50 Kwacha 2005, Malawi
| in Krause book | Number: 53a |
| Years of issue: | 31.10.2005 |
| Edition: | 41 806 211 |
| Signatures: | Governor: Mr. Victor Mbewe (in office 2005 - 2009) |
| Serie: | 2001 - 2003 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 01.10.2001 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 144 x 72 |
| Printer: | Giesecke und Devrient GmbH, Muenchen |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Reverend John Chilembwe and denomination 50.
Avers:
Reverend John Chilembwe (1871 - February 3, 1915) was a Baptist pastor and educator, who trained as a minister in the United States, returning to Nyasaland in 1901. He was an early figure in the resistance to colonialism, in Nyasaland (Malawi), opposing both the treatment of Africans working in agriculture on European-owned plantations and the colonial government's failure to promote the social and political advancement of Africans. Soon after the outbreak of the First World War, Chilembwe organized an unsuccessful uprising against colonial rule. Today, Chilembwe is celebrated as a hero for independence, and John Chilembwe Day is observed annually on January 15 in Malawi. 
Centered is the view of Lake Nyasa with the lake boat (Dugout) with three fishermen on it. On the background is the mountain range and getting up, at dawn, sun.
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the ninth largest lake in the world and the third largest and second deepest lake in Africa. It is home to more species of fish than any other lake, including about 1000 species of cichlids. The Mozambique portion of the lake was officially declared a reserve by the Government of Mozambique on June 10, 2011, and in Malawi a portion of the lake is included in the Lake Malawi National Park. Lake Malawi is a meromictic lake; permanent stratification and the toxic-anoxic boundary are maintained by moderately small chemical and thermal gradients.
The Portuguese trader Candido José da Costa Cardoso was the first European to visit the lake in 1846. David Livingstone reached the lake in 1859, and named it "Lake Nyasa". "Nyasa" in language of Yao people means "Lake".
A dugout or dugout canoe is a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. Monoxylon (μονόξυλον) (pl: monoxyla) is Greek - mono- (single) + ξύλον xylon (tree) - and is mostly used in classic Greek texts. In Germany they are called einbaum ("one tree" in English). Some, but not all, pirogues are also constructed in this manner.
The well-watered tropical rainforest and woodland regions of sub-Saharan Africa provide both the waterways and the trees for dugout canoes, which are commonplace from the Limpopo River basin in the south through East and Central Africa and across to West Africa. African Teak is the timber favoured for their construction, though this comprises a number of different species, and is in short supply in some areas. Dugouts are paddled across deep lakes and rivers or punted through channels in swamps (makoro) or in shallow areas, and are used for transport, fishing and hunting, including, in the past, the very dangerous hunting of hippopotamus. Dugouts are called pirogues in Francophone areas of Africa.
On the right side is a hologram strip with denomination and emblem of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (see Reverse).
In the center and lower left are the relief (seen through) image of a fish (see Reverse).
Denominations in numerals are in lower left and top right corners, also centered. In words lower and in top left corner.
Revers:
In center is the Independence Arch, built in 1963 and located on Chipembere Highway, in Blantyre. This monument was unveiled by the prime minister of Malawi, The Honorable Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
It was constructed to commemorate and symbolize the bitter struggle, that Malawians underwent in fight against colonial government of Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and Malawi's independence from Great Britain, officially attained in 1964.
Blantyre is Malawi's center of finance and commerce and the second largest city. It is sometimes referred to as the commercial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe. It is the capital of the country's Southern Region as well as the Blantyre District.
The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), the country's state broadcaster and the provider of one of Malawi's television channels, has its headquarters in Blantyre. The Supreme Court is located here. The city houses the College of Medicine, the Malawi Polytechnic and the Kamuzu College of Nursing, constituent colleges of the University of Malawi. The Malawi College of Accountancy is also headquartered there. Its rather unconventional location has meant that Blantyre is surrounded by Mount Soche, Ndirande mountain, Chiradzulu mountain and Michiru Mountain which consolidates the Michiru Mountain Conservation Area.
Top is the emblem of the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
The emblem represents the upper part of the coat of arms of the country. Depicts African Fish Eagle in natural color with spread wings down, closing three-quarters of a golden sun, arisen from the waters with golden fifteen sunbeams.
Centered and lower are the seen-through image of the fish, presumably, Livingston's Cichlid.
Nimbochromis livingstonii, Livingston's Cichlid or (locally) kalingono, is a freshwater mouthbrooding cichlid native to Lake Malawi, an African Rift Lake. It is also found in the upper Shire River and Lake Malombe. They are found in inshore areas of the lake over sandy substrates.
Denominations in numerals are in lower left and top right corners. In words in top left corner and on the right side.
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