Mtsamboro
| Mtsamboro | |
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| Commune and town | |
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 Mtsamboro
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| Coordinates: 12°42′S 45°04′E / 12.700°S 45.067°ECoordinates: 12°42′S 45°04′E / 12.700°S 45.067°E | |
| Country |
 Mayotte, France
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| Area | |
| • Total | 13.71 km2 (5.29 sq mi) |
| Population (2012 census) | |
| • Total | 7,805 |
| • Density | 570/km2 (1,500/sq mi) |
| Time zone | EAT (UTC+3) |
Mtsamboro is a small fishing town and commune in the French overseas department in northwest Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean. Its total population according to the 2012 census is 7,805. Included in the commune are the Choazil Islands and Chissioua Mtsamboro. The main economic activity is fishing and orange production.
Archaeology has revealed an occupation existed in thirteenth and fourteenth centuries on the Jiva beach named Mshambara, and traces of a medina dating from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries in the quartier of Mjikura. Mtsamboro has an important place in the history of Mayotte: this town was the first capital of the Shirazi Sultanate as it hosted the first Sultan of Mayotte at the end of the fifteenth century. Mtsamboro was the main commercial port of the island and was visited by many European vessels. The town, like many others in Mayotte, was ruined and abandoned in the eighteenth century. In Mjikura are the ruins of a royal palace and tombs, an important location for the Sultans of Mayotte.
The village of Mtsamboro lies on the northwest coast of the island along National Road 1. To the northeast is the village of Mtsahara and to the southwest is Mtsangadoua. Two small peninsulas jut out in the village area, the larger of which lies roughly a mile north of the village centre and separates the main village of Mtsamboro and Hamjago from Mtsahara. The larger peninsula is also the nearest point of land to Choazil Island, which with another form the Choazil Islands. This stretch of water is known as the Choazil Passage, part of the Mozambique Channel. North of the Choazil Islands is the larger Chissioua Mtsamboro (widely known as Zamburu Island); both islands are under the administration of the commune of Mtsamboro. Chissiou Mtsamboro is separated from the Choazil Islands by the Zamburu Passage. Chissiou Mtsamboro is a mountainous island, providing shelter to the main stretch of beach, tucked away in the southwest of the island which contains a main settlement and numerous huts dotted along the beach. The area to the southeast is heavily forested and forms part of the Reserve Forestiere Des Cretes Du Nord. To the east is a mountain called Dziani Bole, with an altitude of 472 metres.
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Wikipedia