Mbabane

Capital and largest town (pop., 2007 est.: 78,000) of Swaziland. Located in western Swaziland, it developed near the cattle kraal of the Swazi king Mbandzeni in the late 19th century. The actual town was founded in 1902, when the British assumed control of Swaziland and set up an administrative headquarters there. A Mozambican railway link near Mbabane was established in 1964, primarily to export iron ore extracted in the region; production of the ore had virtually ceased by the late 1970s.