Cabo Delgado Province

Cabo Delgado is the northernmost province of Mozambique, with an area of 82,625 square kilometres and 2,320,261 inhabitants at the 2017 census. It borders the Mtwara Region of Tanzania to the north and the provinces of Nampula and Niassa, and it has a shoreline to the east. Its capital is Pemba, and other important cities include Montepuez and Mocímboa da Praia. The province is rich in natural gas, graphite, rare-earth elements and vanadium, and the offshore Rovuma Basin holds large gas reserves that are being developed at the Afungi peninsula. It is an ethnic stronghold of the Makonde, with the Makua and Mwani as leading minorities. It takes its name from Cape Delgado, the northernmost point of Mozambique, and on 25 September 1964 FRELIMO guerrillas attacked a Portuguese post here, which began the Mozambican War of Independence. An Islamist insurgency began in the province in October 2017.