MOZAMBIQUE, ISLAND OF

Portuguese Ilha de Moambique, small coral island located at the mouth of Mossuril Bay in the Mozambique Channel of the Indian Ocean. It is administered as part of Nampula province, northern Mozambique. Until 1898 the island's fortified town of Moambique served as the capital of Portuguese East Africa. The island and its natural harbour were used by Arab merchants as a maritime trading centre from the 10th to the late 15th century. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who landed on the island in 1498, claimed it for Portugal. Four years later he returned with Portuguese settlers, who built the first fortress, St. Gabriel (150708; no longer standing). The town assumed prominence in Portugal's campaign to take over trade with India and the East Indies. The later fort of St. Sebastian was begun in the mid-16th century and is distinguished by its Italian Renaissance architecture; it withstood attack by the Dutch in 1607, and its massive walls still stand. The relative importance of the island decreased after the decline in the slave trade in the mid-19th century and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). By 1907 the colonial government was transferred to Loureno Marques (now Maputo), and in the mid-20th century, Moambique's maritime trade was largely diverted to the new port of Nacala, on the mainland coast farther north. A bridge has linked the island to the mainland since 1967. The architecture on the island shows diverse Arab, Indian, and Portuguese influences while maintaining an unusual visual homogeneity. This architectural unity is mainly the result of using over several centuries the same building materials (primarily locally quarried limestone, indigenous wood, and palm leaves) and similar structural plans (including a preponderance of symmetrical, six-roomed, rectangular structures with flat roofs). Other notable buildings on the island include the chapel of Our Lady of the Ramparts (1522), the church of Our Lady of Mercy (1635), the neo-classical hospital (1877), the symmetrical quadrilateral town market (1887), an impressive 19th-century Hindu temple, a 19th-century mosque, and St. Paul's Palace (1674), which served as the governor's residence from 1763 until 1935 and was later converted into a museum. The Island of Mozambique was designated a World Heritage site in 1991. UNESCO launched an international campaign to conserve and restore the island's architectural heritage in 1997. The port town remains a commercial and fishing centre but has little industrial activity. Pop. town (1970) 10,609; (1991 est.) 11,916; island (1970) 21,689; (1980) 30,143; (1991 est.) 43,433. The economy Mozambique's predominantly rain-fed agricultural economy is based on family production and hoe technology. During the 20th century, plantation production of market crops displaced family agriculture in some of the most fertile areas. The colonial economy was characterized by private monopolies, central planning, and state marketing of key products, all designed to promote capital accumulation by the state, Portuguese settlers, and Portuguese-based commerce and industry. Colonial policy had also excluded most Mozambicans from highly skilled and managerial positions until the years immediately preceding independence. The Frelimo government tried to redirect patterns of accumulation and development by nationalizing key properties, promoting African education and training, and breaking up the Portuguese and Asian hold on commercial distribution. Despite Frelimo's public stand against racial discrimination, Portuguese settlers and Asian tradersthreatened by the government's economic policiesleft by the thousands. Settlers anticipating nationalization abandoned their properties, adding by default to the proportion of the national economy that the state controlled. Large-scale state-run farms and communal and cooperative farming replaced the settler and company plantations. Frelimo's agricultural undertakings proved unproductive and unmanageable, and, in combination with the flight of Asian merchants, much of the nation's agricultural production, commercial, and distribution sectors collapsed. The state ultimately reoriented economic policy in accordance with structural adjustment plans imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which emphasized decentralization and assisted family farming in an attempt to salvage and rebuild the economy. Although agriculture is the most common economic activity, migrant labour remittances from South Africa, tourism, and the nation's port and railway sector have historically been equally important sources of foreign-exchange revenues. Within a decade of independence, however, armed attacks had totally disrupted transportation and communication, South Africa had sharply curbed employment of Mozambican labour, and tourism had ceased. Only with extensive military security and cooperation has the important road and railway corridor between Beira and Zimbabwe remained open. In both the colonial and postcolonial eras state regulation of the economy was common, but the methods contrasted sharply. Particularly during the 20th century, Portuguese investors were allowed to develop important components of the economy without competition. Only in the post-World War II era were economic decentralization and competitive markets allowed to develop apace. After independence the state was weak, and its efforts to develop and expand the economy through central planning were ineffective and counterproductive. Within a generation of independence the government's ability to affect economic output had collapsed, and in many sectors the country became dependent upon foreign aid to provide basic subsistence items. Resources Although much of Mozambique has not been extensively surveyed for minerals and petrochemical resources, from what is known the country has impressive potential energy resources. The Tete highlands in the west-central region has six billion tons of known bituminous coal reserves, and the Cahora Bassa Dam (Hidroelctrica de Cahora Bassa) was completed in l974 to tap the hydroelectric potential of the Zambezi River. Although continuing exploration for oil has been disappointing, large commercially viable natural gas fields were discovered at Panda, north of Inhambane, and are in the early stages of development. Key known mineral resources include high-quality iron ore reserves and what may be the world's largest reserves of the rare and important mineral tantalite. Tantalite is essential in the global electronics industry and is used to produce top-grade steels. Mozambique's small gold industry is also expected to develop rapidly. Water resources could potentially compensate for the mixed soil endowment. Mozambique's major river systems provide alluvial deposits and offer both hydroelectric and irrigation potential. The country's forest resources were briefly exploited for both export and local building material during the 1960s and '70s, but significant hardwood forest reserves have survived deforestation for fuel. Mozambique's offshore waters contain tuna, mackerel, sardines, and anchovies but are best known for the shrimp (prawns) that are an important export commodity. Availability of shrimp, lobster, and shellfish have also contributed to Mozambique's attraction as a vacation beach resort for its inland neighbours. The pleasant climate, beautiful beaches, and Indian Ocean islands are important resources. Mozambique's natural resources remain largely underdeveloped owing to military insecurity and lack of investment capital. The land Relief Lowlands dominate the southern provinces, narrowing to a mere coastal plain north of the cleft that the Zambezi River cuts through the country's midsection. The Zambezi valley, the lower section of which is a part of the East African Rift Valley, is the country's most dramatic geographic feature. Throughout the country the land rises gently to the west. In the centre and north it slopes steadily into the high plains, and ultimately the mountainous regions of the northwest border Malawi and Zambia. Four of the country's five highland regions straddle the west and northwest border areas: the Chimoio Plateau on the border with Zimbabwe, the Maravia highlands bordering Zambia, and the Angnia highlands and Lichinga Plateau, which lie, respectively, west and east of Malawi's protrusion into Mozambique. Mount Binga, the country's highest elevation at 7,992 feet (2,436 metres), is part of the Chimoio highlands. The 7,936-foot peak at Mount Namli dominates the Mozambican highland, which constitutes much of the northern interior. Drainage Mozambique's many rivers hold the promise of irrigation for agriculture and hydroelectric power for the entire region. The Rovuma River defines most of Mozambique's northern border with Tanzania. The Zambezi River and its tributaries dominate the central region, and the Maputo River forms part of the southernmost boundary with Swaziland and South Africa. Riversincluding the Lrio, Ligonha, Save, Changane, and Komati (Incomati)also define many of the country's local political boundaries. Other important drainage systems include the Messalo River in the north and the Pngo, Revu, and Bzi rivers, which enter the Mozambique Channel together just south of the port of Beira. The massive Zambezi waterway clearly dominates the nation's drainage and its hydroelectric strategies. It flows 509 miles through the country and drains more than 87,000 square miles of the central region. The Rovuma, Lrio, Save, and Messalo systems follow in size. Mozambique shares the borders of Lakes Nyasa, Chiuta, and Chilwa with Malawi, but aside from these border lakes and the lakes created by the country's hydroelectric dam systemsparticularly the extensive system created by the Cahora Bassa Dam at Songo on the Zambezithe country has no important lakes. The people Ethnic and linguistic composition Although Portuguese is the official language, the vast majority of Mozambicans speak languages of the Niger-Congo group, the so-called Bantu languages, which dominate central and southern Africa. Within that group, Makua-Lomwe, Tsonga, and Shona are the most widespread languages, but the country has great linguistic and cultural variety. Language groups in the Zambezi valley are quite diverse and include Sena, Lomwe, and Chuabo. Mozambicans share many languages with their neighbours, including Swahili, Yao, and Makonde with Tanzanians; Nyanja and Chewa with Malawians; Shona with Zimbabweans; and Shangaan with people of the northeastern Transvaal in South Africa. The Swahili speakers of Mozambique's northern coast have an Islamic heritage in common with the coastal populations of eastern Africa as far north as Mogadishu, Somalia. Similarly, small groups in the far south and throughout the country share Nguni languages with South African and Zimbabwean peoples as a result of the important population movements of the early 19th century. Groups speaking European and Asian languages are largely limited to the port cities of Maputo, Beira, Quelimane, Nacala, and Pemba. In terms of cultural organization, the Zambezi valley again provides Mozambique's key marker, roughly dividing groups that trace their heritage according to principles of matrilineality to the north and groups that order themselves along patrilineal lines to the south. In matrilineal groups authority rests in the senior male of the extended family traced through the female line, whereas in patrilineal groups the senior male is identified through the male line. Throughout the 20th century, however, there has been a tendency for once-matrilineal groups to adopt patrilineality and virilocal settlementwith new families settling in a household of the husband's lineage rather than the wife's. The important Makua-Lomwe language group includes more than 35 percent of the population and dominates northeastern Mozambique except in two areas: the coastal strip north of the Lrio River, where Swahili is typically spoken, and a large pocket on the Tanzanian border inhabited predominately by Makonde speakers. From the divide of the Rovuma and Lugenda rivers west to the border with Malawi, most of the population speaks Yao. In the rough triangle from the juncture of the Shire and Zambezi rivers northwest to the border with Zambia, Chewa and Nyanja are commonly spoken. Shona speakers, just over 6 percent of the population, dominate the region between the Save River and the Zambezi valley. South of the Save River, Tsonga is the principal language group, with more than 12 percent. Portuguese is spoken by less than a quarter of the population and is the mother language for fewer than 2 percent of the population. Portuguese speakers are strongly concentrated in Quelimane and the capital of Maputo. Religions Prior to independence approximately 28 percent of the population was nominally Christian, and 14 percent of the 22 percent considered non-Christian were Muslim. During the colonial era Christian missions were active throughout the country, but Protestant missions were generally looked upon as suspect by the Portuguese. During the era of the Portuguese New State (l92674), the Roman Catholic church enjoyed government subsidies and a privileged position in the education and evangelization of the majority population in Mozambique. Protestant missionsincluding Presbyterian, Free Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, Anglican, and Congregationalist missionsremained active, particularly in the northern interior and in the hinterlands of Inhambane and Maputo, providing Mozambicans with alternative medical facilities and boarding schools. Although Islamic communities exist in most of Mozambique's cities, Muslims are the majority only in the coastal region between the Lrio and Rovuma rivers in the north. Qur'an schools existed in the capital and along the northern coast. A variety of African independent churches developed, but because of official disdain for their activities they were unlikely to register publicly. Upon independence in l975 the Frelimo government delivered mixed messages regarding religion. Despite its confirmation of open and free religious affiliation, it actively persecuted the country's more than 20,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, and its overall political and ideological emphasis discouraged religious expression and organization. By the end of the 1980s, Frelimo changed its approach, and religious organizations began to reemerge as an important popular force. An estimated 40 percent of the population adheres to some form of Christianity, and about 15 percent are Muslims. The majority population looks to ancestral and natural forces for spiritual and religious focus.