1 Pound

Malawi's first banknote series appeared in 1964, the year the country achieved independence from British colonial rule as the successor state to Nyasaland. The Reserve Bank of Malawi was established that same year, and these inaugural notes — still denominated in pounds rather than the kwacha, which wouldn't arrive until 1971 — represent the brief window when the new nation retained the colonial currency unit while building its own monetary infrastructure.

Thomas De La Rue handled the printing, as they did for the majority of newly independent African states in this period, often working from design briefs developed in close consultation with the incoming governments.