Malawi is a small country in southeast Africa, and is known for its natural beauty and its warm, hard-working people. The first significant Western contact began with the arrival of David Livingstone in 1859. Fiery sunlight glittering from Lake Nyasa gave the name "Malawi"-land of flaming waters-to an ancient Bantu empire. Present-day descendants revived the name when the British Protectorate of Nyasaland became independent in 1963. The country is considered something of a success story in African political development. In 1994, after 30 years of one-party, dictatorial rule dating back to independence from Britain, Malawi quietly and peacefully elected a new government committed to multiparty democracy. In spite of the wave of euphoria over their newly won freedom, the Malawian people continue to face the obstacles of poverty, drought, environmental degradation, hunger, disease, rising crime, and illiteracy on their path to social, political, and economic reform.