Coast Province

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Coast Province
Mkoa wa Pwani
Former Province
Outrigger canoe in Kenya.jpg
Location in Kenya.
Location in Kenya.
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country  Kenya
No. of Counties: 6
Capital Mombasa
Area
 • Total 79,686.1 km2 (30,767.0 sq mi)
Population (2009)
 • Total 3,325,307
 • Density 42/km2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone EAT (UTC+3)
The capital of the Coast Province of Kenya, along the Indian Ocean, is Mombasa (click to enlarge map).

Coast Province (Swahili: Pwani) of Kenya, along the Indian Ocean, was one of Kenya's eight provinces. It comprises the Indian Ocean coastal strip with the capital city at Mombasa and was inhabited by the Mijikenda and Swahili, among others. The province covered an area of 79,686.1 km² and would have had a population of 3,325,307[1] in 2009.

Tourist attraction

Other important towns on the coastal strip include Diani in the South, and Kilifi, Malindi, Watamu and Lamu in the North. Part of coastal population located in such popular resort and beach settlements as Kiongwe, Kipini, etc.

Diani Beach is now also a tourist center, with palm trees and the white sandy beaches like Mombasa.

Malindi is where Vasco da Gama picked up his pilot to navigate with the monsoon winds to India; Mambrui appears to be the site where contact occurred with the Chinese during the era of the Yongle Emperor and the expeditions of Zheng He.[2]

Watamu is a small fishing community and East Africa's first Marine National Park.

Mwandimu and Magunda are settlements in the south of the province.

Population data

Code County Former Province Area (km2) Population
Census 2009
Capital
1 Mombasa Coast 212.5 939,370 Mombasa (City)
2 Kwale Coast 8,270.3 649,931 Kwale
3 Kilifi Coast 12,245.9 1,109,735 Kilifi
4 Tana River Coast 35,375.8 240,075 Hola
5 Lamu Coast 6,497.7 101,539 Lamu
6 Taita-Taveta Coast 17,083.9 284,657 Voi
Totals 79,686.1 3,325,307 -

Climate

The climate is tropical humid.

Separatism

Since 2012, an organisation calling itself the Mombasa Republican Council had been active to secede the province from the rest of Kenya.[3]

Villages and settlements

See also

References