Ambanja is a city and commune in northern

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. According to 2018

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

the population of Ambanja was 60,321.

Geography

Ambanja is located on the northern berth of the Sambirano River and is crossed by the

Route Nationale 6 The Route nationale 6 is a trunk road ( nationale) in France between Paris and the frontier with Italy in the Alps. Reclassification The RN 6 runs parallel for a long portion of its route to the A 6 autoroute. As a result, portions of the r ...

(

Antsiranana Antsiranana ( ), named Diego-Suarez prior to 1975, is a city in the far north of Madagascar. Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region. It had an estimated population of 115,015 in 2013. History At the beginning of the 16th century, a Portugue ...

Mahajanga Mahajangā (French: Majunga) is a city and an administrative district on the northwest coast of Madagascar. The city of Mahajanga (Mahajanga I) is the capital of the Boeny Region. The district (identical to the city) had a population of 258,068 ...

and

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

). It is located at a road distance of 1 200 km north of

and 237 km south-west of

. The town belongs to the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of Ambanja, which is a part of

Diana Region Diana is a region in Madagascar at the northern part of the island. It borders the regions of Sava to the southeast and Sofia to the southwest. It covers an area of 19,266 km2, and had a population of 889,736 in 2018. The regional capital is ...

. It is served by the local Ampampamena Airport and small, local, maritime harbour at Ankify that is the gate to the islands of

Nosy Be Nosy Be (; formerly Nossi-bé and Nosse Be, ) is a volcanic island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist destination. It has an area of , and its population was 109,465 according to the provisio ...

and Nosy Komba

Education

In addition to primary schooling the town offers secondary education at both junior and senior levels. The town has a permanent court and hospital. There is a technical & professional

Lycee In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

in Ambanja, and a school of

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. The French international school is École Primaire Française d'Ambanja a.k.a. École primaire française Charles-Baudelaire.École primaire française Charles-Baudelaire
"

AEFE The Agency for French Education Abroad, or Agency for French Teaching Abroad, (; AEFE), is a national public agency under the administration of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (France), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France that assures the qualit ...

. Retrieved on May 4, 2015.

Religion

The town is seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ambanja (Cathedral of St. Joseph).

Economy

The majority 60% of the population are farmers, while an additional 2% receives their livelihood from raising livestock. The most important crop is cocoa, while other important products are

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

and

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

. Industry and services provide employment for 26% and 2% of the population, respectively. Additionally fishing employs 10% of the population.

Nature

Manongarivo Reserve Manongarivo Reserve is a wildlife reserve in the North-West of Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off ...

is situated at 35 km from Ambanja. * Mahamanina Falls - at 14 km

Sports

* USSK Ambanja

References

*
Monographie de la Région Diana
{{Authority control Cities in Madagascar Populated places in Diana Region