Choma

Choma is a market town and capital of the Southern Province of Zambia, lying on the main road and railway from Lusaka to Livingstone. It is home to a small museum dedicated to the cultural heritage of the Tonga people of southern Zambia. The population of Choma is said to be about 40,000 people and it serves as the commercial hub for the central region of the province. The Nkanga River Conservation Area lies nearby.

Choma is also the headquarters of a district of the same name. Most of the district lies at 1400 metres above sea level.

Climate

Choma has the typical climate of southern Zambia with temperatures between 14°C and 28°C and sunshine ranging between 9 and 12 hours per day. The highest temperatures occur between the beginning of October and the end of December. Once the rains start, temperatures tend to fall, partly because of the rain and partly due to the often heavy cloud cover. The lowest temperatures are usually recorded in June and July.

The rains generally start in the middle of October and continue through up to the beginning of April. Rainfall reaches its peak around January after which it diminishes slightly up to the beginning of April when usually it ceases entirely. Choma has an average rainfall of 800 mm of which 369 mm falls in January and February. There are variations in total rainfall and rainfall patterns from year to year and even in a particular season. These variations can have a major impact on crop yield. Humidity falls to about 33% until the onset of rains in October after which it skyrockets to about 77% in February. Humidity nosedives once the rains cease in April. The wind is predominantly from the east and south-west, and to a lesser degree from the north-east. The strength of the wind from these directions can be comparatively strong.

Choma (surname)

Choma is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Choma (fortress)

Choma (Greek: Χῶμα) was a Byzantine fortress in central Anatolia, which played an important role in the fight against the Seljuk Turks in the late 11th and 12th centuries.

Choma was located in the upper valley of the Maeander River in Phrygia. After the Battle of Manzikert, it became an isolated Byzantine outpost surrounded by Turkish-controlled territory. Its troops, the so-called Chomatenoi (Χωματηνοί), figure frequently in the campaigns of Nikephoros III Botaneiates (r. 1078–1081) and Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118). Due to its strategic location on one of the roads leading to the interior of Anatolia, it became a major base of operations for the Komnenian emperors' campaigns to push back the Turks. In the 12th century, it formed its own district, that of "Choma and Cappadocia", under a toparches.

Choma remained under constant Turkish threat throughout the 12th century. Emperor Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185–1195, 1203–1204) refortified it in 1193, and renamed it Angelokastron (Ἀγγελόκαστρον) after his dynasty. Choma finally fell to the Turks a short time after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade in 1204.