Travel Guide Shinyanga

This town may not have any diamonds, but its subsoil is rich in them. And everyone in Tanzania knows that the Shinyanga region is rich in precious stones, with the Mwadui diamond mine 35 km north of Shinyanga. But the town is also a powerful cotton-producing center. The discovery and popularization of Shinyanga's rich subsoil dates back to fairly recent times. It was in 1940 that John Williamson, a Canadian geologist, discovered the diamond mines. Mining began, and continues to this day. John Williamson died in 1958, leaving the deposits in his wake.Tanzania, which does not exist in its present form, is called Tanganyika (mainland, excluding the Zanzibar archipelago). The Tanganyika government took over, with South Africa's De Beer as its partner. Foreign mining companies are numerous in this part of the country. These include the powerful Barrick Group. One of the most famous anecdotes is that a 23-carat diamond was presented to Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation. In 1956, a 241-carat diamond was discovered, the largest in the country's history. All this effervescence around these riches has populated the town with people of varying degrees of repute.The majority ethnic group are the Sukumas, who have long fought with the Maasais over cow herds. Each wanted the other's. The Sukumas are also renowned for their songs and music.Local economic activity is quite diversified, thanks to timber exploitation and environmental protection using traditional methods, as well as the awareness of the local population. Forests are gradually disappearing, due to the tsetse fly eradication plan, and are being replaced by cotton or rice fields. As a result, Shinyanga no longer deserves its nickname of Tanzania's desert... The region's numerous rice plantations also mean that mosquitoes are plentiful and malaria is not uncommon.