ABSTRACT
It can be argued that the area chosen for study in this chapter is not typical of Tanzanian re-settlement areas in general. This may well be the case. On the other hand, few other places offer such a varied history of concentration and re-settlement, and few exhibit so clearly the problems connected with re-settlement. The area studied lies in the Chunya Area (District) of southern Tanzania, one of the four Areas that make up Mbeya Region (Province). The Area occupies 12,214 square miles and has an elevation of between 5,000 and 7,000 ft above sea-level. There are two seasons, a rainy season lasting from November to April, and a dry season from May to October. From twenty to fifty inches of rain falls each year, and apart from the months of June and July, the temperatures vary from 21° to 27°C. In June and July the temperature is around 15°C. Most of the area is covered with savanna woodland, consisting of trees of the brachystegia and isoberlinia species, and is infested with tsetse fly. In the south-west there is an open savanna plain surrounding the salty and evaporating waters of Lake Rukwa. Into this lake flows the Songwe River and its chief tributary the Lupa which rises in the north. Chunya, the Area administrative centre, lies in the south-east.
