I | INTRODUCTION |
Mozambique, officially Republic of Mozambique, country
located on the southeastern coast of Africa. An ethnically and linguistically
diverse nation bisected by the powerful Zambezi River, Mozambique was colonized
by Portugal during the 16th and 17th centuries. As a Portuguese colony,
Mozambique was a major source of slaves for European colonies in the Americas.
After achieving independence in 1975, Mozambique suffered a devastating civil
war between the socialist government and an anticommunist rebel movement, in
which more than 1 million people died. After a peace agreement ended the war in
1992, Mozambique experienced rapid economic growth.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
Mozambique lies along the Indian Ocean and is
bordered by Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe
to the west, and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. At its widest
point, Mozambique measures about 1,100 km (700 mi) from east to west; at its
narrowest, less than 100 km (60 mi). The distance between its farthest northern
and southern points is about 1,900 km (1,200 mi). The country’s total land area
is 799,380 sq km (308,642 sq mi).
Mozambique’s 2,470 km (1,535 mi) of coastline
occupies about one-third of the seaboard of eastern Africa. Most of Mozambique’s
coastline is low-lying, consisting of swamps or sandy beaches, and backed by
thin forest and grassland, which cover about two-fifths of the country. Farther
inland are several mountainous regions formed by the edge of the southern
African plateau that extends into Mozambique from the west. The mountainous
regions are the Lebombo Mountains in the south; the Manica and Gorongosa
highlands along the Zimbabwe border, home to Mount Binga, Mozambique’s highest
peak at 2,436 m (7,992 ft); the Angonia Highlands and the Namuli Peaks in the
north; and another mountainous region in the north along Lake Malawi (Lake
Nyasa).
A | Rivers and Lakes |
From the mountains and uplands, many rivers
spring forth and flow east to the sea. Central Mozambique is dominated by the
valley of the Zambezi, one of the world’s largest rivers and the fourth longest
in Africa. In its lower reaches the Zambezi is as wide as 3 km (2 mi) and enters
the sea through a delta 80 km (50 mi) wide. To the north, the Ruvuma and Lugenda
rivers are sources of water and irrigation, while south of the Zambezi, the
Pungwe, Save (Sabi), Limpopo, and Komati rivers are important resources. Most of
Mozambique’s rivers fluctuate wildly in volume between the wet and dry seasons,
and continually shift their shallow channels. Only the Zambezi is navigable for
more than a short distance from the coast.
During colonial times the Portuguese built
several projects to make the rivers more reliable for commerce. On the Limpopo,
they erected a dam to deepen the river, control its flow, and provide irrigation
for the valley’s farms. Other hydroelectric projects were built in the Manica
highlands, and in 1969 work began on the enormous Cabora Bassa Dam on the
Zambezi—one of Africa’s largest hydroelectric projects. The dam was completed in
1974. Another important source of water and transportation is Lake Malawi, of
which 13,000 sq km (5,000 sq mi) lies within Mozambique.
B | Plant and Animal Life |
The vegetation of lowland Mozambique is
predominantly light forest and grassland, while on the coast mangroves grow in
the swamps and palms line the beaches. Tropical rain forests once stood south of
the Zambezi Delta, but they have all been cut down. Forests become denser in the
higher elevations, particularly along the border with Zimbabwe.
Until recent times, Mozambique supported a
large and varied animal population. Elephants, water buffaloes, hippopotamuses,
crocodiles, baboons, giraffes, lions, cobras, adders, flamingos, herons,
buzzards, and other animals thrived throughout much of the region. However, much
of the country’s animal habitat has been destroyed by decades of human
encroachment and by civil warfare. The reserves and game parks established by
the Portuguese suffered nearly complete losses of habitat during the civil war
in the 1980s. The coasts, however, were less affected and remain relatively
unpolluted, and the islands offshore continue to shelter a rich variety of
marine life.
C | Natural Resources |
Mozambique has few mineral resources that
are easily exploitable. A coal deposit in the Zambezi Valley has been
successfully mined since colonial times, and gold and bauxite are mined in small
quantities in the mountains. Forests cover 24 percent of Mozambique, and only 6
percent of the land is arable.
D | Climate |
The Indian monsoon influences the climate
of the northern two-thirds of Mozambique. Rains arrive with the monsoon winds
from the Indian Ocean in October and linger through March, while a dry season
prevails during the rest of the year, when the winds blow in the opposite
direction. The southern third of the country is generally drier. Rainfall can be
as high as 1,400 mm (56 in) a year near the Zambezi Delta and as low as 300 mm
(12 in) a year in the lowlands of the southern interior. Mozambique is prone to
severe droughts, and when droughts are relieved by heavy rains, flash floods
often result. Severe flooding ravaged Mozambique in 2000, displacing thousands
of people and wiping out crops and livestock.
Average temperatures along the coast are
as low as 18°C (65°F) in the extreme south, while in the hot season most parts
of the coast average 27° to 28°C (80° to 82°F). The hottest region is the
interior Zambezi Valley, with average summer temperatures of 32°C (90°F). The
coldest temperatures are usually recorded in one of the western mountain ranges,
where frosts are common in the winter. The average January temperature in
Maputo, the capital, is 26°C (78°F), while the average July temperature is 18°C
(65°F).
E | Environmental Issues |
Several national parks were created in
Mozambique during the colonial era. Since the end of the civil war, several
large national parks and reserves have been established in areas that were
formerly battlefields. Protected areas cover 7 percent (2007) of Mozambique’s
total land area.
III | THE PEOPLE OF MOZAMBIQUE |
Mozambique had an estimated population of
21,284,701 in 2008, giving the country an average density of 27 persons per sq
km (70 per sq mi). Many people fled to cities during the country’s civil war,
but the population of Mozambique remains overwhelmingly rural.
A | Principal Cities |
Most of Mozambique’s major cities are
found along the coast. The capital, Maputo, lies in the extreme south and is the
country’s major industrial center. Beira, south of the Zambezi Delta, is the
main city of central Mozambique. Badly damaged during the civil war, Beira had
started only in the late 1990s to reclaim its status as the major port of entry
for goods carried by rail to Zimbabwe. The industrial city of Chimoio lies
inland on the Beira railway. In the south the ports of Inhambane and Xai-Xai are
important urban centers, and north of the Zambezi the main towns are Nampula,
Nacala, Quelimane, and Pemba.
B | Language, Ethnicity, and Religion |
The people of Mozambique generally speak
at least one of eight indigenous languages, which in turn partially defines
their ethnicity. Most of the languages are Bantu in origin. In the extreme north
are the Makonde people, who are related to the population of southern Tanzania.
Their neighbors are the Yao, who live along the shore of Lake Malawi. Most of
Nampula Province in north central Mozambique is inhabited by Makua speakers, who
are the largest single linguistic group in the country. The Zambezi Valley has
been a meeting place of many different peoples over the centuries, and its
linguistic makeup reflects this history. People north of the river speak
languages related to those of Malawi and Zambia, often referred to as the Maravi
language group. South of the Zambezi as far as the Save River are groups who
speak languages related to Shona. South of the Shona-speaking peoples are Tonga
speakers, consisting of ethnic Tonga people and ethnic Chopi, a distinct group
near the coast. In the extreme south and in areas near the Malawi border are
Nguni speakers whose ancestors migrated from South Africa in the 19th century.
Because there are so many different languages, Portuguese, the colonial
language, has remained the country’s official language.
Few if any of Mozambique’s linguistic
groupings are unified; rather, they are subdivided into numerous ethnic
identities that have been fashioned by external cultural influences. Near the
northern coast are Muslims who share many cultural traits with the coastal
Swahili peoples of Tanzania and Kenya. For centuries these groups were heavily
influenced by Arab trade and customs. In the central Zambezi Valley, the
identities of the many fragmented groups were shaped by Portuguese settlement.
Roman Catholicism, which enjoyed a privileged status under the Portuguese,
claims a significant number of adherents in the valley, as well as in the
southern part of the country. Various forms of Protestantism also are practiced.
About half of Mozambique’s population adheres to traditional, animist religions.
Because Mozambique’s population is divided into numerous small ethnic subgroups,
there is no dominant ethnic group. Ethnicity generally has not been a major
factor in Mozambican politics or social status.
C | Education |
Although the Portuguese invested heavily
in education in the last decade of their rule, for centuries before that they
actively suppressed African education. As a result, 90 percent of Mozambicans
were believed to be illiterate at independence in 1975. The first Mozambican
government mounted a campaign for literacy and made education compulsory for
children from ages 6 to 12, or for a total of 7 years. Schooling, however, was
disrupted by the civil war, continuing only in the towns that escaped the
fighting. By 2005 only 50 percent of the population was literate. In 2002–2003
an estimated 103 percent of primary-school-aged children attended school, and
only 16 percent of secondary-school-aged children were enrolled. The country’s
institutions of higher education enrolled just 17,225 students. Eduardo Mondlane
University (founded in 1962) in Maputo is Mozambique’s largest university.
D | Way of Life |
During the 20th century, the coastal
cities attracted large Indian, European, and mixed-race populations, creating a
melting pot of customs, languages, and cuisines. Many foreigners and people with
foreign connections fled the country during the civil war, but the mix of
cultures slowly revived in the late 1990s. The civil war also forced a large
number of refugees from the countryside into the cities. South of the Zambezi,
migrant laborers returning from South Africa have brought home Western goods and
ideas, while north of the Zambezi, cultural traditions are typically more
conservative. Patrilineal societies, that is, those that trace their heritage
and descent through the father’s line, dominate south of the Zambezi River.
North of the river, all of the ethnic groups except the Nguni are matrilineal,
tracing their family through the mother’s line. Throughout urban and rural
Mozambique, soccer is by far the most popular sport.
IV | CULTURE |
Many of the cultural traditions of the
Mozambican people survived centuries of colonialism. The Makonde in the north
are renowned for their ebony sculptures and masks. The Chopi of the south
central coast are famous for their complex musical arrangements and dance.
Mozambique’s tradition of visual art has produced several modern artists who
have achieved international renown. One of the most famous Mozambican artists is
Malangatana, whose paintings portray the sufferings of the colonial period and
the civil war.
Many of the country’s museums, libraries,
and other cultural institutions were destroyed in the civil war. Among those
that survived were the national archives in Maputo, which were enlarged and
reorganized after independence.
A portion of Mozambique’s historic
architecture survived the civil war intact. Many of the coastal towns,
especially in the north, feature buildings with Islamic arches and columns. The
island town of Moçambique, also in the north, has several Portuguese-style
churches and military and public buildings dating to the earliest colonial days.
V | ECONOMY |
Under Portuguese rule Mozambique was a major
exporter of sugar, copra (the meaty lining of coconuts), cotton, rice, tea, and
cashews. Mozambique also exported labor in enormous quantities, as the colonial
government received compensation for the hundreds of thousands of Mozambicans
who traveled to work in the mines of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe). Railroads, ports, and tourism also provided significant income and
made services an important part of the country’s economy before
independence.
In 1975 the first government of independent
Mozambique established a Marxist state, in which most economic production was
controlled by the government. Plantations and businesses that had been owned by
Portuguese firms were collectivized, and the government made large investments
to boost productivity. Western investors, especially the Portuguese, were
antagonized by these and other changes, and vital foreign investment in the
young republic dried up. Output soon stagnated and with the onset of the civil
war in 1980 the economy quickly collapsed. For a decade, all economic life
effectively came to a standstill. Railroads and industrial installations were
destroyed, export trade stopped, and more than one million people died.
Infusions of foreign aid staved off complete economic decimation.
In the late 1980s the government loosened its
controls on what was left of the economy—it dismantled collective farms,
encouraged foreign investment, and cut government subsidies. After a peace
accord ended the civil war in 1992, the United Nations (UN) coordinated a large
program to restore the economy; the program’s priorities were the resettling of
refugees and reopening of ports and communication facilities. Reconstruction
efforts, fueled by foreign aid, continued into the 21st century. In 2006
Mozambique’s gross domestic product (GDP) was $6.8 billion. Mozambique’s per
capita income was estimated to be about $325.80 per year, making Mozambique one
of the world’s poorest countries. Agriculture accounted for 28 percent of the
economy. Industry, including mining, manufacturing, and construction, generated
26 percent of the GDP. The broad services category, which includes trade,
produced 46 percent of the GDP in 2006.
A | Labor |
In 2006 the labor force was estimated to be
9.8 million. Of these, 83 percent worked in agriculture, mostly as subsistence
farmers. Industry accounted for 8 percent of the workers and services for 9
percent.
B | Agriculture |
The climate and soils of Mozambique are
suitable for tropical agriculture. Cotton and cashews are important export
earners. In the highlands near the Malawi border, tea is an important crop.
Mozambique’s staple crops are corn, sorghum, and cassava (11.5 million metric
tons).
C | Forestry and Fishing |
Of the 18 million cubic meters (637 million
cubic feet) of timber felled in Mozambique in 2006, only 43,000 cubic meters
(1,519,000 cubic feet) was used for lumber production. Most of the rest was
burned as firewood. Fishing is important for the coastal populations, and there
is an important export market for shellfish.
D | Industry |
Before independence, Mozambique had a
growing industrial sector, which was focused primarily on processing sugar, tea,
copra, and other products harvested in Mozambique. Another subset of the
industrial sector provided the cities with a wide range of consumer goods, from
cement and furniture to beer and radios. The only heavy industry was the
refining of crude oil for the South African market. Virtually all industry was
either destroyed in the civil war or starved of the investment and foreign
exchange needed to operate. Initial efforts to revive industry centered on
establishing food-processing plants and on factories that make simple
manufactured goods for local use. Important manufactured goods include aluminum,
cement, textiles, cigarettes, and beverages.
E | Mining |
Mozambique’s mineral reserves are largely
unexploited. Mineral processing in Mozambique is confined to small-scale mining
of coal, marble, granite, gold, and bauxite.
F | Energy |
Mozambique has vast hydroelectric potential
and derives 99 percent (2003) of its electricity needs from hydroelectric
plants. The Cabora Bassa Dam on the Zambezi River, completed in 1974, operated
far under its optimum generating capacity from the early 1980s to the late 1990s
because of damage inflicted by the civil war. In 1998 Cabora Bassa had recovered
to the point that Mozambique was once again exporting power to neighboring
countries.
G | Transportation and Communications |
The country’s rail system consists of five
separate lines penetrating inland from the ports of Maputo, Beira, and Nacala,
and from Inhambane and Quelimane. Mozambique’s Beira corridor, connecting Beira
with the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, carries most of the exports of southern
Africa’s landlocked countries. Much of the mineral production of northern South
Africa is shipped through Maputo. Mozambique’s transportation network was badly
damaged in the civil war, but efforts in the 1990s to repair damaged rail lines
and remove land mines from roads and highways improved shipping and
transportation between the inland and the Indian Ocean. However, north-south
road and rail connections within Mozambique are poor. Mozambique Airlines is the
country’s major air-travel provider. International airports are located in
Maputo, Beira, and Nampula.
Mozambique is served by a number of
Portuguese-language daily newspapers, numerous other periodicals, many radio
stations, and one major television station. The country’s media sources were
largely controlled by the government until 1990, when a new constitution
guaranteeing freedom of the press was adopted.
H | Foreign Trade |
With independence, Mozambique lost its
export markets in Portugal, and remaining export trade plummeted as a result of
the war. The country’s trade gap shrank in the early 21st century as the economy
rebounded. In 2002 total imports cost $1.26 billion, while total exports earned
$663 million. Imports were brought mainly from South Africa, Portugal,
Australia, the United States, and Pakistan. Exports were sent mainly to Belgium,
South Africa, Spain, Zimbabwe, and Japan. Food, petroleum, machinery, and
vehicles are Mozambique’s primary imports; major exports include aluminum,
shellfish, and textiles.
I | Currency and Banking |
Mozambique’s currency is the metical
(plural meticais; 25 meticais equal U.S.$1; 2006 average). The central
bank is the Bank of Mozambique.
VI | GOVERNMENT |
Mozambique has a multiparty, republican
government that operates under a constitution approved in 1990. The 1990
constitution, a first step toward the 1992 accord that ended the civil war,
replaced the Marxist-Leninist constitution of 1978.
A | Executive |
Under the 1990 constitution, executive
power is vested in a president who is both head of state and commander-in-chief.
The president oversees the administration and enforcement of legislation, and
has the power to call elections, dissolve the legislative body, and declare war.
The president is directly elected for a term of five years, and may be reelected
for two more terms. All citizens 18 years or older are eligible to vote.
B | Legislature |
The legislative branch consists of the
unicameral (single chamber) Assembly of the Republic. The assembly’s 250 members
are elected to represent Mozambique’s provinces through a system of proportional
representation, in which voters vote for a list of candidates representing
individual parties or coalitions of parties. The members serve five-year terms.
The assembly has the authority to veto some of the president’s actions, but the
president has the authority to dissolve the assembly before the end of its term.
A prime minister, appointed by the president, heads a Council of Ministers,
which carries out the administration of government affairs. The prime minister
also submits government programs, such as the budget, to the assembly.
C | Judiciary |
The judiciary is headed by the Supreme
Court, composed of 7 judges appointed by the president and 17 elected by the
assembly.
D | Local Government |
The country is divided into ten provinces
and the capital city of Maputo, which has provincial status. Each has a governor
appointed by the ruling national party, as well as a provincial assembly and a
number of lesser district assemblies.
E | Political Parties |
Before 1994 the only legal party was the
ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo, from Frente de
Liberatação de Moçambique), which had come to power with independence in 1975.
As part of the civil war peace process, the 1990 constitution provided for a
multiparty system. Numerous political parties have participated in subsequent
elections. Frelimo and the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo, from
Resistência Nacional Moçambicana), which fought against Frelimo in the civil
war, are the major political parties in Mozambique.
F | Defense |
Mozambique’s Frelimo-dominated army was
disbanded in 1994 as part of the peace process, and a new national army was
recruited from Frelimo and Renamo soldiers. In 2004 the army had about 10,000
troops. Mozambique also has a small navy with 200 seamen and an air force with
1,000 persons.
G | International Organizations |
Mozambique is a founding member of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern
and Southern Africa (COMESA). It is also a member of the United Nations (UN),
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Commonwealth of Nations, and the
African Union (AU).
VII | HISTORY |
The first written record of Mozambique
dates from the 10th century ad,
when Arab writer al-Mas’ūdi mentioned the town of Sofala (south of present-day
Beira) and the iron-using people called the Wak Wak who lived there. Long before
that time, perhaps as early as the 3rd century ad, Bantu-speaking peoples from central
Africa migrated to the region, where they grew crops and raised cattle. Their
settlements took on increasing complexity. By the 10th century, settlements
featured stone enclosures, and their inhabitants played an important role in
intra-African trade to the west. Over the next several centuries, traders from
northeastern Africa and later from the Middle East and Asia arrived by sea,
prompting ports along the Mozambican coast to flourish. Sofala, among the most
prominent ports, developed as a trade center for gold from the interior.
Commercial settlements also developed to the north of Sofala at Angoche,
Moçambique Island, the Querimba Islands, and the mouth of the Zambezi River. The
beads, cloth, and other goods brought by Arab and Asian traders attracted
caravans of agrarian-based traders from inland Mozambique. They in turn
distributed the goods to the African interior. A struggle for control of this
trade developed, and it was soon won by the cattle-owning chiefs of the Karanga
in the south and the Makua in the north. Slave trading was also common
throughout this period, in both the coastal and interior regions.
A | Europeans Arrive |
In 1498 Portuguese navigator Vasco da
Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and stopped in Mozambique en route to
becoming the first European to visit India by sea. His arrival initially made
little impact on Mozambique, but soon afterward a small stream of European
traders began to visit the coast of Mozambique. In 1505 the Portuguese occupied
Sofala, establishing a fort and installing a friendly Arab ruler there. However,
the gold trade was already in decline and Sofala was ill-suited as a port, so
the Portuguese moved their base north to Moçambique Island. Over the ensuing
years the island developed as an important seaport and way station on the route
to India.
By the mid-16th century, European
settlers had begun to penetrate the Mozambican interior, occasionally
encountering stern resistance from inhabitants. In 1561, for example, Gonçalo da
Silveira, leader of the first Jesuit mission to eastern Africa, was killed by
Shona people whom he had tried to convert. In response, the Portuguese sent a
large army, which from 1569 to 1575 attempted to conquer the central African
gold-mining region. Most of the soldiers died of disease, and little was
achieved beyond the occupation of the lower Zambezi Valley and the establishment
of two new bases on the Zambezi at Sena and Tete. Thus by the close of the 16th
century, much of Mozambique was still beyond Portuguese control. In fact,
despite Portuguese presence along the Zambezi, Maravi chiefs had established the
powerful chiefdoms of Karonga, Undi, and Lundu in the region north of the
river.
In 1607 and 1608 the Dutch twice tried to
seize Moçambique Island from the Portuguese, failing both times. The assaults
nonetheless made the Portuguese aware of their precarious hold on Mozambique and
prompted them to try again to subdue the interior. This time the Portuguese used
locally recruited armies and by 1632, after prolonged warfare, they occupied a
wide swath of land from the Mozambican coast to the northern half of present-day
Zimbabwe. Portugal maintained control of the region by ceding prazos
(land grants) to European colonists. The prazos made their owners virtual lords
of African fiefdoms, with nearly complete control over Mozambican labor and
resources. In modified form the prazo system lasted until the 1930s. The
Portuguese established fortified mining camps in the highlands of western
Mozambique and northern Zimbabwe, but Portugal had difficulty attracting
European settlers into the area. Partly as a result, the Rozwi chief Changamire
was able to lead a revolt in 1693 that succeeded in expelling the Portuguese
from most of the highlands (see Rozwi Empire).
B | Ivory and Slaves |
Despite their eviction from the
highlands, the Portuguese gradually extended their control up the Zambezi Valley
and north and south along the Mozambican coast. In 1727 they founded a trading
post at Inhambane, on the southern coast, and in 1781 they permanently occupied
Delagoa Bay, an important location farther south on the site of modern Maputo.
Dutch and Austrian traders had briefly settled at Delagoa Bay, and English and
American traders had hunted whales and traded ivory with the nearby Nguni and
Tonga chiefs. From Delagoa Bay, Portugal controlled a prosperous ivory trade,
which in turn attracted caravans from the interior.
At roughly the same time as the rise of
the ivory trade, climatic changes and the rise of the slave trade had even
greater effects on Mozambique. The trade in slaves, which had existed at a low
level before the arrival of Europeans, continued throughout the colonial period,
under the hand of African and European traders. By the late 1700s, however,
demand for slaves had grown markedly in response to European colonization of
Mauritius and Réunion. When prolonged droughts started in Mozambique in the
1760s and became endemic from the 1790s, crops failed, cattle suffered,
chiefdoms faltered, and traditional patterns of long-distance commerce were
disrupted. Banditry and slave raiding increased, and large numbers of slaves
were brought to the coast. By 1800 Mozambique had become one of the world’s
major slave-trading centers. Hundreds of thousands of Mozambicans were sold to
slave traders and sent to the Americas. Until at least the 1870s, no other form
of commerce generated as much profit.
C | The Gaza Empire |
In the 1820s, during a period of severe
drought, Nguni armies began to invade Mozambique from what is now South Africa.
One Nguni chief, Nxaba, established a short-lived kingdom inland from Sofala,
but in 1837 he was defeated by Soshangane, a powerful Nguni rival. Soshangane
established the Gaza Empire, which at its height in the 1860s covered the whole
of Mozambique between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. From this area, Nguni
armies invaded the north and established cattle-owning military states along the
edges of the Mozambican highlands. Although not within the borders of modern-day
Mozambique, these military states nonetheless served as effective bases for
raids into Mozambique.
With the prolonged drought, the rise of
Gaza, the dominance of the slave trade, and the expansion of Portuguese control
in the Zambezi Valley, the once-mighty African chieftaincies of the Zambezi
region declined. In their place, valley warlords established fortified
strongholds at the confluence of the major rivers, where they raised private
armies and raided for slaves in the interior. The most powerful of these
warlords was Manuel Antonio de Sousa, a settler from Portuguese India, who by
the middle of the 19th century controlled most of the southern Zambezi Valley
and a huge swath of land to its south. North of the Zambezi, Islamic slave
traders rose to power from their base in Angoche, and the Yao chiefs of the
north migrated south to the highlands along the Shire River, where they
established their military power.
D | British Influence |
In 1856 Scottish explorer David
Livingstone reached the mouth of the Zambezi after exploring its upper reaches.
Livingstone returned to the Zambezi in 1858, attempting to open a river route
into central Africa. Livingstone’s endeavors and, more to the point, the
political designs of Britain, troubled Portugal deeply. To fend off British
interest in the region, Portugal tried to exert further control over the various
Arab and African chieftaincies in Mozambique. In 1861 the Portuguese wrested the
slaving port of Angoche from its Arab holders, and then embarked on a string of
largely disastrous wars against the interior warlords. Under pressure from
Britain, Portugal outlawed the slave trade in Mozambique in 1842, finally
abolishing slavery altogether in 1878.
By the 1870s European interest in Africa
was focused on raw materials and the labor needed to extract them. Although
Mozambique had little mineral wealth compared with diamond-rich land in what
would become South Africa, it attracted speculators who wanted to grow sugar,
cotton, and oil seeds. The Portuguese welcomed these private companies, which
would develop the region’s infrastructure, pay tariffs on exports, and most
important, counter the influence of the British. In 1875, when Scottish
missionaries established themselves in the Shire highlands, Portugal’s
enthusiasm for granting concessions to private companies grew greater still.
Several colonial companies were established, the most important of which was
started by Paiva de Andrade in 1878 and in 1888 became the Mozambique
Company.
In January 1890, with the control of East
Africa still unresolved, Britain threatened war against Portugal if its border
demands were not met. No match for the British Navy, Portugal conceded to most
of Britain’s demands, and in May 1891 the frontiers of modern Mozambique were
drawn. Much of the western highlands passed into British hands, but Portugal was
left in control of the lengthy coast with its numerous ports and trade stations,
as well as the lowlands between the coast and the highlands.
Soon thereafter, Portugal undertook a
series of campaigns against the African kingdoms within Mozambique’s borders.
Portugal finalized its occupation of the south in a series of rapid strikes
against the Gaza Empire, which surrendered in 1895. The final defeat of the
warlords along the Zambezi was achieved in 1902, but the entirety of Mozambique
was not fully under Portuguese control until the 1920s. In 1902 Portugal
established the capital of Mozambique at Lourenço Marques, now Maputo.
E | Control by the Concessions |
In the early 20th century, Portugal
continued to allow private concession companies broad control of the colony. A
handful of concessions controlled almost all of Mozambique’s production of goods
and supply of labor. Workers were often forced to labor under brutal conditions,
with extremely low (and sometimes no) wages, and with few political rights. In
the south, companies were given the rights to recruit people and send them to
work the diamond and gold mines in South Africa. In 1907 the colonial government
codified these abuses and established separate labor laws for natives and
nonnatives. The growth of the forced labor economy was greatly aided by
completion of two railroads in the late 1890s. By the early 20th century, the
railroads and the ports to which they were linked became Mozambique’s biggest
source of foreign exchange.
In 1916 Portugal entered World War I
(1914-1918), and the following year a serious rebellion broke out in the
province of Zambezia. The Barue Rising, as it is known, was quelled, but not
without great effort. Later that year, in November, German troops further
destabilized Mozambique by invading and overrunning most of the region north of
the Zambezi River. The German troops were not expelled until near the end of the
war in 1918.
After World War I, the Portuguese
government continued to allow private companies to exert enormous power over
Mozambique society, a condition that changed only after the 1926 coup in
Portugal. In 1932 António de Oliveira Salazar began a long dictatorship of
Portugal, and under his influence the government established direct rule over
Mozambique. Salazar ended the power of the private companies and in their place
established a planned economy (a system in which the government controls every
aspect of the economy). Such changes, however, often did little to improve life
for the people of Mozambique. For example, Mozambican farmers were forced to
grow crops such as cotton and rice for export, and very little consideration was
given to the crops needed for Mozambique’s subsistence. The government also
continued the practice of sending Mozambicans to labor in South African mines.
Under Salazar, white settlement was encouraged, especially in the irrigated
regions around the Limpopo River. Partly as a result, the number of white
settlers in the country grew from a few tens of thousands to nearly 200,000 by
1970.
F | Resistance and Independence |
Salazar’s Portugal kept tight control
over all aspects of African life. Until the late 1960s blacks were routinely
denied opportunities in education, employment, and government, and political
dissent was met with swift imprisonment or exile. In 1962 a group of exiled
Mozambicans led by Eduardo Mondlane met in Tanzania and formed the Front for the
Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo, from Frente de Libertação de Moçambique). Two
years later, Frelimo launched a guerrilla war against Portuguese Mozambique. The
Portuguese countered the insurrection with arms and, in an attempt to pacify the
people of Mozambique, a major development program. Many roads, schools, and
hospitals were built, stimulating rapid economic growth. In 1969 work began on
the Cabora Bassa Dam, which was to be the showpiece of Portuguese development
policies.
These efforts notwithstanding, the war
with Frelimo continued, even after Mondlane was assassinated in 1969. By the
early 1970s the war reached a stalemate. Only after Portugal underwent a
tumultuous revolution in April 1974 did the colonial regime in Mozambique begin
to crumble. In July 1975 power was formally transferred to Frelimo, and
Mozambique became independent.
G | Civil War |
The Frelimo government introduced
far-reaching reforms, including rights for women and the collectivization of
agriculture. It also introduced a Marxist-Leninist constitution that brought the
economy under the control of the state, and it supported the liberation
movements of blacks in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa. In
return, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa sponsored an anticommunist Mozambican
guerrilla movement seeking the overthrow of the Frelimo government. This
guerrilla group became known as the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo, from
Resistência Nacional Mocambiçana). Beginning in 1980 Renamo targeted and
destroyed government installations, industries, schools, and infrastructure.
Within a short time, the government could be certain of control over only a few
cities, and travel about the country could be undertaken safely only by air. In
time Renamo gained control over much of the country as increasing numbers of
Mozambicans grew disaffected with government policies or were intimidated by a
wide range of Renamo terror tactics.
In 1984, with his country’s economy in
ruins and tens of thousands of his citizens killed, President Samora Moises
Machel sought to end South Africa’s logistical and military support for Renamo
by signing the Nkomati Accord. Under the accord, Mozambique agreed to end its
support for the African National Congress, which was battling South Africa’s
rigid policy of racial segregation known as apartheid. In return, South Africa
vowed to stop supplying Renamo. Machel also began to move Frelimo away from its
outright Marxist orientation that had antagonized Western and internal critics.
The war continued nonetheless, and thousands of people died yearly in the
fighting or from associated disease and malnutrition. In 1986 President Machel
died in an airplane crash, and Joachim Chissano, the foreign minister, was
elected to succeed him.
In 1990 the government adopted a new
constitution that firmly disavowed Marxism-Leninism, established Mozambique as a
multiparty democracy, and guaranteed the freedom of expression. The new
constitution paved the way for peace talks between Frelimo and Renamo, and in
October 1992 the two groups signed an accord that ended the civil war. In the
1994 elections that followed the accord, Frelimo won by what many observers
believed was a surprisingly narrow margin, and Chissano was reelected. Renamo,
to the relief of many, agreed to recognize Frelimo’s victory.
H | Recent Developments |
With the help of foreign aid donations,
the postwar government led the reconstruction of Mozambique’s railways, ports,
factories, and hospitals. The civil war’s most brutal legacy was the hundreds of
thousands of unexploded land mines that remained buried throughout rural areas
of the country and continued to kill and maim civilians into the 21st century.
In the 1990s the United Nations established training programs in Mozambique to
help people safely identify, remove, and destroy unexploded land mines.
In December 1999 presidential elections
Chissano defeated Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama. Legislative elections held at
the same time renewed Frelimo’s hold on the Assembly of the Republic. Dhlakama
and Renamo claimed that electoral fraud had tainted the results of both
elections, but the Supreme Court of Mozambique disagreed and certified the
elections in January 2000. Frelimo dominated December 2004 elections, winning
almost two-thirds of the seats in the legislature. Frelimo secretary general
Armando Guebuza was elected to succeed Chissano as president.
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