It was a simple trading center in the late ’50s, having spawned no famous leader, recorded no historic event, and has no entries in the book of facts that would highlight its background. Yet, Lilongwe rested directly in the center of the country that was soon to become an independent nation and was in the region of the man who would become the first president, Hastings Kamuzu Banda. For these reasons, when Malawi gained its independence, Banda declared the capital should be where all Malawians could reach it, and in 1965 Lilongwe replaced the southern city of Zomba as the capital of Malawi. Though the government resides in Lilongwe, this crossroads of Malawi has yet to reach the stature of the commercial center of the south, Blantyre. The population of this largest city in Malawi remains at approximately half of the number living in the city to the south, and international business continues to look to Blantyre for banking and commercial interests.