The Republic of Mozambique or Mozambique (in Portuguese Republica de Moçambique) is a state in southeastern Africa. The official language of Mozambique is Portuguese. A number of other languages are also spoken. The largest cities are the capital Maputo with about 932,000, Beira with approx. 299,000 and Nampula with approximately 251,000 residents.
According to extrareference, Mozambique’s first residents were bushmen-hunters and gatherers, ancestors of the khoisan peoples. Between the first and fourth centuries, waves of Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from the north through the Zambezi Valley and then gradually into the plateau and coastal areas.
Vasco da Gama was the first European to explore the coastlines of Mozambique in 1498 and from the beginning of the 16th century, Portugal established trading posts and forts along the coast of Mozambique.
A wide coastal lowland covers most of the southern part of the country. Behind the coast, the relief energy rises step by step towards the Blackboard Highlands. Numerous rivers flow from the highlands to the east in the Mozambique Channel. The largest river is the Zambezi, which in its upper course is dammed by the Cahora Bassa dam. Other major rivers are the Rovuma, which is the border river with Tanzania, as well as Save and Limpopo. Lake Malawi forms the border with Malawi; the lake’s drain is the Shire, which empties into the Zambezi River.
The country borders the following countries: Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. To the east, the country borders the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Mozambique is located approximately at 18 ° 15 ′ south and 35 ° 00 ′ east. Mozambique is a member of the Association of Portuguese-speaking Countries and the Commonwealth of Nations. Mozambique (Mozambique) was named after Muça Alebique, a sultan.
TIMELINE:
1000 – The city of Sofala near present-day Beira was founded by the Shirazis in the late 10th century. It became the meeting point of the two highest civilizations developed in Africa: the Muslim and trade-oriented culture developed on the east coast of Africa and the metallurgical and animistic culture developed in Zimbabwe.
1498 – By the time the Portuguese seafarer Vasco da Gama’s ship reaches Mozambique, Arab merchant settlements have existed along the coast and the outer eyes for centuries.
1975 – June 25. After ten years of sporadic warfare and significant political changes in Portugal, Mozambique became independent. Shortly afterwards, the leaders of FRELIMO’s military campaign quickly established a one-party state allied with the Soviet bloc and banned rival political activity. FRELIMO eliminated political pluralism, religious educational institutions, and the role of traditional authorities.
1977 – Mozambique’s civil war begins in Mozambique in the 1970s after independence in 1975. The ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO) met violent opposition from 1977 from the Rhodesian and later South African-funded Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO). Over five million civilians had to flee their homes, 900,000 are believed to have lost their lives in fighting and famine and many more were crippled by landmines, a legacy of the war that continues to plague Mozambique. The fighting ended in 1992 and the country’s first free elections were held in 1994.
1986 – October 19. Samora Machel was on its way back from an international meeting in Malawi in President Tupolev Tu-134 when the plane crashed in the Lebombo Mountains near Mbuzini in South Africa, just on the border with Mozambique and Swaziland. There were nine who survived, but President Machel and 24 others died, including Mozambican ministers and officials. Representatives of the Soviet Union launched the theory that the plane was deliberately diverted by a false navigation signal from technology given by military intelligence operators from the apartheid government. A number of speculations continue to be linked to the plane crash, but even recent investigations carried out on behalf of the South African government have not been able to determine whether the cause was a pilot error, technical error or sabotage under the auspices of the apartheid regime’s intelligence operators.
1990 – In October, the Manica provincial authorities declare a state of emergency. It was one of the most fertile in the country, but like other regions of the country was hit by the drought, which had already done away with most of the crops. The drought was the most severe in 40 years and caused huge deprivation among the region’s 300,000 residents. As a result of the situation, Joaquim Chissano asked the government for international food aid. The country needed over 1 million tons of food to prevent the famine that was a result of the drought and the war.
1992 – October 4. With Italy as mediator, Chissano and Afonso Dhlakama of RENAMO signed a peace treaty ending 16 years of war that had cost 1 million killed and driven 5 million on the run.
1995 – By the middle of the year, more than 1.7 million Mozambican refugees who had sought asylum in neighboring Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa as a result of the war and drought had returned as part of the largest exodus, which is witnessed in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, around four million internally displaced persons returned to their original territories. In March, the Paris Club (Collection of European Banks) decided to allocate $ 780 million to the country for reconstruction. The situation in the country was terrible with agricultural production laid in ruins and large tracts of land dotted with mines.
1997 – Intense rains drive thousands of people into exile, most of them seeking refuge in Malawi. Still, the water helped ensure the production of grain – one of the basic foods and exports.
2002 – At the beginning of the year, malaria developed epidemic and was the leading cause of death in the country’s hospitals, which admitted about 800 patients daily. Some of the largest hospitals in Maputo had to place two patients in each bed.
2003 – Brazil agrees to build a factory for the production of AIDS drugs, thereby reducing the enormous devastation caused by the disease among its population.
2003 – At the end of the year, a severe cholera epidemic spreads in the country, especially in the province of Maputo. The most important preventive measures were proper hygiene and caution when consuming drinks and food. You should only drink boiled water or tea, avoid ice cubes and only eat food that has been cooked and freshly prepared. Vegetables and fruits should be avoided unless it was of the kind that can be peeled before consumption.
92% of the country’s residents live in extreme poverty.
2004 – In February, Lutheran missionary Doraci Edinger is assassinated in Nampula in the north of the country. He had already been subjected to extortion after discovering at the end of 2003 an active smuggling ring in human organs in the region. A group of Catholic missionaries had made similar allegations against Mozambique’s Human Rights League. They described how dozens of children had disappeared from the region and were later found without heart, eyes, kidneys or liver. After the accusations were made, these missionaries had also been threatened with death.
2007 – The heavy rains in the first weeks of February lead to extensive flooding across the country. Iflg. estimates from the UN, 40,000 hectares of crops were completely destroyed, while many others were affected. Hundreds died during the natural disaster, and 80,000 had to flee. At the end of the same month, Hurricane Fabio hit Mozambique with a wind speed of up to 200km / h.
It further aggravated the situation and increased the number of refugees to 100,000. The World Food Organization declared the country a disaster area and asked the world community for disaster relief to alleviate the situation, which was already serious in advance.
2010 – In September, there were protests in the provinces of Maputo and Manica against rising food prices. 14 protesters were killed and more than 400 wounded. Police defended themselves by saying they had run out of rubber bullets. 140 were arrested for inciting the protests, but all cases had to be dropped due to lack of evidence. As a result of the killings, the Minister of the Interior was removed from the post in October – and instead made Minister of Agriculture.
2011-12 – Mozambique has for many years been plagued by corruption and bribery. In July 2011, the government passed new laws against bribery, corruption and theft of public funds. It happened after 2 ministers had been convicted of bribery the previous 2 years. In March 2012, Calisto Alberto Tomo, the director of the Office for Drug Enforcement in Southern Mozambique, was found guilty of stealing public funds along with the office’s treasurer.
