Kigoma Region (''Mkoa wa Kigoma'' in
Swahili) is one of
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 and ...
's 31 administrative
regions
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 ...
. The regional capital is the city of
Kigoma
Kigoma is a city and lake port in Kigoma-Ujiji District in Tanzania, on the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika and close to the border with Burundi and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. It serves as the capital for the surrounding Kigoma R ...
. Kigoma Region borders
Kagera Region
Kagera Region (''Mkoa wa Kagera'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Netherlands. Kagera Region is border ...
,
Geita Region
Geita Region (''Mkoa wa Geita'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Slovenia. for Slovenia at Geita Regio ...
,
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 size to the combined land area of the nation state of Estonia. Kagera Region is bordered to ...
,
Tabora Region
Tabora Region (''Mkoa wa Tabora'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital is the municipality of Tabora. The region is located in mid-western part of Tanzania. Tabora is bordered by Shinyanga to the no ...
,
DRC
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
and
Burundi According to the 2012 national census, the region had a population of 2,127,930, which was higher than the pre-census projection of 1,971,332.
[Population Distribution by Administrative Units, United Republic of Tanzania, 2013](_blank)
For 2002-2012, the region's 2.4 percent average annual population growth rate was tied for the fourteenth highest in the country.
It was also the sixteenth most densely populated region with 57 people per square kilometer.
With a size of , the region is slightly smaller than
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
().
Geography
![Malagarasi River](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Malagarasi_River.jpg)
Kigoma Region resides in the northwestern corner of Tanzania, on the eastern shore of
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...
. The region lies at about 5° south and 30° east of Greenwich. The region is bordered to the north by both
Burundi and the
Kagera Region
Kagera Region (''Mkoa wa Kagera'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Netherlands. Kagera Region is border ...
. To the east, it is bordered by the
Geita Region
Geita Region (''Mkoa wa Geita'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Slovenia. for Slovenia at Geita Regio ...
and
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 226,999. ...
Regions, to the south by the
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 size to the combined land area of the nation state of Estonia. Kagera Region is bordered to ...
, and to the west by
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...
, which forms a border with the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
.
The region's total area is , of which is land and is water.
The region's total area is just less than that of Estonia. , approximately was in forests and was suitable for grazing or farming.
Kigoma Region is on a plateau that slopes from the northeast at about down to at the shore of lake Tanganyika.
The topography in the north and east is gently rolling hills that gradually become steeper as they get closer to the
Albertine Rift
The Albertine Rift is the western branch of the East African Rift, covering parts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.
It extends from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tan ...
margin.
The most important river is the
Malagarasi, with the
Luiche and the
Ruchugi being the two other major rivers draining the region.
History
![Rencontre_de_Livingstone_-_How_I_found_Livingstone_(fr)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Rencontre_de_Livingstone_-_How_I_found_Livingstone_%28fr%29.png)
In precolonial Africa the region was a source of ivory and slaves.
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 226,999. ...
and
Ujiji
Ujiji is a historic town located in Kigoma-Ujiji District of Kigoma Region in Tanzania. The town is the oldest in western Tanzania. In 1900, the population was estimated at 10,000 and in 1967 about 41,000. The site is a registered National His ...
were Arab staging areas for shipments to the coast. It was visited by the early European explorers
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
,
John Speke
Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile ...
,
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
, and
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa
Cen ...
. In fact, Stanley met Livingstone in Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika on 27 October 1871.
In colonial times, the Kigoma area was known as the Western Region and the capital was Tabora.
Administrative divisions
Districts
Kigoma Region is divided into six
districts, each administered by a council except Kigoma and Kasulu which administered with two council each.:
Demographics
Kigoma Region has a total population of 2,127,930.
Ha people
__NOTOC__
The Ha, also called (''Waha'' in Swahili) or Abaha, are a Bantu ethnic group found in Kigoma Region in northwestern Tanzania bordering Lake Tanganyika. are the largest ethnic group living here. Other major populations are those of Wabembe,
Wamanyema
Manyema (WaManyema) (Una-Ma-Nyema, eaters of flesh), are a powerful and, in the past, warlike Bantu people in the southeast of the Congo basin in Nyangwe ( Kasongo) in Maniema, Democratic Republic of Congo and in the city of Kigoma, Kigoma regio ...
,
Watongwe and
Wavinza,
Sukuma and
Haya. Approximately 150,000 refugees from
Burundi and almost another 80,000 refugees from the
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
reside in three
refugee camps in the Kigoma Region, named
Nyarugusu Nyarugusu refugee camp is one of the largest and best-known refugee camps of the 21st century, with around 150,000 refugees.
It is located in the western province of Kigoma, Tanzania, about 150 km east of Lake Tanganyika.
The camp was creat ...
,
Mtendeli and
Nduta.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Regions of Tanzania