Chitipa District is the northernmost

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 ...

in the Northern Region of

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

. The capital is

Chitipa Chitipa is the capital of Chitipa District, Malawi and the birthplace of Malawian lawyer, politician, and philanthropist James Nyondo. It is also known as Fort Hill. It is very near Malawi's tri-point border with Zambia and Tanzania Tanza ...

(formerly known as Fort Hill). The district covers an area of 4,288 km², and has a population of 234,927. The major and common language spoken by majority in the district is Chitumbuka. Chitipa borders fellow districts

Karonga Karonga is a township in the Karonga District in Northern Region of Malawi. Located on the western shore of Lake Nyasa, it was established as a slaving centre sometime before 1877. As of 2018 estimates, Karonga has a population of 61,609. Th ...

and Rumphi, as well as neighboring countries

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. The district is divided into five main areas known as Misuku to the east, Kameme to the north, Bulambia right at the centre while Wenya and Nthalire areas are situated to the south.

Government and administrative divisions

There are five

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

constituencies in Chitipa: * Chitipa - Central * Chitipa - East * Chitipa - North * Chitipa - South * Chitipa - Wenya Since the 2009 election all of these constituencies have been held by members of the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...

. The district council has two arms of government: the political arm and administrative arm. The political arm is headed by an elected council chairperson, a position which has been held by Isaac Mwepa since 2014. The administrative arm is headed by a District Commissioner. The District also has ten elected councillors: * Isaac Mwepa (who is also the council chairperson) * Newton Sibale * James Ng'ambi * Maxwell Kayira * Christopher Munyenyembe * Chitatata Chunda * Ginilon Mulungu * Davie Silwimba * Osman Kanyika * Ambokire Chiona

Demographics

Ethnic groups

At the time of the 2024 Census of Malawi, the distribution of the population of Chitipa District by

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

was as follows: * 44.4% Tumbuka * 20.5 Lambya * 8.4% Sukwa * 3.1% Nkhonde * 0.1% Chewa * 0.1% Ngoni * 0.1% Lomwe * 0.1% Yao * 0.0% Sena * 22.5% Others

Languages

A number of different languages and dialects are spoken in the district. The common and major language is Chitumbuka, followed by Chilambya. According to a language survey carried out in 2006 by the University of Malawi, the principal languages spoken are as follows (the spelling Ci- is also found): * Chitumbuka * Chindali / Chisukwa / Chilambya *Chinyiha / Chinyika The first three groups are fairly close, and are all classified as belonging to zone M in the

Guthrie classification of Bantu languages The 250 or so "Narrow Bantu languages" are conventionally divided up into geographic zones first proposed by Malcolm Guthrie (1967–1971). These were assigned letters A–S and divided into decades (groups A10, A20, etc.); individual languages ...

(specifically to the Rukwa language group).

Chibemba Bemba (natively known as ''Chibemba, Ichibemba'' and ''Chiwemba''), is a Bantu language spoken primarily in north-eastern Zambia by the Bemba people. History Bemba is spoken in rural and urban areas of the region, and is one of Zambia's sev ...

is also classified in zone M, but in a different group, while Chitumbuka is a little more distant and is classified as belonging to zone N. The Nyiha language (Chinyiha or Cinyiha) is spoken in the far north-west corner of the district but also, in a form called Chinyika (which is described as a dialect of Chinyiha heavily influenced by Chitumbuka)University of Malawi Language Mapping Survey (2006)
p. 16. further south around the village of Chisenga. Between these two, around the town of

itself, Lambya is dominant, although there are also pockets of speakers of Chinamwanga, Mambwe and Bemba. To the east of Chitipa, south of the Tanzanian border, live speakers of Chisukwa and Chindali. In the south of the district, Tumbuka is the main language. There are also a few Kyangonde speakers along the border with

Karonga District Karonga is a district in the Northern Region of Malawi. The district covers an area of 3,355 km.² and has a population of 365,028. It is a border district between Malawi and Tanzania's Mbeya Region's Kyela District. Chitumbuka is the maj ...

References

External links

Centre for Language Studies map of Northern Malawi LanguagesUniversity of Malawi Language Mapping Survey of Northern Malawi (2006)
{{Authority control Districts of Malawi Districts in Northern Region, Malawi