capital and largest town of Swaziland. Located in the Highveld of western Swaziland, Mbabane developed near the cattle kraal of the Swazi king Mbandzeni in the late 19th century. The actual town traces its foundation to 1902, when the British assumed control of Swaziland and established an administrative headquarters there. A railway link near Mbabane to Mozambique was established in 1964, primarily to export iron ore extracted from the Ngwenya iron-ore mine in the Highveld region. Production of this ore has since ceased. Pop. (1998 est.) 60,000.