Mapai, Mozambique

Mapai
Mapai
	Mapai
	Coordinates: 22°43′50″S32°03′30″E / 22.73056°S 32.05833°E
Country	Mozambique
Provinces	Gaza Province
Elevation	237 m (778 ft)

Last updated April 21, 2019

Mapai is a small town in southern Mozambique. It is a semi-arid region, with a dry climate and vegetation dominated by mopane (Colophospermum mopane) and galleries of ironwood (Androstachys johnsonii).

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 (Swaziland) 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 of Mozambique is Maputo while Matola is the largest city, being a suburb of Maputo.

Transport

Mapai is served by a station of the southern railway line which runs between Maputo and the Zimbabwe border at Chicualacuala. It is also an important road crossing, with the Chicualacuala-Maputo road meeting the road from Pafuri and the road to Banhine National Park.

Maputo, officially named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital and most populous city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is positioned within 120 km of the Eswatini and South Africa borders. The city has a population of 1,101,170 distributed over a land area of 347 km². 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 around commerce. It is also noted for its vibrant cultural scene and distinctive, eclectic architecture.

Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. The capital and largest city is Harare. A country of roughly 16 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most commonly used.

Chicualacuala is a town located in the province of Gaza in Mozambique. The town is better known by this unofficial name than by its official toponym Vila Eduardo Mondlane.

Tourism

Given its location between Limpopo National Park, Gonarezhou National Park and Banhine National Park, Mapai is set to form an important hub for the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

The Limpopo National Park was born when the status of Coutada 16 Wildlife Utilisation Area in Gaza Province, Mozambique, was changed from a hunting concession to a protected area. It forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park with the Kruger National Park in South Africa and the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe.

Gonarezhou National Park is a national park located in south-eastern Zimbabwe. It is situated in a relatively remote corner of Masvingo Province, south of Chimanimani along the Mozambique border. Owing to its vast size, rugged terrain and its location away from main tourist routes, large tracts of Gonarezhou remain as pristine wilderness.

Banhine National Park is a protected area in northern Gaza Province, Mozambique. The park was established on 26 June 1973. In 2013 the limits of Park were updated to better reflect the realities on the ground, particularly the human presence in the area.

History

In colonial times, Mapai was a popular hunting destination with visits from well-known South African personalities including Jan Smuts, Ben Schoeman, Victor Verster and Judge Louis Weiers, as well as, world-renowned ecologist Paul Dutton.^{[ citation needed ]} Mapai was also the seat of the powerful Western Native Labour Association, which supplied South African mines with labour, and N’Gala Limited which was Orlando Pais Mamede's transport company, as well as, the Pecuaria de Mapulanguene trading mainly in Brahman and Hereford cattle, also belonged to Pais Mamede.

Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts was a South African statesman, military leader, and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. Although Smuts had originally advocated racial segregation and opposed the enfranchisement of black Africans, his views changed and he backed the Fagan Commission's findings that complete segregation was impossible. Smuts subsequently lost the 1948 election to hard-line nationalists who institutionalised apartheid. He continued to work for reconciliation and emphasised the British Commonwealth’s positive role until his death in 1950.

Barend Johannes "Ben" Schoeman was a South African politician of the National Party prominent during the apartheid era. He served as the Minister of Labour from 1948 to 1954, and the Minister of Transport from 1954 until 1974.

Paul Dutton is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist, and oral sound artist.

In June 1976 the Selous Scouts, a Rhodesian special operations unit, launched a raid on the ZANLA transit camp in Mapai and Chicualacuala. The area again came under attack on 31 October 1976.^[1] It was again the site of fierce fighting during Operation Uric in September 1979 during the final months of the Rhodesian Bush War.

The Selous Scouts was a special forces regiment of the Rhodesian Army that operated from 1973 until the reconstitution of the country as Zimbabwe in 1980. Named after the British explorer Frederick Courteney Selous (1851–1917), its motto was pamwe chete—a Shona phrase meaning "all together", "together only" or "forward together".

Rhodesia was a country in southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the de facto successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, which had been self-governing since achieving responsible government in 1923. A landlocked nation, Rhodesia was bordered by South Africa to the south, Bechuanaland to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east.

Mapai was a centre-left political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the modern-day Israeli Labor Party in 1968. During Mapai's time in office, a wide range of progressive reforms were carried out, as characterised by the establishment of a welfare state, providing minimum income, security, and free access to housing subsidies and health and social services.

Mapai was founded by Orlando Pais Mamede as a ranch headquarters. This area had its own school, sports centre, generators and a basic telephone system. After independence the family was forced to leave and today there is nothing but ruins and the corroding shells of the family vehicles.^[2]

Related Research Articles

Gaza is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 75,709 km² and a population of 1,446,654.

Protected areas in Mozambique are known as conservation areas, and are currently grouped into national parks, national reserves, forest reserves, wildlife utilisation areas (coutadas), community wildlife utilisation areas and private game farms. There are also a number of areas that have been declared as protected areas under a variety of different legislation, which for reasons of simplicity are here grouped together as "other protected areas." Under the Conservation Law of 2014, the protected areas will need to be reclassified into a much more flexible series of new categories which are closer to the international system used by the IUCN. International initiatives such as transfrontier parks are grouped at the end of the page.

Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is a 35,000 km² peace park that is in the process of being formed. It will link the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe, as well as the area between Kruger and Gonarezhou, the Sengwe communal land in Zimbabwe and the Makuleke region in South Africa.

Chókwè District District in Gaza, Mozambique

Chókwè District is a district of Gaza Province in south-western Mozambique. Its principal town is Chokwe. The district is located in the south of the province, and borders with Mabalane District in the north, Guijá District in the east, Chibuto, Xai-Xai, and Bilene Macia Districts in the southeast, Magude District of Maputo Province in the south, and with Massingir District in the west. The area of the district is 2,466 square kilometres (952 sq mi). It has a population of 187,422 (2007).

Chicualacuala District is a district of Gaza Province in south-western Mozambique. It has a population of 41,638 (2011) and covers 18,155 square kilometres (7,010 sq mi). The population density of Chicualacuala District 2.1 residents per square kilometers, significantly lower than the average of 17.5 in Gaza Province.

Chigubo District is a district of Gaza Province in south-western Mozambique. The administrative center of the district is Dindiza. The district is located in the east of the province, and borders with Massangena District in the north, Mabote and Funhalouro Districts of Inhambane Province in the east, Chibuto District in the south, Guijá District in the southwest, Mabalane District in the west, and with Chicualacuala District in the northwest. The area of the district is 14,864 square kilometres (5,739 sq mi). It has a population of 20,685 (2007).

Mabalane District is a district of Gaza Province in south-western Mozambique. The administrative center of the district is Mabalane. The district is located at the center of the province, and borders with Chicualacuala District in the north, Chigubo District in the east, Guijá District in the southeast, Chókwè District in the south, and with Massingir District in the west. The area of the district is 9,107 square kilometres (3,516 sq mi). It has a population of 32,040 (2007).

Massingir District is a district of Gaza Province in southwestern Mozambique. The administrative center of the district is in Massingir. The district is located in the west of the province, and borders with Chicualacuala District in the north, Mabalane District in the east, Chókwè District in the southeast, Magude District of Maputo Province in the south, and with South Africa in the west. The area of the district is 5,893 square kilometres (2,275 sq mi). It has a population of 28,470 (2007).

Mwenezi River is a major tributary of the Limpopo River. The Mwenezi River starts up in south central Zimbabwe and flows south-east along what is known as the Mwenezi River Valley that bisects the district into two sectors. The river is found in both Zimbabwe and Mozambique. In Zimbabwe it has been known as the Nuanetsi or Nuanetzi River in the past, a name it retains in Mozambique.

The tourism assets of Mozambique include the country's natural environment, wildlife, and cultural heritage, which provide opportunities for beach, cultural, and eco-tourism.

The Changane River is a river in Mozambique, a tributary to the Limpopo River which it joins near the coast, just past the town of Chibuto. It forms part of the eastern boundary of Gaza Province. The Changane is the easternmost tributary of the Limpopo, entering it from the left near its mouth on the Indian Ocean

The Zinave National Park is a protected area in Mabote District of Inhambane Province, Mozambique, created by decree on 26 June 1973.

Operation Uric was a cross-border raid carried out in Mozambique by operatives of the Rhodesian Security Forces during the Rhodesian Bush War, with combat assistance from the South African Air Force. During the operation, which took place from 1 to 7 September 1979, up to 400 Rhodesian and South African military personnel attacked bridges and a major staging point for Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) insurgents in Gaza Province. The battle eventually drew in elements of the Mozambican army and police, who sustained heavy casualties. Along with Operation Miracle, this was one of the largest Rhodesian external operations of the war.

The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry, served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, under the unrecognised government of Rhodesia after its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965. Latterly, during the second half of 1979, it fought for Zimbabwe Rhodesia, a reorganised version of Rhodesia under a black majority government which still went unrecognised. After an interim period under British control from December 1979 to April 1980, the RLI briefly remained active within the armed forces of the internationally recognised Republic of Zimbabwe, but did not see action under this government. It laid up its colours on 17 October 1980 and disbanded two weeks later.

The Zambezian and mopane woodlands is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion of southeastern Africa.

Operation Aztec was a military operation launched by the Republic of Rhodesia against the communist backed insurgent group ZANLA, in Mozambique from the 28th of May to the 2nd of June 1977. The successful operation resulted in the destruction of Mozambique's railway in Gaza Province, limiting the movement of enemy soldiers, and equipment from Mozambique to the Rhodesian border.

References

↑ Cilliers, J.K., (1984), Counter-insurgency in Rhodesia, p.177, Routledge, Retrieved on June 14, 2008
↑ "Returning to the crash site of Puma 164". By Neill Jackson.

Coordinates: 22°43′50″S32°03′30″E / 22.73056°S 32.05833°E / -22.73056; 32.05833

This Mozambique location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Cilliers, J.K., (1984), Counter-insurgency in Rhodesia, p.177, Routledge, Retrieved on June 14, 2008

[2] "Returning to the crash site of Puma 164". By Neill Jackson.