Mtwara is a southern region of Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

 which has been underdeveloped for a long time: development is constrained by the lack of highway and energy infrastructures. The Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...

-Kibiti-Lindi

Lindi

Lindi is a coastal town located at the far end of the Lindi Bay, on the Indian Ocean in southeastern Tanzania. The town is 450 kilometers south of Dar es Salaam and 105 kilometers north of Mtwara, the southernmost coastal town in Tanzania, and gives its name to the surrounding Lindi Region, one...

-Mtwara road has been improved by the completion of the Mkapa bridge over the Rufiji River

Rufiji River

The Rufiji River lies entirely within the African nation of Tanzania. The river is formed by the convergence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately 600 km long, with its source in southwestern Tanzania and its mouth on the Indian Ocean at a point between Mafia Island called Mafia...

. Mnazi Bay gas promises to provide reliable and adequate electricity for powering industrial and commercial activities in the region.

The boundary with Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

 to the south is formed by the Ruvuma River

Ruvuma River

Ruvuma River, formerly also known as the Rovuma River, is a river in East Africa, forming during the greater part of its course the border between Tanzania and Mozambique . It is long, with a drainage basin in size...

. To the west Mtwara is bordered by Ruvuma Region

Ruvuma Region

Ruvuma is a region in Tanzania. It is named after the Ruvuma River which forms most of its southern boundary with Mozambique. It is also bordered to the North by the Morogoro Region, to the Northeast by the Lindi Region, to the East by the Mtwara Region and to the Northwest by the Iringa Region. ...

, to the north by Lindi Region

Lindi Region

Lindi is one of Tanzania's 26 administrative regions. The regional capital is also called Lindi.The Lindi region borders on Pwani, Morogoro, Ruvuma, and Mtwara. Much of the western part of the region is in the Selous Game Reserve....

, and to the east is the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

. The capital is Mtwara.

According to the 2002 Tanzania National Census, the population of the Mtwara Region was 1,128,523.http://www.tanzania.go.tz/census/census/mtwara.htm

The regional commissioner is H.Shekifuhttp://www.tanzania.go.tz/govdirf.html

The Groundnut Scheme

In 1948, the British Government formulated the "Tanganyika groundnut scheme

Tanganyika groundnut scheme

The Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme was a plan to cultivate tracts of what is now Tanzania with peanuts. It was a project of the British Labour government of Clement Attlee. It was abandoned in 1951 at considerable cost to the taxpayers when it did not become profitable...

" through the Overseas Food Corporation (OFC). The purpose was to alleviate the worldwide shortage of vegetable oils; however, inadequate research and adverse environmental conditions due to poor planning resulted in the complete and disastrous failure of the scheme. The exported crop was to go through the port of Mtwara.

Districts

Mtwara Region is administratively divided into six districts: Masasi

Masasi

Masasi is one of the 5 districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the North by the Lindi Region, to the East by the Newala District, to the South by Mozambique and to the West by the Ruvuma Region....

, Nanyumbu, Newala

Newala

Newala is one of the five districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the west by the Masasi District, to the east by the Tandahimba District, to the south by Mozambique, and to the north by the Tandahimba and Masasi Districts....

, Tandahimba

Tandahimba

Tandahimba is one of the 5 districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the East by the Mtwara Rural District, to the South by Mozambique, to the West by the Newala District, and to the North by the Lindi Region....

, Mtwara Urban

Mtwara Urban

Mtwara Urban is one of the 5 districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the North by the Lindi Region, to the East by the Indian Ocean and to the South and West by the Mtwara Rural Region....

 and Mtwara Rural

Mtwara Rural

Mtwara Rural is one of the 5 districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the South by Mozambique, to the West by the Tandahimba District, to the North by the Lindi Region and to the East by the Mtwara Urban District and the Indian Ocean....

.

Sources

• Mtwara Region Homepage for the 2002 Tanzania National Census
• Tanzanian Government Directory Database
• Commonwealth Forestry News, December 2000