Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique was aprovince ot Portugal lo-

cated on Atnca s south-eastern coast. With

an area of 799,380 km2 it is much larger

than Portugal itself. Mozambique s har-

bours at Lourenco Marques (the capital

and Beira serve the shipping needs of

neighbouring African countries, to which

they are linked by rail. The vast majority

f Mozambique's 9,200,000 people are

Aficans of Bantu-speaking tribes. Many

of them work in South African mines and

Others work on Mozambique s

farms.

own farms, which are mostly in the fertile

river valleys. Cashew nuts, cotton, sisal

and sugar-cane are important crops. Iea

grows in the highlands.

Vasco da Gama discovered Mozambique

in 1498. Portuguese settlers arrived during

the early 1500 s, and the region became

important in the slave-trade. Private com-

panies controlled the province from 1891

until 1942, when the government took

Mozambique was the last large

over.

African country that is still dominated by

a European mation.

In the 1960s and

early 1970s, Portugal maintained a large

army in Mozambique to contain terrorist

1975 independence was achieved and the

ruling party then supported black Rhode-

sian guerrillas.