Mtilaren Vma-Jar-onN Lake, eastern Sweden. Located just west of Stockholm, it has an area of 440 sq mi (1,140 sq km) and a length of 75 mi (120 km); it is the country’s third largest lake. Connected with the Baltic Sea by navigable channels, it has more than 1,200 islands.
malaria A serious relapsing infection caused by protozoa of the genus Plasmodium (see Plasmodium), transmitted by the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. Known since before the 5th century bc, it occurs in tropical and subtropical regions near swamps. The roles of the mosquito and the para¬ site were proved in the early 20th century. Annual cases worldwide are estimated at 250 million and deaths at 2 million. Malaria from different Plasmodium species differs in severity, mortality, and geographic distri¬ bution. The parasites have an extremely complex life cycle; in one stage they develop synchronously inside red blood cells. Their mass fissions at 48- or 72-hour intervals cause attacks lasting 4-10 hours. Shaking and chills are followed by fever of up to 105 °F (40.6 °C), with severe head¬ ache and then profuse sweating as temperature returns to normal. Patients often have anemia, spleen enlargement, and general weakness. Compli¬ cations can be fatal. Malaria is diagnosed by detecting the parasites in blood. Quinine was long used to alleviate the fevers. Synthetic drugs, such as chloroquine, destroy the parasites in blood cells, but many strains are now resistant. Carriers of a gene for a hemoglobinopathy have natural resistance. Malaria prevention requires preventing mosquito bites: elimi¬ nating mosquito breeding places and using insecticides or natural preda¬ tors, window screens, netting, and insect repellent. See also protozoal DISEASE.
Malawi \ma-'la-we\ officially Republic of Malawi formerly Nyasaland Nni-'a-so-.landV Country, southeastern Africa. Area: 45,747 sq mi (118,484 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 12,707,000. Capitals: Lilongwe and Blantyre (judicial). Almost the entire population consists of BANTU-speaking black Africans. Languages: English (official), Chewa, Lomwe. Religions: Christianity (Protestant, Roman Catholic), Islam, tra¬ ditional beliefs. Currency: kwacha. Malawi’s terrain is characterized by dramatic highlands and extensive lakes, with forests occupying about one-fourth of the total land area. The Great Rift Valley runs north-south
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and contains Lake Nyasa (Malawi). Agri¬ culture employs some four-fifths of the workforce; staple crops include corn, pea¬ nuts, beans, and peas, and cash crops include tobacco, tea, sugarcane, and cot¬ ton. Coal mining and limestone quarrying also contribute to the economy. Major industrial products are food products, beverages, chemicals, and textiles. Malawi is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. Inhabited since 8000 bc, the region was settled by Bantu-speaking peoples between the 1st and 4th centuries ad. They established separate states, and c. 1480 they founded the Maravi Confederacy, which encompassed most of central and southern Malawi. In northern Malawi the Ngonde people established a kingdom c. 1600, and in the 18th century the Chikulamayembe state was founded. The slave trade flourished during the 18th—19th century; Islam and Christianity arrived in the region c. 1860. Britain established colonial authority in 1891, creating the Nyasaland Districts Protectorate. It became the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1893 and Nyasaland in 1907. The colonies of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland formed a federation (1951-53), which was dissolved in 1963. The next year Malawi achieved independence as a member of the British Commonwealth. In 1966 it became a republic, with Hastings Banda as president. In 1971 he was des¬ ignated president for life, and he ruled for three decades before being defeated in multiparty presidential elections in 1994. A new constitution was adopted in 1995.
Malawi, Lake or Lake Nyasa \nl-'a-s9\ Lake, southern Africa, bounded on the west and south by Malawi, on the east by Mozambique, and on the north by Tanzania. It is the southernmost and third largest of the Great Rift Valley lakes. It is about 360 mi (580 km) long with an aver¬ age width of 25 mi (40 km); it covers an area of 11,430 sq mi (29,604 sq km). It contains Likoma Island, site of an Anglican cathedral completed in 1911. On the heavily populated Malawi shore there are several gov¬ ernment stations. The lake is fed by 14 rivers, and its sole outlet is the Shire River. There are about 200 recorded species of fish in the lake.
Malay \ms-Ta, 'ma-,la\ Any member of an ethnic group that probably originated in Borneo and expanded into Sumatra and the Malay Penin¬ sula. They constitute more than half the population of Peninsular Malay¬ sia. They are mainly a rural people, growing rice for food and rubber as a cash crop. Heavily influenced by India, they were Hinduized before converting to Islam in the 15th century. Their culture has also been influ¬ enced by the cultures of the Thai, Javanese, and Sumatrans. Malay soci¬ ety has traditionally been somewhat feudal; class distinctions are still marked, and marriages have traditionally been arranged by parents and governed by Islamic law.
Malay Archipelago Largest group of islands in the world, located off the southeastern coast of Asia between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of the more than 13,000 islands of Indonesia and some 7,000 islands of the Philippines. Formerly called the East Indies, the archipelago extends along the Equator for more than 3,800 mi (6,100 km). Principal islands include the Greater Sunda Islands (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Celebes), the Lesser Sundas, the Moluccas, New Guinea, Luzon, Mindanao, and the Visayan Islands.
Malay \mo-Ta, 'ma-,la\ language Austronesian language with some 33 million first-language speakers in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and other parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. Because Malay was spoken on both sides of the Strait of Malacca, a crucial trade route between India and China, Malay-speaking groups were drawn into inter¬ national commerce centuries before European penetration of the region, and Malay became a lingua franca in Indonesian ports, giving rise to a range of pidgins and creoles known as Bazaar Malay (Melayu Pasar). In 20th-century Indonesia, a standardized form of Malay was adopted as the national language, Indonesian; written in Latin letters, it is now spoken or understood by about 70% of the population. Similar standardizations of Malay comprise the national languages of Malaysia and Brunei. The oldest known Malay texts are 7th-century inscriptions from southern Sumatra in an Indie script (see Indic writing system); a continuous Malay literary tradition did not begin until the Islamization of the Malay Pen¬ insula in the 14th century.
Malay Peninsula Peninsula, Southeast Asia. Comprising the main¬ land portion of Malaysia and southwestern Thailand, it occupies an area of 70,000 sq mi (181,300 sq km), has a width of 200 mi (322 km), and extends south for 700 mi (1,127 km) to Cape Balai, the southernmost point of the Asian continent; the island country of Singapore lies just south across the Johore Strait. Its central mountain range, rising to 7,175 ft (2,187 m) at Mount Tahan, divides the peninsula lengthwise and is the source of many rivers. Both its western and eastern coasts are exposed to monsoons. It has large tracts of tropical rainforest and is a major producer of rubber and tin.