Songwe Region (''Mkoa wa Songwe'' in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

) is a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

created on 29 January 2016 from the western half of

Mbeya Region Mbeya Region (''Mkoa wa Mbeya'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of G ...

. Its capital is

Vwawa Vwawa is a town and an administrative ward in Mbozi District and the location of the headquarters of Songwe Region, Tanzania. According to the 2002 census, the ward had a total population of 37 844. The major tribe found in Vwawa is Nyiha, but o ...

Geography

Songwe Region borders the countries of

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are ...

and

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northe ...

to the south: Tunduma is the main entry point into Zambia while

Isongole Isongole is an administrative ward in Rungwe District, Mbeya Region, Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great L ...

is the main entry point into Malawi. Songwe also borders the Tanzanian regions of Rukwa and

Katavi Katavi may refer to: * Katavi, Mawal, Pune district, Maharashtra, India * Katavi Region Katavi Region (''Mkoa wa Katavi'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in siz ...

in the west,

Tabora Tabora is the capital of Tanzania's Tabora Region and is classified as a municipality by the Tanzanian government. It is also the administrative seat of Tabora Urban District. According to the 2012 census, the district had a population of 226,9 ...

in the north, and Mbeya in the east.

Lake Rukwa Lake Rukwa is an endorheic lake located the Rukwa Valley of Rukwa Region, Songwe Region and Katavi Region in southwestern Tanzania. The lake is the third largest inland body of water in the country. Geography The alkaline Lake Rukwa lies mid ...

is a major body of water in the western part of the region. The

East African Rift The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. In the past it was considered to be part of a ...

and Southern Highlands run through the region.

Government

The commissioner of Songwe Region is Omary Tebweta Mgumba, who was appointed on 15 May 2021.

Administrative divisions

Districts

Songwe Region is divided into the town of Tunduma and the

districts 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, municipa ...

Ileje Ileje District is a district in Songwe Region, Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by Mbeya Urban and Rungwe districts, to the east by Kyela District, to the northwest by Mbozi District and to the south by Zambia and Malawi. , the population of ...

, Mbozi, Momba and Songwe. Tunduma is subdivided into 15 wards and 71 ''mitaa'' (streets), while the four districts are subdivided into 11 divisions, 79 wards, 307 villages and 1493 hamlets.

Demographics

The local government areas now comprising Songwe Region reported a combined population of 998,862 in the 2012 census, 46 percent of whom were under 15 years old. The same areas reported a population of 723,480 in the 2002 Tanzanian census, yielding an annual population growth rate of 3.2 percent between 2002 and 2012. In 2017 the population of the region was projected at 1,173,667 inhabitants. In 2012, 211,537 people, or 21.2 percent of the region's population lived in urban areas, an increase of 250.4 percent over the urban population of 60,377 recorded in 2002. Major ethnic groups in the region include the Nyiha, Nyamwanga, Ndali, Manda, Bungu and Lambya.Nyiha is the majority and the indigenous ethnic group living in Mbozi district, Ndali and Lambya in Ileje, Bungu and Manda in Songwe, while Nyamwanga is known to be the indigenous of Momba district. Nyihas are the largest ethnic group in the region with an estimated population of 450,000 by 2017.

Economy

The main economic activities in Songwe Region are agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishing. Crops cultivated include paddy rice, maize, coffee, sesame, sunflowers, beans, and sorghum. Local inhabitants are Wandali, Wanyiha and Wabungu, Winyamwanga, Walambya. The Maasai and Sukuma people in the region practice

pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as " livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands ( pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The ani ...

. The

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...

of the region was provisionally estimated at TSh 1,888.3 billion in 2016.

Transport

Both the

Tanzam Highway The Tanzam Highway leads from Lusaka in Zambia to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The highway was built from 1968 to 1973 in several stages and was intended to provide seaport access for Zambia and to expand the transport options for Zambia, Malawi ...

and the

TAZARA Railway The Tazara Railway, also called the Uhuru Railway or the Tanzam Railway, is a railway in East Africa linking the port of Dar es Salaam in east Tanzania with the town of Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia's Central Province. The single-track railway is ...

run through Vwawa and Tunduma in the southern part of the Songwe Region. Tanzam refers to the Tanzania -Zambia Highway, while TAZARA refers to the Tanzania and Zambia Railway Authority that was completed in 1975 to facilitate transportation of heavy goods and people between the two countries with the help of the Chinese government.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Regions of Tanzania States and territories established in 2016 2016 establishments in Tanzania