Lilongwe, city (1994 est. pop. 395,500), S central Malawi, in a fertile agricultural area. The capital of Malawi since 1975, it is an administrative and commercial center. The city was founded in 1947 as an agricultural marketing center. Largely a planned city, government programs in the 1970s and 80s expanded the city's transportation facilities (which included the construction of an international airport and rail connections to neighboring cities) and its agricultural potential. An agricultural college is in Lilongwe.

Capital and one of the largest cities (pop., 2008.: 669,021) in Malawi. Lilongwe is located on an inland plain 50 mi (80 km) west of the southern end of Lake Malawi. An agricultural market centre for the fertile Central Region Plateau, it replaced Zomba as the national capital in 1975. The old part of the city functions as a service and commercial centre, while the newer district of Capital Hill houses government buildings and embassies, except for the country's judiciary, which is housed in the city of Blantyre.

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