The Fipa are a Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Tanzania in East-Central Africa. The name "Fipa" appears to have been bestowed on them by nineteenth-century traders and means "people of the escarpment." It was later adopted by German and British colonial administrators as a convenient label for this people. Ufipa (the country of the Fipa) population is estimated at 200,000. Finger millet is the basic subsistence crop, supplemented by maize. They also grow lima beans, cassava, tomatoes, onions, and a wide range of green vegetables and tobacco for domestic consumption. Fipa women still produce pottery, woven baskets, and mats for local use.