Niassa Province
Niassa is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 122,827 km² and a population of 1,027,037. It is the most sparsely populated province in the country. Lichinga is the capital of the province.
History
Founded by the Portuguese in 1931 as Vila Cabral, the town was designed to become a fast growth urban centre, its streets and avenues paying attention to a projected future growth. Vila Cabral was upgraded to city status in 1962. In the early 1960s its population was 27,000 inhabitants; by 1970 it had 36,715. The city developed as an agriculture and colonial service centre until the independence of Mozambique from Portugal in 1975. In addtition, the town’s economy included forestry-based activities and was surrounded by a pine tree plantation, which still remains there.
Reference: #Wikipedia