Safwa (African people)

The Safwa are an ethnic and linguistic group based in the mountains of the Mbeya Region, Tanzania. The safwa people were moved to Mbeya Tanzania from Zambia,The Safwa language is a member of the large Niger–Congo language family group. Alternate names for Safwa are Ishisafwa, Cisafwa, and Kisafwa. Its dialects are Guruka, Mbwila, Poroto, and Songwe. ISO 639-3 language code is sbk. In 1957 the Safwa population was estimated to be approximately 158,000. In 2012 after the national census, the tribe's population estimates is expected to exceed 450,000. The Wasafwa population had increased from 9,000 in 1910, during the German occupation.