Sioma

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Sioma
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Sioma
Location of Sioma in Zambia
Coordinates: 16°36′20″S23°30′19″E / 16.60556°S 23.50528°E / -16.60556; 23.50528
CountryFlag of Zambia.svg  Zambia
Province Western
District Sioma
Time zone UTC+2 (CAT)

Sioma is a town on the west bank of the Zambezi River in the Western Province of Zambia. Since 2012 it has been the capital of the Sioma District. [1]

Contents

Geography

Sioma is located on the west bank of the Zambezi River 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of Sesheke and 150 kilometres (93 mi) south of the provincial capital Mongu. The town is situated approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of the town of Senanga which marks the southern extent of the Barotse Floodplain.

Vegetation in the area is predominantly Dry Kalahari woodland. [2]

Weather

Annually, the town gets an average of 737 millimetres (29.0 in) of rain. [2]

Climate data for Sioma, Zambia
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Mean daily maximum °C22202325232221252728272424
Mean daily minimum °C151615131197101315151413
Average precipitation mm1651479021000001530162630
Mean daily maximum °F72687377737270778182817575
Mean daily minimum °F59615955524845505559595755
Average precipitation inches6.55.83.50.8000000.61.26.424.8
Average precipitation days191616710011691894
Source: [3]

History

An Early Iron Age site was excavated at Sioma which has been dated to the mid centuries of the first millennium. [4] Some of the pottery at the site resembles that which is found in Nqoma, Angola. [5]

In the 1880s the Portuguese explorer Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto and American James Dabney McCabe both described the settlement as a hamlet. Pinto also described how the Lui government forced local residents to act as porters for canoes attempting to get around the nearby Ngonye Falls. [6] [7]

Expansion of the town started in 1957 when the catholic Irish Capuchin Franciscans established the Saint Anthony mission station on the Zambezi river at the town. [8]

In 2012 the town was made the capital of the newly created Sioma District. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zambezi</span> Major river in southern Africa

The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers 1,390,000 km2 (540,000 sq mi), slightly less than half of the Nile's. The 2,574 km (1,599 mi) river rises in Zambia and flows through eastern Angola, along the north-eastern border of Namibia and the northern border of Botswana, then along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe to Mozambique, where it crosses the country to empty into the Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngonye Falls</span> Waterfall in Zambia

The Ngonye Falls or Sioma Falls is a waterfall on the Zambezi river in Western province Zambia, near the town of Sioma and a few hundred kilometres upstream from the Victoria Falls. Situated in the southern part of Barotseland, the falls are a day's journey by car from the capital, Lusaka. Their inaccessibility makes them much less known than Victoria Falls. The Ngonye Falls Community Partnership Park is located at the falls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Province, Zambia</span> Province of Zambia

Western Province is one of the 10 provinces in Zambia and encompasses most of the area formerly known as Barotseland. The capital is Mongu, and together with the neighbouring town of Limulunga, Mongu is treated as the capital of Barotseland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livingstone, Zambia</span> Place in Southern Province, Zambia

Livingstone is a city in Zambia. Until 1935, it served as the capital of Northern Rhodesia. Lying 10 km (6 mi) to the north of the Zambezi River, it is a tourism attraction center for the Victoria Falls and a border town with road and rail connections to Zimbabwe on the other side of the Victoria Falls. A historic British colonial city, its present population was enumerated at 177,393 inhabitants at the 2022 census. It is named after David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer and missionary who was the first European to explore the area. Until 2011, Livingstone was the provincial capital of Zambia's Southern Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandre de Serpa Pinto</span> Portuguese explorer and soldier (1846–1900)

Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, Viscount of Serpa Pinto was a Portuguese explorer of southern Africa and a colonial administrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barotseland</span> Place in southern Africa

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mazabuka</span> Town in Zambia

Mazabuka is a town in the Southern Province of Zambia. It is the capital of Mazabuka District, one of the thirteen administrative units in the Southern Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lusaka Province</span> Province of Zambia

Lusaka Province is one of the ten provinces of Zambia. Its capital is Lusaka, which is also the national capital. It is the smallest province in Zambia, with an area of 21,896 km2. Lusaka is also Zambia's most populated and most densely populated province, with a population of 3,079,964 and density of 140 persons per km2 as of 2022. It is the most urban province, with the most doctors and fewest malaria-related incidents. The province is bordered by Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and separated by the Lower Zambezi National Park.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muchinga Province</span> Province of Zambia

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Sioma District is a district of Zambia, located in Western Province on the west bank of the Zambezi River. The capital lies at Sioma.

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References

  1. "Sata creates 6 new districts, orders the building of a new Stadium and University in Western Province". Lusaka Times. Lusaka Times. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 Ignacio Rodríguez-Iturbe; Amilcare Porporato (2004). Ecohydrology Of Water-Controlled Ecosystems: Soil Moisture And Plant Dynamics. Cambridge University Press. pp. 167–. ISBN   978-0-521-81943-5 . Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  3. "Sioma, Zambia Weather Averages | Monthly Average High and Low Temperature | Average Precipitation and Rainfall days". World Weather Online. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  4. Jamāl al-Dīn Mukhtār, Muḥammad (1990). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. II, Abridged Edition: Ancient Africa. University of California Press. p. 365. ISBN   9780852550922.
  5. Jan Vansina (2004). How Societies Are Born: Governance in West Central Africa Before 1600. How Societies Are Born: Governance in West Central Africa before 1600. pp. 109–. ISBN   978-0-8139-2279-9 . Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  6. Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto (1881). How I crossed Africa: from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, through unknown countries; discovery of the great Zambesi affluents, &c. J. B. Lippincott & co. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  7. James Dabney McCabe (1883). Our young folks in Africa: the adventures of a party of young Americans in Algeria and in South Central Africa. J.B. Lippincott & Co. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  8. O'Sullivan, Owen. A history of the capuchins in Zambia 1931-1981 (PDF). Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  9. "Sata creates 6 new districts, orders the building of a new Stadium and University in Western Province". Lusaka Times. Lusaka Times. Retrieved 5 August 2018.