The Mueda Plateau, also known as the Maconde Plateau, is a plateau in

Cabo Delgado Province Cabo Delgado is the northernmost province of Mozambique. It has an area of and a population of 2,320,261 (2017). As well as bordering Mtwara Region in the neighboring country of Tanzania, it borders the provinces of Nampula and Niassa. The reg ...

of northeastern

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Geography

The Mueda Plateau lies between the

Ruvuma River Ruvuma River, formerly also known as the Rovuma River, is a river in the African Great Lakes region. During the greater part of its course, it forms the border between Tanzania and Mozambique (in Mozambique known as ''Rio Rovuma''). The river is ...

on the north, which forms the border with

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 ...

, and the Messalo River on the south. It is named for the town of

Mueda Mueda is the largest town of the Makonde Plateau in northeastern Mozambique. It is the capital of the Mueda District in Cabo Delgado Province. It is the center of the culture of the Makondes, and the production of their ebony sculptures. Ge ...

, the principal town on the plateau. The highest portion of the plateau reaches above 1000 meters elevation.Programa de investimento em extensao agrarian/Documento de trabalho no. 2/B 1^a versao-15 de Junho de 1996 (DNER, 1996) The western edge of the plateau forms a steep escarpment, dropping to rolling plains. The plateau has an area of 1715 square kilometers.Kingdon, Zachary (2013) ''A Host of Devils: The History and Context of the Making of Makonde Spirit Sculpture''. Studies in Visual Culture, Routledge, 2013. , 9781136476662 The Macomia Plateau lies to the south, across the Messalo River. The

Makonde Plateau The Makonde Plateau, also known as the Newala Plateau, is a plateau in southeastern Tanzania. It is mostly within Mtwara Region, with the northeast corner in Lindi Region. The Makonde Plateau is a roughly rectangular, rising from the coast west ...

lies to the north, across the Ruvuma River in Tanzania. The plateau is composed of includes metamorphic and volcanic rocks.Chiziane E.A. (2019) The Design of the Political and Legal Framework on Soil Conservation in Mozambique: Deeply Unfinished. In: Ginzky H., Dooley E., Heuser I., Kasimbazi E., Markus T., Qin T. (eds) International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2018. International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, vol 2018. Springer, Cham. The soils of the plateau are classified as

nitisol A nitisol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is a deep, red, well-drained soil with a clay content of more than 30% and a blocky structure. Nitisols correlate with the kandic alfisols, ultisols and inceptisols of the USDA soil ...

Climate

Mueda, at an elevation of 847 meters, has an average annual rainfall of 1,093 mm, and a mean annual temperature of 21.9 °C. Most of the rainfall occurs during the October-to-April wet season.

Ecology

The Mueda Plateau is in the

Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

ecoregion. The natural vegetation is a mosaic of plant communities, including

miombo woodland The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

, dry deciduous and semi-deciduous forest, dry deciduous thicket, and grassland. Miombo woodland is characterized by species of ''

Brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezian ...

'' and ''

Julbernardia ''Julbernardia'' is a genus of plants in the family Fabaceae. There are eight species found in tropical Africa. They are medium-sized trees. Species accepted by the Plants of the World Online as of February 2021: *''Julbernardia baumii'' *''Ju ...

'' which form open-canopied woodlands and savannas. Dry deciduous and semi-deciduous forests generally have a closed canopy, and trees are often dry-season deciduous and/or

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaf, leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is paral ...

ous. Typical dry forest species include ''

Manilkara sansibarensis ''Manilkara'' is a genus of trees in the family Sapotaceae. They are widespread in tropical and semitropical locations, in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, Australia, and Latin America, as well as various islands in the Pacific and in the Caribbean. ...

Pteleopsis myrtifolia ''Pteleopsis myrtifolia'' ('Ptelea' = elm, 'opsis' = resembling, 'myrtifolia' = leaves like those of the myrtle) is one of some 10 African species in this genus in the family of Combretaceae. It is the only ''Pteleopsis'' species to occur in Sout ...

Warneckea sansibarica ''Warneckea'' is a genus of plant in family Melastomataceae. It contains the following species (but this list may be incomplete): * ''Warneckea cordiformis'' R. D. Stone * ''Warneckea memecyloides'' (Benth.) H.Jacques-Felix * ''Warneckea wildean ...

'', and ''

Baphia macrocalyx ''Baphia macrocalyx'' is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae. It is found in Mozambique and Tanzania. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a nat ...

''. Dry forests subjected to human disturbance from timber harvesting, livestock grazing, and shifting cultivation are often more thicket-like.Timberlake, Jonathan & Goyder, David & Chase, Frances & Burrows, John & Clarke, G. & Luke, Quentin & Matimele, Hermenegildo & Müller, Tom & Pascal, Olivier & Sousa, Camila & Alves, Tereza. (2011). Coastal dry forests in northern Mozambique. Plant Ecology and Evolution. 144. 126-137. 10.5091/plecevo.2011.539. It is estimated that 2,332 km² of the plateau was densely vegetated with woodland or forest 150 to 100 years ago. A survey of forest cover from 2002 satellite data found that only 89 km² of the plateau is still densely vegetated, a 96.2% reduction over more than a century.

People

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 ...

inhabit the plateau and the adjacent lowlands. The

, which lies immediately north of the Ruvuma River in Tanzania, is also inhabited by the Makonde. The name 'Makonde' is derived from the typical woodland thickets of the plateau. The soil is light and sandy but fertile, and the Makonde people on the plateau traditionally practiced a form of

swidden agriculture Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an ar ...

with a three-crop rotation. Trees were cut down to stumps, which provide support for vine crops (beans, pumpkins, and cucumbers) followed by a maize crop, and then millet. At the end of the growing season, the tree stumps were allowed to re-grow for a six- to nine-year fallow period.

References

{{reflist Geography of Cabo Delgado Province Mountains of Mozambique Plateaus of Africa Southern Zanzibar–Inhambane coastal forest mosaic