Usambara
Usambara
(o͞osämbä`rä), mountains, c.70 mi (110 km) long and from 20 to 40 mi (30–60 km) wide, NE Tanzania. On its slopes, which rise to c.8,000 ft (2,440 m), coffee, sisal, tea, and cinchona are produced; rice is grown in the swampy foothills. The region was among the first in E Africa to be settled (1902) by European farmers.Usambara
mountains in Tanzania, East Africa. The Usambara Mountains are a horst massif composed of Precambrian crystalline rocks. The maximum elevation is 2,570 m. The edges of the massif are dissected by deep gorges; planate relief is found in the interior region. Moist evergreen tropical forests grow on the windward southern and eastern slopes; the leeward northern and western slopes have xerophytic shrub vegetation.