Lindi District also known as Mtama District is one of six administrative districts of

Lindi Region Lindi Region (''Mkoa wa Lindi'' 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 Sri Lanka. The regional capital is the m ...

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 ...

. The District covers an area of . Kilwa district is bordered to the north by

Kilwa District Kilwa District (''Wilaya ya Kilwa'' in Swahili) is one of six administrative districts of Lindi Region in Tanzania. The District covers an area of . The district is comparable in size to the land area of the nation state of East Timor. Kilwa d ...

, to the east by the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

and Lindi Municipal District, to the south by the Mtwara Region, and to the west by the Nachingwea District. The district seat (capital) is the town and ward of Mtama. The district is known for the Tendaguru Formation, the richest Late Jurassic strata of fossils in Africa. According to the 2012 census, the district has a total population of 191,143.

History

What is currently Lindi District, was first settled by Machinga people in the north, the Mwera in the west and the Makonde in the south of the district. The Lindi District Council is among the oldest local governments in Lindi Region. It was created in 1953 and at that point, it was known as Lindi Native Authority (LNA). It is one among the six districts in Lindi Region. Lindi district is well known in the

Paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

community for the Tendaguru Formation. Lindi as a district is the ancestral home to

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

people groups, namely the

Machinga people The Machinga are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group native to Kilwa District of Lindi Region on the southern Indian Ocean coast of Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania ...

and the

Makonde people The Makonde are an ethnic group in southeast Tanzania, northern Mozambique, and Kenya. The Makonde developed their culture on the Mueda Plateau in Mozambique. At present they live throughout Tanzania and Mozambique, and have a small presence in ...

together with the

Mwera people __NOTOC__ The Mwera people are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic and linguistic group. They are native to Kilwa District in southeast Lindi Region. However they have also settled in northern Mtwara Region, and eastern Ruvuma Region of Tanzania, as well ...

, the latter being the majority.

Geography

Lindi-Mtama district is the 4th largest district in Lindi region. It has a total area of 5,975 square kilometers. The soil quality in the district varies with the richest soils located in center of the district while the poorer soils are found in the north west. Lindi district is likewise home to the Tendaguru Formation, a Late Jurassic fossil record, where a total skeleton of the biggest land creatures to at any point exists; Giraffatitan was found by German colonizers in 1906 during their control of the domain in the mid-twentieth century. Different fossils that were observed there are the Kentrosaurus, Janenschia, Tornieria, Tendaguria,

Dysalotosaurus ''Dysalotosaurus'' ("uncatchable lizard") is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur. It was a dryosaurid iguanodontian, and its fossils have been found in late Kimmeridgian-age rocks (Late Jurassic) of the Tendaguru Formation of Lindi Regi ...

Australodocus ''Australodocus'' (meaning "southern beam" from the Latin ''australis'' "southern" and the Greek ''dokos''/δοκоς "beam") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago, in what is now ...

Elaphrosaurus ''Elaphrosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 154 to 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period in what is now Tanzania in Africa. ''Elaphrosaurus'' was a medium-sized but lightly built m ...

Veterupristisaurus ''Veterupristisaurus'' is an extinct genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the Jurassic of Tendaguru, Lindi Region of southeastern Tanzania. Discovery and naming ''Veterupristisaurus'' is known from the holotype specimen M ...

, and Dicraeosaurus types of dinosaurs. Over 225 tons of fossils have been excavated at the Tendaguru Formation. Mchinga Landscape

Demographics

According to the 2012 Tanzania National Census, the population of the Lindi District was 194,143. Most residents of Kilwa district practice

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

.As mentioned in the history section of this article Kilwa district is the ancestral home of the Mwera,

and Machinga people. As of recent, most of the Lindi population has been Swahilized and speak Swahili as their first language and practice Swahili culture.

Economy

The main economic activity in Lindi around 63% is subsistence agriculture and fishing. However, commercial food crops grown in the district are

Cashew The cashew tree (''Anacardium occidentale'') is a tropical evergreen tree native to South America in the genus ''Anacardium'' that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple accessory fruit. The tree can grow as tall as , but the dwarf cult ...

s and

Sesame Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...

seeds. The main crops grown for local consumption includes

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

s, cassava, maize, sorghum and

African rice ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown in West Africa around 3,000 years ago. In agriculture, it has largely been replaced by higher-yielding Asian ri ...

Administrative Divisions

The Lindi District is administratively divided into thirty wards.

Wards

# Chiponda # Kilangala # Kilolambwani # Kitomanga # Kiwalala # Kiwawa #

Longa Longa may refer to: Music * Longa (music), a musical note twice as long in duration as a breve, appearing primarily in Early music * Longa (Middle Eastern music), a genre in Turkish and Arabic music People * Francisco de Longa (1783–1842), Spani ...

# Majengo # Mandwanga # Matimba # Mchinga # Milola # Mipingo #

Mnara Marmara was a town of ancient Lycia, whose inhabitants put up a ferocious defense to Alexander the Great during his invasion. The name does not appear in history, but the ethnonym is cited by Diodorus Siculus. The town's territory is called Mna ...

# Mnolela # Mtama # Mtua # Mtumbya # Nachunyu # Nahukahuka # Namangwale # Namupa # Nangaru # Navanga # Nyangamara # Nyangao # Nyengedi # Pangatena # Rutamba # Sudi

Education & Health

As of 2022, there were 144 Schools in Lindi-Mtama district, 117 of are primary schools and 27 are secondary schools. In Terms of Healthcare facilities, as of 2022 Lindi district is home to 49 healthcare facilities namely; 1 hospital, 42 clinics and 6 heath centers.

References

{{Lindi Districts of Lindi Region