Kilwa District (Kilwa)
Kilwa District (Wilaya ya Kilwa in Swahili) is one of six administrative districts of Lindi Region in Tanzania. The District covers an area of 15,000 km2. The district is comparable in size to the land area of the nation state of East Timor. Kilwa district is bordered to the north by Rufiji District in Pwani Region, to the east by the Indian Ocean, to the south by the Lindi District, Nachingwea District together with Ruangwa District, and to the west by the Liwale District. The district borders every other district in Lindi Region except Lindi Municipal District. The district seat (capital) is the town of Kilwa Masoko. The district is named after the medieval Swahili city state of Kilwa Kisiwani. According to the 2012 census, the district has a total population of 190,744.
The area that is now Kilwa district has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years. The area is the ancestral home to three Bantu people groups, namely the Mwera people and the Matumbi people together with the Machinga people. The Matumbi being historically the majority native group inhabiting the most land in the district. They are the natives of the entire central and northern Kilwa district and Kilwa's islands. The Machinga people are native to the south eastern section of the district to the border with Lindi District. The Mwera inhabit the south west part of the district.
The three tribes became swahilized in the 9th century with the arrival of Islam in the region transforming the region to its being one of the wealthiest Swahili city states on the continent by the 14th century. Kilwa district is known globally for its Middle Ages Swahili historical sites from Middle Ages on the islands Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara which are part of the seven Tanzanian World Heritage Site.
The Swahili city-state of Kilwa was once the greatest Swahili port city that met an unfortunate end on July 1505 when the Portuguese burned and looted the city. In the 1866 the area of what is now Kilwa district was occupied by Germans who established their headquarters at Kilwa Kivinje and used it as a base to quell the Maji Maji rebellion that was based on the Matumbi Hills north of the Kilwa district.
In 1918 when Tanganyika became a British protectorate, Kilwa Masoko was chosen as it is the district seat and they built a deepwater port to assist with their commercial vessels. To this day Kilwa Masoko remains the capital of Kilwa district. During the British occupiation the district was one of six councils established in 1947 in lindi region. Post independence, in 1984 Kilwa was officially designated as a district council.
The area that is now Kilwa district has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years. The area is the ancestral home to three Bantu people groups, namely the Mwera people and the Matumbi people together with the Machinga people. The Matumbi being historically the majority native group inhabiting the most land in the district. They are the natives of the entire central and northern Kilwa district and Kilwa's islands. The Machinga people are native to the south eastern section of the district to the border with Lindi District. The Mwera inhabit the south west part of the district.
The three tribes became swahilized in the 9th century with the arrival of Islam in the region transforming the region to its being one of the wealthiest Swahili city states on the continent by the 14th century. Kilwa district is known globally for its Middle Ages Swahili historical sites from Middle Ages on the islands Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara which are part of the seven Tanzanian World Heritage Site.
The Swahili city-state of Kilwa was once the greatest Swahili port city that met an unfortunate end on July 1505 when the Portuguese burned and looted the city. In the 1866 the area of what is now Kilwa district was occupied by Germans who established their headquarters at Kilwa Kivinje and used it as a base to quell the Maji Maji rebellion that was based on the Matumbi Hills north of the Kilwa district.
In 1918 when Tanganyika became a British protectorate, Kilwa Masoko was chosen as it is the district seat and they built a deepwater port to assist with their commercial vessels. To this day Kilwa Masoko remains the capital of Kilwa district. During the British occupiation the district was one of six councils established in 1947 in lindi region. Post independence, in 1984 Kilwa was officially designated as a district council.
Map - Kilwa District (Kilwa)
Map
Country - Tanzania
 |
 |
| Flag of Tanzania | |
Many important hominid fossils have been found in Tanzania, such as 6-million-year-old Pliocene hominid fossils. The genus Australopithecus ranged across Africa between 4 and 2 million years ago, and the oldest remains of the genus Homo are found near Lake Olduvai. Following the rise of Homo erectus 1.8 million years ago, humanity spread all over the Old World, and later in the New World and Australia under the species Homo sapiens. H. sapiens also overtook Africa and absorbed the older species of humanity. Later in the Stone and Bronze Age, prehistoric migrations into Tanzania included Southern Cushitic speakers who moved south from present-day Ethiopia; Eastern Cushitic people who moved into Tanzania from north of Lake Turkana about 2,000 and 4,000 years ago; and the Southern Nilotes, including the Datoog, who originated from the present-day South Sudan–Ethiopia border region between 2,900 and 2,400 years ago. These movements took place at about the same time as the settlement of the Mashariki Bantu from West Africa in the Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika areas. They subsequently migrated across the rest of Tanzania between 2,300 and 1,700 years ago.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| TZS | Tanzanian shilling | Sh | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| AR | Arabic language |
| EN | English language |