Tete, Mozambique

Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues to dominate the west-central part of the country and region, and is the largest city on the Zambezi. In the local language, Nyungwe, Tete (or Mitete) means "reed."

"Tete" redirects here. For other uses, see Tete (disambiguation).
Tete
One-kilometre-long suspension bridge over the Zambezi River
Tete
Coordinates: 16°10′S 33°36′E
Country Mozambique
ProvinceTete Province
DistrictCidade de Tete
Area
 • Total149.3 km2 (57.6 sq mi)
Elevation
140 m (460 ft)
Population
 (2017 census)
 • Total305,722
 • Density2,000/km2 (5,300/sq mi)
ClimateBSh

History

The region was an important Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era. On the east coast of Africa the Portuguese were drawn to Mozambique and the Zambezi river by news of a local ruler, the Munhumutapa, who was said to have had fabulous wealth in gold. In their efforts to reach the Munhumutapa, the Portuguese established in 1531 two settlements far up the Zambezi – one of them, at Tete, some 260 miles from the sea. The Munhumutapa Kingdom and gold mines remained autonomous and mostly isolated from the Portuguese. But in this region of east Africa – as in Portuguese Guinea and Angola in the west – Portuguese involvement became sufficiently strong to survive into the third quarter of the 20th century. Under Portuguese influence Tete had become a market centre for ivory and gold by the mid-17th century. Given a Portuguese town charter in 1761, it became a city of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique in 1959. After the Portuguese Colonial War in Portuguese Africa and the April 1974 military coup in Lisbon, the then Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique become an independent state. The newly independent People's Republic of Mozambique, created in 1975 after the exodus of Mozambique's ethnic Portuguese, descended into civil war between 1977 and 1992.

Transportation

Chingozi Airport (IATA: TET, ICAO: FQTT) on the northeastern side of the city has a 2.4 km paved runway. The one-kilometre-long Samora Machel Bridge, finished in 1973 by the Portuguese and designed by Edgar Cardoso, is a vital link on the major highway linking not just the northern and southern parts of the country, but Zimbabwe and Malawi as well. A second bridge south of the city was opened in late 2014 to allow traffic to Zambia or Malawi to bypass the provincial capital.[1] Tete's bridges, the rail Dona Ana Bridge, and the Armando Emilio Guebuza Bridge at Caia are the only bridges across the lower Zambezi.

Demographics
Year Population[2]
1997 census 101,984
2007 census 155,870
2017 census 305,722

Climate

Tete has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh).

Climate data for Tete
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 43
(109)		 43
(109)		 43
(109)		 43
(109)		 40
(104)		 39
(102)		 36
(97)		 40
(104)		 44
(111)		 45
(113)		 46
(115)		 44
(111)		 46
(115)
Average high °C (°F) 33.5
(92.3)		 33.2
(91.8)		 33.3
(91.9)		 32.7
(90.9)		 31.0
(87.8)		 28.6
(83.5)		 29.0
(84.2)		 30.5
(86.9)		 33.6
(92.5)		 35.8
(96.4)		 36.2
(97.2)		 34.5
(94.1)		 32.7
(90.8)
Daily mean °C (°F) 28.5
(83.3)		 28.2
(82.8)		 28.1
(82.6)		 27.1
(80.8)		 24.7
(76.5)		 22.3
(72.1)		 22.3
(72.1)		 23.9
(75.0)		 26.9
(80.4)		 29.2
(84.6)		 30.0
(86.0)		 29.1
(84.4)		 26.7
(80.1)
Average low °C (°F) 23.4
(74.1)		 23.2
(73.8)		 22.8
(73.0)		 21.4
(70.5)		 18.3
(64.9)		 16.0
(60.8)		 15.6
(60.1)		 17.3
(63.1)		 20.2
(68.4)		 22.6
(72.7)		 23.8
(74.8)		 23.6
(74.5)		 20.7
(69.2)
Record low °C (°F) 7
(45)		 8
(46)		 9
(48)		 11
(52)		 10
(50)		 7
(45)		 8
(46)		 9
(48)		 10
(50)		 10
(50)		 10
(50)		 11
(52)		 7
(45)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 166.7
(6.56)		 142.1
(5.59)		 95.5
(3.76)		 15.0
(0.59)		 5.8
(0.23)		 3.5
(0.14)		 2.9
(0.11)		 1.8
(0.07)		 0.8
(0.03)		 10.8
(0.43)		 45.6
(1.80)		 139.4
(5.49)		 629.9
(24.8)
Average precipitation days 10.8 9.2 6.6 2.4 0.9 1.2 1.0 0.4 0.2 1.1 4.4 9.6 47.8
Average relative humidity (%) 69 73 67 61 60 61 59 54 47 43 54 62 59
Mean monthly sunshine hours 201.5 192.1 235.6 240.0 254.2 243.0 235.6 272.8 267.0 282.1 249.0 204.6 2,877.5
Source 1: World Meteorological Organization,[3] Weltwetter Spiegel Online (sun and relative humidity)[4]
Source 2: BBC Weather [5]
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References
  1. "Mozambique: Concession for New Bridge Over the Zambez". Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  2. "Mozambique: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population". World Gazetteer. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  3. "World Weather Information Service - Tete". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
  4. "Klimadaten - Tete" (in German). Retrieved December 7, 2012.
  5. "Average Conditions Tete, Mozambique". BBC Weather. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
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