evidence: Lake Malawi or Lake Nyasa – the Malawi and Tanzanian name preferences, respectively – dominates the eastern border of Malawi. It is the third largest lake in Africa at 568 km long and sometimes stretches to a width of 80 km. The 1890 Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty between Great Britain and Imperial Germany agreed the boundary between the then British colony of Nyasaland – now Malawi – and German East Africa, which in time became Tanzania. The treaty set the boundary along the Tanganyika side of the lake shore. The whole of the lake became part of Nyasaland. But these decisions were taken without consulting Africans, who should have had a say. They created more problems in Africa than they solved. People living around the northern shores of the lake are very much related. They speak the same language, have the same culture, and share the same beliefs. Today’s challenge – who owns the lake – would not have existed at all were it not for the treaty. The lake constitutes about a third of the entire territory of Malawi. Malawi’s economic life, culture, folklore and national sentiment are indistinguishably linked to the lake. Tanzania, too, derives considerable value from the lake. It has navigation and fishing rights; the lake supports a large number of artisanal fishermen; and there are ancestral burial places that now lie under the water.