Malanje Province


Malanje is a province of Angola. It has an area of 97,602 km² and a 2014 census population of 986,363. Malanje is the capital of the province.

Geography

The Malanje Province is located in the north of Angola, the provincial capital and largest town of Malanje located by road east of the national capital of Luanda. It is bordered to the northwest by Uige Province, to the northeast by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the east by Lunda Norte Province and Lunda Sul Province, to the south by Bié Province and Cuanza Sul Province, and in the west by Cuanza Norte Province. The extreme north of the province is covered with savannah, while the southern part is largely dry savannah. The main rivers are the Cuanza River in the southwest and Kwango River in the northeast, and there is a mountainous area known as the Malanje Plateau.
The Cuije River and Cuanza flow in the vicinity of Cangandala National Park.
Large areas north and southeast of the city of Malanje have been declared protected areas. Of note is the Milando Reserve Park in the north and the Reserva Natural Integral do Luando at the headwaters of Cuanza.

Municipalities

Malanje Province is divided into 14 municipalities that are further divided into 66 communes. Municipalities in this province include Cacuso, kalandula, Cambundi-Catembo, Cangandala, Caombo, kiwaba Nzogi, kunda-dia-Bazi, Luquembo, Malanje, Marimba, Massango, Mucari, Quela, and Quirima.

Economy

The province is predominantly agricultural. The most intensively used area in the province of Malanje is the area around the provincial capital, where cotton and sugarcane are the most important industries. The cotton industry was once of vital importance to the national economy, but the years of the Angola Civil War have badly stagnated it. Agriculture in Malanje Province is gradually taking off again, and numerous international investors have been involved, including US$30 million from Brazil to develop the maize and sugarcane industry in the Pungo Andongo area. Malanje Province is also a producer of cassava, sweet potatoes, peanuts, rice, soybeans, sunflowers and various vegetables. The province also has significant reserves of diamonds, limestone, manganese, uranium and phosphate.
Tourism has become more important, largely due to its diverse natural attractions, including the Kalandula Falls, the black rock formation of Pungo Andongo, two nature reserves and the Cangandala National Park. Cangandala National Park, the smallest national park in the country, was originally established under Portuguese rule in 1963 to protect the Giant Sable Antelope, before being declared a national park on 25 June 1970.

List of Governors of Malanje

NameYears in office
Eusébio Sebastião * 1977–1978
Domingos Afonso Neto * 1978–1980
Col. Ludy Kissassunda * 1980–1986
Lt.Col. João Ernesto dos Santos Liberdade * 1986–1992
João Filipe Martins 1992
João Manuel Bernardo 1992–1993
Flávio João Fernandes 1993–2002
Cristóvão Domingos Francisco da Cunha 2002–2008
Norberto Fernandes dos Santos Kwata Kwanawa 2012–

*