Mtwara Region

Mtwara Region is one of the 31 administrative regions of Tanzania, in the south-east on the Indian Ocean, and its capital is the municipality of Mtwara. The Ruvuma River forms the boundary with Mozambique to the south, Ruvuma Region lies to the west and Lindi Region to the north. It is the home of the Makonde, one of the most influential peoples in the country, as well as the Yao and the Makua, and the Makonde made up about 60 percent of the region in 1967. It is the nation's largest producer of cashew nuts, and migration of young people to Dar es Salaam since 1988 has created a Makonde community there. At the 2012 census the region had 1,270,854 people, at a density of 76 per square kilometre.