MOZAMBIQUE

Area: 801,600 sq km (309,500 sq mi)
Population: 19.4 million
Capital: Maputo (pop 1.3 million)
Religions: Indigenous beliefs (50%), Christian (30%), Muslim (20%)
Ethnic Groups: Shangaan, Chokwe, Manyika, Sena and Makua)
Languages: Portuguese (official), Makua-Lomwe, Tsonga, Shona, Swahili
Literacy: total population 48%; male 64%, female 33% (2003 est.)
Life Expectancy: 40 years

HIV/AIDS: 12.2% prevalence among adults (2003 est.)
Currency: 1US$ = 25,980 Metical (MZM, rate on 2/28/07)
Natural Resources: Hydroelectric energy, gas, coal, minerals, timber, farming land
Industry: Food, beverages, textiles, chemicals, petroleum
Major trading partners: South Africa, Spain, US, UK, Portugal, France, Japan
Exports: seafood, cotton

Food Crops: cashew nuts, sugarcane, tea, cassava (tapioca), corn, coconuts,

Humanoids have lived in Mozambique for over 2 million years, and Homo sapiens settled the area at least 100,000 years ago. Around 2000 years ago, Bantu-speaking people began migrating into the area, and brought iron tools and weapons to the area. Toward the end of the first millennium, several towns along the Mozambican coast grew into trading ports with links to other parts of Africa, the Middle East and India. The Arab influence in these ports was strong, and Swahili was the lingua franca of trade.

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived in 1497, and established supply points for sea routes to India bringing him into conflict with the resident Arab traders. Trade in gold and ivory flourished. By the mid-1700s, slaves were added to the cargo. The Portuguese began moving inland and colonized the country. By the early 20th century the Portuguese rented out the available resources, including human labor which they hired to neighboring countries, particularly South Africa and Rhodesia. Mozambican men left the country due to harsh working conditions that were exacerbated by Fascist leader Antònio Salazar in Portugal from 1932 to 1968. Salazar introduced cash crops such as cotton and rice and required all males over 15 to work on plantations for half the year, often in chains. Accompanying the rise in cash crops was a drastic drop in food production, leading to widespread famine in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Portuguese made no pretence of social investment in Mozambique. Of the few schools and hospitals that did exist, most were in the cities and reserved for Portuguese, other whites and privileged African asimilados (those who were assimilated into society by achieving status through education and land ownership or employment outside the colony, typically in South African mines). In 1960, Portuguese soldiers opened fire on peaceful demonstrators protesting taxes, killing about 600 people. The independence movement was born.

The Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), formed in 1962, was led by Eduardo Mondlane, who sought to completely liberate the country from Portuguese rule. The war lasted over 10 years, ending in 1974. The Portuguese left overnight, wrecking the infrastructure in their wake and destroying the economy.

Samora Machel, former commander-in-chief of FRELIMO, became Mozambique’s first president on June 25,

1975. His most important goal, he said, was to "to create a new mentality to build a new society." He nationalized the Portuguese plantations and property and established schools and health clinics for the peasants. Machel allowed revolutionaries fighting white minority regimes in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa to train and operate in Mozambique. The white regimes retaliated by forming an anti-government rebel group called RENAMO (Mozambican National Resistance) to destroy the schools and hospitals built by FRELIMO and to sabotage railway lines and hydroelectric facilities. The Mozambique economy suffered and began to depend on overseas aid - in particular from the Soviet Union.

On October 19, 1986, President Machel was on his way back from an international meeting in Zambia when the plane crashed in the Lebombo Mountains in South Africa near the junction of the Mozambican, Swazi, and South African borders. There was widespread suspicion—both nationally and internationally—that the South African apartheid regime was responsible for the crash, although no conclusive evidence has yet emerged. Samora Machel’s widow, Graça Machel, a prominent human rights advocate, is convinced the aircrash was no accident and has dedicated her life to tracking down her husband's killers. In July 1998, she married South African President Nelson Mandela. She is unique in having been the first lady of two different nations (Mozambique and South Africa), although not simultaneously.

A peace treaty in 1992 officially ended hostilities with RENAMO, once Mozambique rejected its Marxist ideology. In 1994 Joaquim Chissanó was elected president. The president's disciplined economic plan was highly successful, winning the country foreign confidence and aid. While Mozambique posted some of the world's largest economic growth rates in the late 1990s, it has suffered enormous setbacks because of natural disasters, such as the damage caused by severe flooding in the winters of 2000 and 2001. Hundreds died and thousands were displaced. In 2002 Chissanó announced he would not seek a third term. Independence hero Armando Guebuza was elected president and sworn in on February 2, 2005.

Significant among Mozambique’s 16 major ethnic groups are the Makua (the largest group) of the northern provinces; the Makonde (also of the north), famous for their carvings; the Sena, from the central provinces; and the Shanagaan of the southern provinces. Less than one percent of the population is native Portuguese, plus small numbers of European and Asian residents. Animist religions have been practiced for thousands of years, and many people retain their traditional beliefs, often alongside an organized religion. Arab traders introduced Islam to the coastal regions in the 8th century, and Portuguese Catholic missionaries brought Christianity in the 16th century. Today, about a quarter of the population is Muslim, mostly in the northern provinces and coastal areas; about a fifth are Catholic; and most of the rest are animists.

Mozambique’s rich artistic tradition continues to thrive after decades of colonial occupation and civil war. Today Mozambique produces some of the finest art in Africa; Makonde sculpture is recognized as one of Africa's most sophisticated art forms. Among talented painters who have emerged since the 1950s, one, Malangatana, has exhibited throughout the world. The country is well known for its murals, many of which can be found adorning walls in Maputo. The largest and most famous located near the airport reflects many stories and images of the Revolution. Oral tradition has preserved stories from generation to generation. 20^th century nationalist writers such as poet Jose Craveirinha have written about the gritty, often tragic realities of the country. Since independence, a number of writers have emerged, including Mia Couto (Voices Made Night and The Tale of the Two Who Returned from the Dead). Traditional music is widely played in Mozambique. The Makonde are noted for their wind instruments, known as lupembe. The Chope musicians play the marimba and are famous for their marimba orchestras.

SOURCES:

Encarta Africana: Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Black History and Culture edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. , Microsoft Corporation, 1993-1999.

“Mozambique, » http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/africa/mozambique/printable.htm.

“Mozambique,” CIA World Factbook, 2007.

“Samora Machel,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samora_Machel.

Compiled by Elizabeth Atly and Allison Mobley and updated in February 2007

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