Petauke is a town and seat of Petauke District located in the Eastern Province of Zambia.
Petauke | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Seal | |
  Petauke | |
| Coordinates: 14°15′S 31°20′E / 14.250°S 31.333°E | |
| Country |  Zambia |
| Province | Eastern Province |
| District | Petauke District |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (CAT) |
| Climate | Cwa |
Petauke is 400 km east of Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, just off the Great East Road.[1] The main spoken language of the 14,000 residents is Nsenga.
Most telecommunication is by two local radio stations; Radio PASME, 91.3 and Radio Explorers, 88.1fm, which cover up to 120 km; mainly used by local businessmen, political leaders and traditional chiefs to disseminate their information.[citation needed]
The town is situated in an agricultural area; farmers produce maize, cotton, sunflower, groundnut, soya beans and many other crops. Industries include two cotton ginneries, one roofing industry, a number of small scale maize millers and cooking-oil refiners, three breweries, and small scale saw-mills. Government is putting up a milling plant for prisons.[citation needed]
The region around Petauke contains copper, amethyst, and gold.[citation needed] However, the minerals in the region are low grade and no serious mining investment has been made in the region. In the early 17th century, gold was mined and that contributed to high rate of slave trade. Mostly, the Swahili speaking peoples invaded the area.[citation needed]
Transport
editRail
editIn 2015, it was proposed for a railway to be built from Chipata on the border with Malawi, through Petauke, to Serenje, a town on the TAZARA Railway line.[2]
Road
editThe Great East Road (T4) passes to the south of Petauke, connecting to Lusaka in the west (400 kilometres away) and to Katete and Chipata in the east (170 kilometres away).[1]
Climate
edit| Climate data for Petauke | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 32.2 (90.0) |
32.7 (90.9) |
31.6 (88.9) |
31.2 (88.2) |
30.3 (86.5) |
28.4 (83.1) |
28.6 (83.5) |
32.5 (90.5) |
37.0 (98.6) |
35.7 (96.3) |
39.0 (102.2) |
33.5 (92.3) |
39.0 (102.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 26.9 (80.4) |
27.1 (80.8) |
27.1 (80.8) |
26.8 (80.2) |
25.6 (78.1) |
23.4 (74.1) |
23.3 (73.9) |
25.1 (77.2) |
28.0 (82.4) |
29.9 (85.8) |
28.8 (83.8) |
27.1 (80.8) |
26.6 (79.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 17.3 (63.1) |
17.5 (63.5) |
17.9 (64.2) |
17.5 (63.5) |
14.4 (57.9) |
10.9 (51.6) |
10.9 (51.6) |
12.8 (55.0) |
15.8 (60.4) |
17.4 (63.3) |
17.6 (63.7) |
17.4 (63.3) |
15.6 (60.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 13.9 (57.0) |
13.2 (55.8) |
13.9 (57.0) |
11.2 (52.2) |
5.9 (42.6) |
3.6 (38.5) |
2.5 (36.5) |
4.6 (40.3) |
7.3 (45.1) |
10.8 (51.4) |
11.4 (52.5) |
12.4 (54.3) |
2.5 (36.5) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 247.0 (9.72) |
228.6 (9.00) |
140.6 (5.54) |
30.5 (1.20) |
8.3 (0.33) |
0.4 (0.02) |
0.3 (0.01) |
0.1 (0.00) |
0.5 (0.02) |
16.0 (0.63) |
86.8 (3.42) |
207.7 (8.18) |
966.9 (38.07) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 21 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 18 | 87 |
| Source: NOAA (temperature 1961–1984, precipitation 1961–1991)[3] | |||||||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Roads and Road Traffic Act". www.parliament.gov.zm. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
- ^ "Chipata-Tazara railway project hits a snag". Chipata, Zambia: Breeze FM Chipata. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
- ^ "Station Name: PETAUKE MET" (TXT). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
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