Tete is the capital city ofTete Province inMozambique. It is located on theZambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. ASwahili trade center before thePortuguese colonial era, Tete continues to dominate the west-central part of the country and region, and is the largest city on the Zambezi. In the local language,Nyungwe, Tete (or Mitete) means "reed".

Tete
One-kilometre-long suspension bridge over the Zambezi River
Tete
Coordinates:16°10′S33°36′E / 16.167°S 33.600°E /-16.167; 33.600
Country	Mozambique
Province	Tete Province
District	Cidade de Tete
Area
• Total	149.3 km2 (57.6 sq mi)
Elevation	140 m (460 ft)
Population  (2017 census)
• Total	305,722
• Density	2,000/km2 (5,300/sq mi)
Climate	BSh

The region was an importantSwahili trade center before thePortuguese colonial era. On theeast coast of Africa the Portuguese were drawn to Mozambique and theZambezi river by news of a local ruler, theMunhumutapa, who was said to have had fabulous wealth in gold. In their efforts to reach the Munhumutapa, the Portuguese established in 1531 two settlements far up the Zambezi – one of them, at Tete, some 420 kilometres (260 mi) from the sea. The Munhumutapa Kingdom and gold mines remained autonomous and mostly isolated from the Portuguese. But in this region of east Africa – as inPortuguese Guinea andAngola in the west – Portuguese involvement became sufficiently strong to survive into the third quarter of the 20th century. Under Portuguese influence Tete had become a market centre forivory andgold by the mid-17th century. Given a Portuguese town charter in 1761, it became a city of the PortugueseOverseas Province of Mozambique in 1959. After thePortuguese Colonial War in Portuguese Africa and the April 1974military coup inLisbon, the then Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique become an independent state. The newly independentPeople's Republic of Mozambique, created in 1975 after the exodus of Mozambique's ethnic Portuguese, descended intocivil war between 1977 and 1992.^{[citation needed]}

Chingozi Airport (IATA:TET,ICAO:FQTT) on the northeastern side of the city has a 2.4 km paved runway. The one-kilometre-longSamora Machel Bridge, finished in 1973 by the Portuguese and designed byEdgar Cardoso, is a vital link on the major highway linking not just the northern and southern parts of the country, butZimbabwe andMalawi as well. A second bridge south of the city was opened in late 2014 to allow traffic to Zambia or Malawi to bypass the provincial capital.^[1] Tete's bridges, the railDona Ana Bridge, and theArmando Emilio Guebuza Bridge atCaia are the only bridges across the lower Zambezi.

Projected to be the ninth fastest growing city on the African continent between 2020 and 2025, with a 5.56% growth.^[3]

Tete has ahot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classificationBSh).

• Francisca Chiponda

• Diocese of Tete