Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Portuguese: Moçambique or República de Moçambique, is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest.
The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonized by Portugal in 1505. Mozambique became independent in 1975, and became the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly after. It was the scene of an intense civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992. The country was named Moçambique by the Portuguese after the Island of Mozambique, derived from Musa Al Big or Mossa Al Bique or Mussa Ben Mbiki, an Arab trader who first visited the island and later lived there.Portuguese is the official and most widely spoken language of the nation, but only 40% of the population speak it. 33.5%, mostly Bantus, speak it as their second language and only 6.5%, mostly white Mozambicans and mestiços, speak it as their first language.Bantus speak several different languages, the most widely used being Swahili, Makhuwa,Sena, Ndau, and Shangaan
Mozambique is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and an observer of theFrancophonie. Mozambique's life expectancy and infant mortality rates are both among the worst in the world. Its Human Development Indexis one of the lowest on earth.
Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of a one-kilometre-long suspension bridge. A Swahili trade centre before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues to dominate the centre-west part of the country and region, and is the largest city on the Zambezi. Tete is a word for "reed".
The region was an important Swahili trade centre before the Portuguese colonial era. On the east coast of Africa the Portuguese were drawn to Mozambique and the Zambezi river by news of a local ruler, the Munhumutapa, who has fabulous wealth in gold. In their efforts to reach the Munhumutapa, the Portuguese established in 1531 two settlements far up the Zambezi - one of them, at Tete, some 260 miles from the sea. The Munhumutapa Kingdom and his gold mines remained autonomous and mostly isolated from the Portuguese. But in this region of east Africa - as in Portuguese Guinea and Angola in the west - Portuguese involvement became sufficiently strong to survive into the third quarter of the 20th century. Under Portuguese influence Tete had become a market centre for ivory and gold by the mid-17th century. Given a Portuguese town charter in 1761, it became a city of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique in 1959. After the Portuguese Colonial War in Portuguese Africa and the April 1974 military coup in Lisbon, the then Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique become an independent state. The newly-independent People's Republic of Mozambique, created in 1975 after the exodus of Mozambique's ethnic Portuguese, descended into civil war between 1977 and 1992. |
| Portuguese Fort in Tete circa +/- 1546 |
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| Portuguese Fort in Tete - now houses a language school |
