Pemba Island
Template:Short description Template:Infobox islands Pemba Island (Template:Langx; al-Jazīra al-khadrāʔ; Template:LitTemplate:Citation needed; Template:Langx) is a Tanzanian island forming part of the Zanzibar Archipelago, lying within the Swahili Coast in the Indian Ocean.
GeographyEdit
With a land area of Template:Convert<ref>Tanzania in figures 2012, National Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance, June 2013, page 7 Template:Webarchive</ref> it is situated about Template:Convert north of Unguja, the largest island of the archipelago.
Surrounded by relatively deep water, the island of Pemba is thought to have been a part of the mainland, which split off along the Pemba rift approximately 10 million years ago.<ref>Richmond, M. (2011). A field guide to the seashores of Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean Islands. SIDA, WIOMSA. </ref> In 1964, Zanzibar was united with the former colony of Tanganyika to form Tanzania. It lies Template:Convert east of mainland Tanzania, across the Pemba Channel. Together with Mafia Island (south of Unguja), these islands form the Spice Islands (not to be confused with the Maluku Islands of Indonesia).
Most of the island, which is hillier and more fertile than Unguja, is dominated by small scale farming. There is also large scale farming of cash crops such as cloves.
In previous years, the island was seldom visited due to inaccessibility and a reputation for political violence,Template:Citation needed with the notable exception of those drawn by its reputation as a center for traditional medicine and witchcraft. There is a quite large Arab community on the island, who immigrated from Oman. The population is a mix of Arab and original Waswahili inhabitants of the island. A significant portion of the population also identifies as Shirazi people. The overwhelming majority of the island's population follows Islam and identify as Muslim.
The most important towns in Pemba are Chake-Chake (the capital), Mkoani, and Wete, which is the largest city. The centrally located Chake-Chake is perched on a mound with a view to the west on a bay and the tiny Misali Island, where the tides determine when a dhow can enter the local harbour. Pemba is, with the exception of a strip of land along its eastern coast, a very fertile place: besides clove trees, the locals grow mainly rice, coconut, bananas, cassava, and red beans (called maharagwe in the Swahili language).
Pemba is home to several dive sites, with steep drop-offs, untouched coral, and very abundant marine life.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
IsletsEdit
- Fundo - is located few miles from Wete. It is the only inhabited island among the group of islets forming the north-west reef of Pemba. The other islets there include Njao, Kashani, Kokota, Funzi, and Uvinje.
- Njao - is the northernmost islet on the Fundo group. It is mainly used for agricultural purposes.
- Kashani - is on the same reef as Fundo but on the southernmost tip close to Ras Mkumbuu.
- Kokota - is located at the southern mouth of Wete port.
- Funzi - lies east of Kokota and south of Uvinje island.
- Uvinje - is used for farming and located at the southern mouth of Wete port.
- Kiweni (Shamiani) - located on the south west part of Pemba, it is an uninhabited islet used mainly for farming and livestock grazing. On its southernmost tip it has a very fine beach and some prospective investors were building a hotel in the late 1990s.
- Kojani - is the only inhabited island on the western side of Pemba island. It is home to some skilled artisanal fishermen in East Africa who seasonally travel to most parts of the coast in search of schools of fish to catch.
- Kwata - the island was the site of the first major outbreak of cholera in 1978 when travelers were temporarily quarantined at this island before being allowed into Pemba.
- Makoongwe - is few kilometers from Mkoani. It has characteristics similar to the opposite area on the island of Pemba with deep soils and hilly terrain. Makoongwe is inhabited and people do farming and fishing.
- Matumbini - is an islet with dense mangrove forest and popular among fishermen due to the presence of rich coral reef.
- Misali - has a rich coral reef, and has been declared a marine reserve.
- Mwangi - is a small islet close to Mtambwe on the main island of Pemba.
- Panza - is the southernmost island in Pemba and in fact is a series of islets but a bridge connects the two main parts of Mtondooni and Panza proper. Its topography is coral on the Panza side and deep soil on the Mtondooni part. Its inhabitants do farming and fishing.
- Vikunguni - is a small islet close to the north-west group of islands.
- Yombi - is a small islet east of Panza island.
Important Bird AreaEdit
Pemba has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of Pemba green pigeons, Pemba scops owls, Pemba white-eyes and Pemba sunbirds.<ref name=bli>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ClimateEdit
Pemba has a tropical climate, yet somewhat milder than Tanzania's mainland and milder than in Unguja island. This climate is classified as "Aw" by the Köppen-Geiger system. The average temperature in Chake Chake is Template:Convert. The average annual rainfall is 1,364 mm. The monthly average temperatures are usually between Template:Convert. There are two rain seasons, with most rainfall coming between April and May and smaller rain season coming between November and December. Drier months are January and February, and a longer drier season between June and October.
ArchaeologyEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Archaeological research on Pemba has shown its centrality to the Swahili coast trading system as early as 600 AD.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Along the northern coast, urban settlements at Chwaka later developed and flourished from the eleventh century to ~1500 AD.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
West of Pemba's capital Chake-Chake, on a long stretched peninsula called Ras Mkumbuu, one can find some of the oldest and best preserved series of early ruins on the islands (Ndagoni ruins, probably 14th century).<ref>Kirkman, James S. "Excavations at Ras Mkumbuu on the island of Pemba." Tanganyika Notes and Records 53 (1959): 161-78.</ref>
East of Chake-Chake one can find the Mkama Ndume ruins at Pujini village (south of the airport) within easy reach by road from Chake-Chake. This is the only known early fortification on the whole Swahili Coast; it is dated to the fifteenth century.<ref>LaViolette, Adria (2004). Swahili archaeology and history on Pemba, Tanzania: A critique and case study of the use of written and oral sources in archaeology. In Reid, Andrew M. and Paul J. Lane, eds. African Historical Archaeologies, pp. 125-162.</ref>
HistoryEdit
According to the Arab geographer Yakut, in the mid-13th century there were two independent sultans ruling over parts of Pemba Island.<ref>Marina Tolmacheva, The Pate Chronicle (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1993) p. 6</ref>
On 24 June 2016, the Australian Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Darren Chester, said that a piece of aircraft debris was found on Pemba Island, possibly being from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
AdministrationEdit
Pemba is part of the semi-autonomous Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.<ref name=TanzConst>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Administratively, it is divided into two regions, North Pemba (Pemba Kaskazini)with its capital at Wete,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and South Pemba (Pemba Kusini) with its capital at Mkoani.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Although the centrally located city of Chake Chake, near the airport, is considered Pemba's capital,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and is the seat of Pemba's court and the President of Zanzibar's official Pemba residence.Template:Citation needed
EconomyEdit
FishingEdit
Pemba is also famous for its rich fishing grounds. Between the island and the mainland there is the deep 50 kilometre wide Pemba Channel, which is one of the most profitable fishing grounds for game fishing on the Swahili Coast.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Farming and agricultureEdit
Pemba is (with the exception of a strip of land along its eastern coast) highly fertile for agriculture which serves the global farming industry.
Cash cropsEdit
A large segment of Zanzibar export earnings comes from cloves. The greatest concentration of clove trees in Zanzibar is found on Pemba (3.5 million trees), as growing conditions on the island are superior to those on Unguja island. Clove trees grow to a height of approximately 10 to 15 metres and can be harvested for sometimes over 50 years.Template:Citation needed Most of the island, which is hillier and more fertile than Unguja, is dominated by small scale farming. There is also large-scale farming of other crops, primarily rice, coconuts, and red beans (called maharagwe in Swahili), as well as cassava and bananas.
Land surveyingEdit
For the promotion of tourism, the Department of Surveys and Mapping at Chake-Chake has been publishing maps with tourist guides since 1992.<ref>Pemba - The clove island 1:100,000, Map & Guide, 3rd edition, 2013, Dept. of Surveys and Mapping, Box 235, Chake-Chake</ref>
TransportEdit
AirportEdit
Pemba Airport is also known as Wawi Airport or Karume Airport and connects the island to Arusha, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar City.
GalleryEdit
- Island and Diving.jpg
Island near Chake Chake
- Wharf at Mkoani. Havenpier in Mkoani, Pemba, Tanzania.jpg
A wharf at Mkoani during the daytime with fishing nets being dried in the sun
- Seasonal clove buds drying on Pemba1.jpg
An example of clove buds being dried in the equatorial sun
- Bep chaetodon auriga pemba.jpg
Threadfin butterflyfish (Chaetodon auriga). Underwater photograph at Pemba island
- Bep chaetodon kleinii pemba.jpg
Sunburst butterflyfish (Chaetodon kleinii)
- Bep chaetodon unimaculatus pemba.jpg
Yellow teardrop butterflyfish (Chaetodon interruptus)