Tete Province

Tete is a province in the northwest of Mozambique, with an area of 98,417 square kilometres and a population of 2,648,941 at the 2017 census. Its capital is the city of Tete, and the Cahora Bassa Dam lies within the province. Its districts include Angónia, Moatize, Mutarara and Zumbo. A fossil site of global significance covering almost 1,500 square kilometres, the Tete fossil forest, preserves Late Permian wood from the time just before the end-Permian mass extinction, and in October 2022 the International Union of Geological Sciences placed it on its list of the First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites. The province is also reported to host coal reserves of about 6.7 billion tons, of which 3 billion tons are of sub-economic or economic grade; the first studies of its coal were made in 1859 by Richard Thornton on an expedition under David Livingstone.