely to provide.

The Chewa-Luba connection

Oral traditions are clear regarding the home of origin of the Chewa. They came from Luba, located in the Shaba or Katanga area of the DRC. Evidence from ethnography, linguistics and archaeology also shows that there is a high probability that the Chewa came from there. The ethnographic evidence includes certain cultural practices of the Chewa that are traceable to the people of Luba, two of which stand out. The first is the use of masks by the Nyau secret society in Malawi. Apparently, the Bumbudye secret society of Luba make and use masks in some of their rituals. In Malawi, only the Chewa in central Malawi and their breakaway relatives, the Mang’anja in the Lower Shire Valley, use them.