Blantyre or Mandala is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, the second largest city with an estimated 728,285 inhabitants as of 2012. 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 , the country's state broadcaster and the provider of Malawi's only television channel, 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, along the Chipembere highway. 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. Blantyre supports a small expatriate population of about 25,000, mainly from the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe, and South Africa. Founded in 1876 through the missionary work of the Church of Scotland, Blantyre's historical importance is rivaled by no other Malawian city.
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