Angónia District

Angónia is a district situated in the northern part of Tete Province in the central region of Mozambique. Its administrative center is the town of Ulongué. It borders the districts of Tsangano and Macanga in Mozambique, and Dedza and Ntcheu in Malawi.

The name means "Angoni land". Angoni is the plural of Ngoni/Nguni, migrant peoples from South Africa after the disintegration of Zulu Empire in the nineteenth century. The language spoken in the district is called Chichewa, though others would call it Chingoni. Chichewa seems more probable because when Nguni arrived in the region there already were people there called Achewa. As warriors, the Nguni mostly killed Achewa males and married Achewa women. Their children spent most of their time with their mothers and ended up learning their mothers' language (Chichewa) and not the language of their fathers, as the fathers were away hunting or fighting.

Angónia is a plateau and relatively rich in agricultural and animal resources with very arable soils. After independence in 1975, Angónia was considered one of the granaries of Mozambique because of its production of maize and potatoes, a prestige which ended with the civil war. The climate is cool in winter and warm/mild in summer.

Angonia has one of Mozambique's highest number of schools with three secondary schools and one high school (11 and 12 year). It also has one teachers' training college, the Instituto de Magistério Primário de Angónia (IMAP). And recently a CCAP church introduced a Bachelor of Theology course at their Instituto Cristão de Moçambique-College.

Further reading

• District profile (PDF)