Mangochi was founded by colonial administrator
Sir Harry Johnston in the 1890s as a
British colonial defence post on the littoral plain of the
Shire River's western shore.
David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary-explorer, visited the Mangochi area on multiple occasions. His first passage through the Shire Valley occurred in 1859 during his expeditions around
Lake Nyasa (now
Lake Malawi), and he returned to the region in 1861, where he observed the brutal operations of the
Swahili-Arab slave trade centered in Mangochi and nearby towns. The British gunboat
Gwendolen, named after
Lady Gwendolen Gascoyne-Cecil, daughter of the
3rd Marquess of Salisbury, was built in Mangochi in 1897. At , it was the largest ship to sail on
Lake Malawi. The gunboat, operated by the Protectorate of
Nyasaland, is said to have fought the first naval battle of the
First World War when it defeated the
German vessel
Hermann von Wissmann in August 1914. The boat was scrapped shortly after
World War II.
UNESCO and later
USAID. Rioting in June 2003 injured three people. From March to November 2007, roughly 480 children were rescued from child labour on tobacco farms in Mangochi. In July 2008, elephants terrorised areas around Maldeco Fisheries in Mangochi and caused several deaths and damage to property, mainly crops. The Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture proposed moving the elephants into several game reserves, although the proposal stalled when some residents said they wanted the elephants to remain. ==Geography==