Eastern Province, Zambia

Eastern Province is one of the ten provinces of Zambia, lying between the Luangwa River and the borders with Malawi to the east and Mozambique to the south. Its capital is Chipata. The province covers about 51,476 square kilometres, is divided into fifteen districts and had 1,592,661 people at the 2010 census. The Chewa, Tumbuka and Nsenga are its largest communities, Chichewa and Chitumbuka are the most widely spoken languages, and traditional ceremonies such as Nc'wala and Kulamba are held here. Agriculture is the main occupation, with sunflower the major crop, and the province has four national parks and two airports, at Chipata and Mfuwe. In 1968 the Malawian president Hastings Banda claimed the province for Malawi, a claim that was dropped, leaving it in Zambia.