Masvingo (province)

Masvingo Province
Province
Great Zimbabwe ruins, found in the province.
Masvingo, Province of Zimbabwe
Masvingo constituency seats for the 2008 elections
Country	Zimbabwe
Province	Masvingo
Capital	Masvingo
Established	late 19th century
Government
• Governor	Willard Anas Chiwewe (ZANU-PF)
• Provincial Administrator	Felix Chikoo
Area
• Total	56,566 km2 (21,840 sq mi)
Population (2012 census)
• Total	1,485,090
• Density	26/km2 (68/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Masvingo is a province in Zimbabwe found in the south-eastern section of the landlocked country. It borders Mozambique on its eastern border and the provinces of Matabeleland South to the south, Midlands to the north and west and Manicaland to the north east. It was called Victoria Province before 1982.

The town of Masvingo was founded in 1890 and was the first large settlement to be established by the Pioneer Column of the BSAC which makes it the oldest town in Zimbabwe. It was named Fort Victoria after Queen Victoria.

The province is largely populated by members of the Karanga tribe, who are the most populous tribe in Zimbabwe, and are a sub-group of the Shona speaking tribes that also include the Zezuru, Manyika and Ndau. Masvingo province, known before 1982 as Victoria province, is in the drier lowveldt area in the south of Zimbabwe. The boundaries were changed slightly in the 1980s. From white settlement until 2000 most of the area was devoted to cattle ranching, with mining and sugar cane growing (irrigated from Mutirikwi), and communal areas where subsistence farming is carried out. With the land reforms of the early 21st century large scale cattle and mixed farms are being redistributed to small farmers.

Masvingo (formerly Fort Victoria) is the capital of the province. Chiredzi and Triangle are other major towns in the province.

Despite the aridness, the residents of the province are proud tillers of the earth and like most Bantu tribes in Southern Africa they practise animal husbandry to supplement their diets. In fact, like the rest of the country, their most prized possessions are cattle, which patriarchs demand as lobola, bride-price (dowry), in return for the hand of their daughters in marriage. The status of men in the villages in the province is assessed according to the number of cattle they possess - those with no cattle are not considered men. Cattle owners were dismayed during the drought of 1992 when then 90 percent of the cattle in the province died of famine.