Maganja da Costa District is a district of Zambezia Province in Mozambique.
Maganja da Costa District is a district of Zambezia Province in Mozambique.
The name probably derives from that of the Mang'anja people, now mainly resident in southern Malawi. However, from the 17th century onwards, Portuguese explorers used the name Manganja as a territorial designation, and called the people living in that area Maganjas. The original area occupied by the Mang'anja, and the area called Manganja, extended south and east of the area this people currently occupy, and the name of the town Maganja da Costa ("Maganja of the Coast"), about 20 kilometres inland from the Indian Ocean near Pebane records their former eastern extent. At present, the population of the area is mixed, and the largest group consists of Makua people from northern Mozambique who first arrived in the 19th century. The area does not now contain any Mang'anja people, but in 1960 the oldest inhabitants recalled that a few survivors of the original population still spoke the Mang'anja language and used to visit rain shrine of M'Bona in southern Nyasaland, a cult exclusive to Mang'anja people. [1]
During the 19th century, for major Afro-Portuguese or Afro-Asian families established in Mozambique were involved in the Zambezi wars. The Caetano Pereira to the north of the Zambezi river, the Vaz dos Anjos of Indian origin near Quelimane, the Da Cruz, also near Quelimane, whose founder was from Thailand and Alves da Silva da Silva. [2] The Maganja da Costa district became the stronghold of the Alves da Silva family. Its founder, António Alves da Silva, came from the province of Beira in Portugal in the early 19th century and established a trade in ivory and slaves, engaging a number of African soldiers or "sipais" from the Sena district. His two sons, João Bonifacio and Victorino Romão, became prominent slave traders operating in the Luangwa and Lower Shire valleys. As they were unable to use the port of Quelimane after the banning of the legal slave trade in 1830, they built a number of fortified villages called “aringas”, consisting of a wooden stockade and earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank in the district. [3] The aringas were manned by about a dozen chikunda bands or "ensacas" of armed retainers, initially each of around 250 men, under its own captain. The largest da Silva aringa in the Maganja da Costa district was known as M'Passue after the African title used by the head of the family, and it was said to be the largest aringa ever built in Mozambique. Much of the slave trade on the central Mozambique coast was in the hands of the Angoche sultanate, which came into conflict with the Alves da Silva as its slave raiding moved further inland. [4] João Bonifacio was killed in 1861 when unsuccessfully attacking an Agoche barracoon, and Victorino Romão died childless in 1874, ending the direct line of succession from António Alves da Silva [5]
After the death of Victorino Romão, Maganja da Costa evolved into a form of chikuna republic. Most of the major decisions, particularly those related to warfare, were taken by assemblies of the chikunda, although each band elected a captain, or "Kazembe" of their aringa from the leaders of the squads making up the band, and each of the 12 Kazembes formed a council for the military leader, or captain-general that they elected from among themselves. The Portuguese military commander, João de Azevedo Coutinho, called this arrangement the "Military Republic of Maganja da Costa". The ensacas, originally of about 250 men, grew to between 1,000 and 1,200 men each. They were recruited from enslaved captives, but after some years of satisfactory service, they gained a degree of freedom and were granted privileges, including a share of the tribute extracted from the local population. [6]
By the 1890s, the "Military Republic" was in decline as the illicit slave trade had largely been suppressed. The Mozambique Company, founded in 1891, began to encroach on the area over which the Maganja da Costa chikunda believed that they had a monopoly of ivory trading and, in 1892, attacked and destroyed several of the company's trading posts. [7] However, at other times they cooperated with the Portuguese and, in 1897, de Azevedo Coutinho was able to recruit an armed force from the Maganja da Costa chikunda to overcome resistance to Portuguese colonial rule in the Zambezi valley. Once resistance in other areas had been suppressed, Maganja da Costa was itself occupied in 1898, by Portuguese forces, in alliance with several local chiefs opposed to the chikunda. Although the Maganja da Costa chikunda resisted, their armaments were out of date and they suffered 600 dead and many captured when their independence was ended. [8] [9]
Portuguese Mozambique or Portuguese East Africa were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a string of Portuguese possessions along the south-east African coast, and later became a unified province, which now forms the Republic of Mozambique.
Chinde is a town of Mozambique, and a port for the Zambezi valley. It is located on the Chinde River, and is an important fishing center. It exports copra and sugar, and had a population of 16,500 in 1980. Chinde lies in Chinde District of Zambezia Province.
Zambezia is the second most-populous province of Mozambique, located in the central coastal region south-west of Nampula Province and north-east of Sofala Province. It has a population of 5.11 million, according to the 2017 census. The provincial capital is Quelimane.
The British Central Africa Protectorate (BCA) was a British protectorate proclaimed in 1889 and ratified in 1891 that occupied the same area as present-day Malawi: it was renamed Nyasaland in 1907. British interest in the area arose from visits made by David Livingstone from 1858 onward during his exploration of the Zambezi area. This encouraged missionary activity that started in the 1860s, undertaken by the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland, and which was followed by a small number of settlers. The Portuguese government attempted to claim much of the area in which the missionaries and settlers operated, but this was disputed by the British government. To forestall a Portuguese expedition claiming effective occupation, a protectorate was proclaimed, first over the south of this area, then over the whole of it in 1889. After negotiations with the Portuguese and German governments on its boundaries, the protectorate was formally ratified by the British government in May 1891.
Aljustrel is a town and a municipality in the Portuguese district of Beja. The population in 2011 was 9,257, in an area of 458.47 km2. The present mayor is Nelson Domingos Brito, elected by the Socialist Party. The municipal holiday is June 13.
Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, Viscount of Serpa Pinto was a Portuguese explorer of southern Africa and a colonial administrator.
The Island of Mozambique lies off northern Mozambique, between the Mozambique Channel and Mossuril Bay, and is part of Nampula Province. Prior to 1898, it was the capital of colonial Portuguese East Africa. With its rich history and sandy beaches, the Island of Mozambique is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Mozambique's fastest-growing tourist destinations. It has a permanent population of approximately 14,000 people and is served by nearby Lumbo Airport on the Nampula mainland. The name of the country, Mozambique, is derived from the name of this island.
Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Mwenemutapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. The first recorded use of this port town was by Mogadishan merchants. One possible etymology for Sofala is "go and cultivate" in the Somali language, showing the city as a hub for gold.
The Angoche Sultanate was an important sultanate centered on the islands of Angoche, present-day Northern Mozambique coastline. Established in the late 15th century by dissidents from the Kilwa Sultanate, the sultanate arose during the decline of the Kilwa and Sofala, serving as an alternative entrepôt outside of Portuguese control to the inland trade fairs in the Zambezi and Mashonaland. The trade was mainly in ivory, ambergris, gold, and slaves, though the local craftsmen were known throughout the east for the straw mats and straw hats which they made.
The 1890 British Ultimatum was an ultimatum by the British government delivered on 11 January 1890 to the Kingdom of Portugal. Portugal had attempted to claim a large area of land between its colonies of Mozambique and Angola including most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia and a large part of Malawi, which had been included in Portugal's "Rose-coloured Map". The ultimatum led to the withdrawal of Portuguese forces from areas which had been claimed by Portugal on the basis of Portuguese exploration in the area, but which Britain claimed on the basis of uti possidetis.
The Pink Map, also known as the Rose-Coloured Map, was a map prepared in 1885 to represent the Kingdom of Portugal's claim of sovereignty over a land corridor connecting the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique during the Scramble for Africa. The area claimed included most of modern-day Zimbabwe and large parts of modern-day Zambia and Malawi.
The Sena people are a Bantu ethnolinguistic group with origins in northwestern region of Mozambique, Sofala Province and Zambezia Province. They are also found in Malawi and Zimbabwe near their respective borders with Mozambique.
The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891 was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Portugal which fixed the boundaries between the British Central Africa Protectorate, and the territories administered by the British South Africa Company in Mashonaland and Matabeleland and North-Western Rhodesia and Portuguese Mozambique, and also between the British South Africa Company administered territories of North-Eastern Rhodesia, and Portuguese Angola.
John Buchanan (1855–1896), was a Scottish horticulturist who went to Central Africa, now Malawi, in 1876 as a lay member of the missionary party that established Blantyre Mission. Buchanan came to Central Africa as an ambitious artisan: his character was described as dour and devout but also as restlessly ambitious, and he saw in Central Africa a gateway to personal achievement. He started a mission farm on the site of Zomba, Malawi but was dismissed from the mission in 1881 for brutality. From being a disgraced missionary, Buchanan first became a very influential planter owning, with his brothers, extensive estates in Zomba District. He then achieved the highest position he could in the British administration as Acting British Consul to Central Africa from 1887 to 1891. In that capacity declared a protectorate over the Shire Highlands in 1889 to pre-empt a Portuguese expedition that intended to claim sovereignty over that region. In 1891, the Shire Highlands became part of the British Central Africa Protectorate. John Buchanan died at Chinde in Mozambique in March 1896 on his way to visit Scotland, and his estates were later acquired by the Blantyre and East Africa Ltd.
Fernando de Quintanilha e Mendonça Dias GCC, TO, ComA, GOA, GCA, MPBS, MOBS, GOI, GOIH, ECMM was an officer of the Portuguese Navy, and a political and colonial administrator during the Estado Novo and Minister of the Navy from 1958 to 1968. In this role he was instrumental in the creation of the Hydrographic Institute.
The M'Bona Cult is a system of religious beliefs and rituals which is currently restricted to the most southerly parts of Malawi, but which probably extended more widely, both in other parts of Malawi and adjacent parts of Mozambique. The cult is found mainly among the local Mang'anja people and its former extent reflected that people's wider past distribution. It aims to secure abundant rains at the appropriate season through the making of propitiatory gifts at cult shrines, and includes rainmaking rituals in the event of drought. It has been related to a number of other territorial cults among the Maravi cluster of related African peoples which aim to secure the well-being of the people of a particular area secure from drought, floods or food shortages. The cult is believed to be a long established one, although estimates of how long it has existed are speculative, as the earliest definite record of its existence dates from 1862.
Chikunda, sometimes rendered as Achicunda, was the name given from the 18th century onwards to the slave-warriors of the Afro-Portuguese estates known as Prazos in Zambezia, Mozambique. They were used to defend the prazos and police their inhabitants. Many of the chikunda were originally chattel slaves, raised to the status of soldiers, traders or administrators of parts of the prazo as a client or unfree dependent.
The Makololo chiefs recognised by the governments of colonial Nyasaland and independent Malawi have their origin in a group of porters that David Livingstone brought from Barotseland in the 1850s to support his first Zambezi expedition that did not return to Barotseland but assisted Livingstone and British missionaries in the area of southern Malawi between 1859 and 1864. After the withdrawal of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa those Makololo remaining in the Shire valley used firearms provided by the Europeans to attract dependants seeking protection, to seize land and to establish a number of chieftainships. At the time that a British protectorate was established in 1891, there were seven Makololo chiefs of which six were recognised by the government. Five survived to be given local governmental powers in 1933, and these powers continued after Malawi became independent. Although called Makololo or Kololo, after the ruling group in Barotseland in the 1850s, the majority came from peoples subject to the Makololo who adopted the more prestigious name. As, regardless of their origin, they took wives from among the inhabitants of the Shire Valley, their modern descendants have little connection with the Kololo people apart from their name.
The Zambezia Company was the third leasing company of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, established on 25 May 1892. Its concession regions covered the areas of Chire, bordering Nyasaland, Zumbo, and Luenha.
The Portugal–Angoche conflict refers to a series of wars between the Angoche Sultanate and the Portuguese Empire between 1847 and 1910.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
