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Battle of Marracuene | |||||||
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Part of Campaigns of Pacification and Occupation | |||||||
Painting of the Battle | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Kingdom of Portugal | Ronga forces | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
António Enes | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
2,000 soldiers | 2,000 soldiers |
The Battle of Marracuene (Portuguese : Combate de Marracuene), also known as the Battle of Gwaza Muthini, [1] was a military confrontation that was fought on February 2, 1895, near Marracuene, Portuguese Mozambique, between Ronga rebels and Portuguese forces. There were over 2,000 Ronga troops in the conflict. [2] : 596 António Enes, the Portuguese Royal Commissioner, assembled over 2,000 European soldiers. [3] : 596 The Portuguese, armed with machine guns and repeating rifles, won the confrontation. [3] : 596 The date of the battle is celebrated in Mozambique. [1] [4] : 276
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Africa to the southwest. The sovereign state is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east. The capital and largest city is Maputo.
While alliances dating back to the Mozambican War of Independence remain relevant, Mozambique's foreign policy has become increasingly pragmatic. The twin pillars of the policy are maintenance of good relations with its neighbors and maintenance and expansion of ties to development partners.
Maputo is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within 120 kilometres of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 distributed over a land area of 347.69 km2 (134.24 sq mi). The Maputo metropolitan area includes the neighbouring city of Matola, and has a total population of 2,717,437. Maputo is a port city, with an economy centered on commerce. It is noted for its vibrant cultural scene and distinctive, eclectic architecture. Maputo was formerly named Lourenço Marques.
Tsonga or, natively, Xitsonga, as an endonym, is a Bantu language spoken by the Tsonga people of South Africa. It is mutually intelligible with Tswa and Ronga and the name "Tsonga" is often used as a cover term for all three, also sometimes referred to as Tswa-Ronga. The Xitsonga language has been standardised for both academic and home use. Tsonga is an official language of the Republic of South Africa, and under the name "Shangani" it is recognised as an official language in the Constitution of Zimbabwe. All Tswa-Ronga languages are recognised in Mozambique. It is not official in Eswatini.
The Kingdom of Portugal had been allied with England since 1373, and thus the Republic of Portugal was an ally of the United Kingdom. However, Portugal remained neutral from the start of World War I in 1914 until early 1916. However, in that year and a half there were many hostile engagements between Germany and Portugal. Portugal wanted to meet British requests for aid and protect its colonies in Africa, causing clashes with German troops in the south of Portuguese Angola, which bordered German South West Africa, in 1914 and 1915.
José Craveirinha was a Mozambican journalist, story writer and poet, who is today considered the greatest poet of Mozambique. His poems, written in Portuguese, address such issues as racism and the Portuguese colonial domination of Mozambique. A supporter of the anti-Portuguese group FRELIMO during the colonial wars, he was imprisoned in the 1960s. He was one of the African pioneers of the Négritude movement, and published six books of poetry between 1964 and 1997. Craveirinha also wrote under the pseudonyms Mário Vieira, José Cravo, Jesuíno Cravo, J. Cravo, J.C., Abílio Cossa, and José G. Vetrinha.
Matola is the largest suburb of the Mozambique capital, Maputo, adjacent to its westernmost side. It is the nation's most populated city. Matola is the capital of Maputo Province and has had its own elected municipal government since 1998. It has a port and also the biggest industrial area in Mozambique. The population of Matola was, according to the 2007 census, 671,556 inhabitants, having increased to a 2017 census population of 1,032,197.
The Geba is a river of West Africa that rises in the northernmost area of Guinea in the Fouta Djallon highlands, passes through southern Senegal, and reaches the Atlantic Ocean in Guinea-Bissau. It is about 550 kilometres (340 mi) in total length.
Piri piri, often hyphenated or as one word, and with variant spellings peri-peri or pili pili, is a cultivar of Capsicum frutescens from the malagueta pepper. It was originally produced by Portuguese explorers in Portugal's former Southern African territories and then spread to other Portuguese domains.
Marracuene, earlier known as Vila Luísa, is a town in Mozambique's Maputo Province in Marracuene District, located 30 km north of Maputo on the Incomati River. The Parque de Campismo de Marracuene, a popular camping destination, is located nearby.
Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Cabral Couceiro was a Portuguese soldier, colonial governor, monarchist politician and counter-revolutionary; he was notable for his role during the colonial occupation of Angola and Mozambique and for his dedication to the Monarchist Cause during the period of the First Portuguese Republic through the founding of the Monarchy of the North.
Mozambique is a multilingual country. A number of Bantu languages are indigenous to Mozambique. Portuguese, inherited from the colonial period, is the official language, and Mozambique is a full member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. Ethnologue lists 43 languages spoken in the country.
Mario Joaquim Azevedo is a Mozambican novelist, historian, professor, and epidemiologist.
Ronga is a Bantu language of the Tswa–Ronga branch spoken just south of Maputo in Mozambique. It extends a little into South Africa. It has about 650,000 speakers in Mozambique and a further 90,000 in South Africa, with dialects including Konde, Putru and Kalanga.
Marracuene District is a district of Maputo Province in southern Mozambique. The principal town is Marracuene. The district is located in the center of the province, and borders with Manhiça District in the north, the city of Maputo in the south, and with the city of Matola and with Moamba District in the west. In the east, the district is limited by the Indian Ocean. The area of the district is 703 square kilometres (271 sq mi). It has a population of 136,784 as of 2007.
Moamba District is a district of Maputo Province in southern Mozambique. Its main town is Moamba. The district is located in the western part of the province, and borders with Magude District in the north, Manhiça and Marracuene Districts in the east, the city of Matola in the southeast, Boane District and Namaacha District in the south, and with Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, in the west. The area of the district is 4,628 square kilometres (1,787 sq mi). It has a population of 56,335 as of 2007.
The Battle of Mufilo took place on 27 August 1907, in the southwest of Portuguese Angola, during the Ovambo resistance to Portuguese colonization.
The German campaign in Angola took place before the official declaration of war between Germany and Portugal in March 1916. German and Portuguese troops clashed several times on the border between German South West Africa and Portuguese Angola. The Germans won most of these clashes and were able to occupy the Humbe region of southern Angola until Portuguese control was restored a few days before the South African-led South West Africa campaign liquidated German rule in the region.
João dos Santos Albasini, also named in Ronga as Nwandzengele, was an influential Mozambican journalist, writer, and political activist who advocated for the rights of indigenous Africans under Portuguese colonial rule in Lourenço Marques. He was one of the founding members of the political group O Grêmio Africano and editor, director and frequent contributor to the organization's political newspapers O Africano and O Brado Africano.
The Ovambo Uprising was an uprising against Portuguese colonial rule in World War I. It lasted from about 18 December 1914 to 6 February 1917 with the death of its leader, King Mandume yaNdemufayo, by South African forces in Namibia. The war pitted Portuguese troops, commanded by General António Júlio da Costa Pereira de Eça, against an Ovambo army, composed mainly of fighters from the Oukwanyama clan.