Balowoka

Balowoka, "those who crossed", is the name given in Tumbuka tradition to traders and ivory hunters who crossed Lake Malawi from the east in the late 18th century. Their leader, remembered as Gonapamuhanya, settled in the north of present-day Malawi, and his descendants founded the Chikulamayembe dynasty, which held loose authority over Tumbuka clans until the Ngoni invasions of the mid-19th century.