Coast Province Mkoa wa Pwani |
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Former Province | |
Location in Kenya. |
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Coordinates: 3°0′S 39°30′E / 3.000°S 39.500°ECoordinates: 3°0′S 39°30′E / 3.000°S 39.500°E | |
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) |
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 in 2009.
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.
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.
The climate is tropical humid.
Since 2012, an organisation calling itself the Mombasa Republican Council had been active to secede the province from the rest of Kenya.