The Colonization of Mozambique

Brief Colonization History

In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed upon the Mozambican shores, and was welcomed. We discovered that Mozambique was well developed, with trading systems, an economy, merchants and such. Da Gama decides to come back in 1500, and the Portuguese suddenly control all trading systems. They destroyed basically everything, and killed a lot of people, mainly in the name of Christianity. IN the 1600s, Portuguese settlers began to invade the interior as well as the coast of the country. They were allowed by the government claim land as theirs, and after paying a tax (Prazo) they could legally use the locals for labor. In the 1700s, after Mozambique is officially declared a colony of Portugal, slave trade begins. Slave trade was eventually banned in 1869 but continued on the DL until the 1900s. Portugal ends up renting large portions of land to trading companies, but in 1932, they impose whole rule on Mozambique. From then on until 1974, thousands of settlers arrived in Mozambique, completely invading the country. In 1974, there was a military coup in Portugal which basically set the colonies free, and Mozambique officially gained inpependnce in 1975.

Effects today

During colonization, Mozambique was made an agricultural superpower in Africa. That can still be seen today, as their economy is largely agricultural based. This means that majority of the people work on farms, meaning the education and literacy level is low.

More apparent, the language. Portuguese is the official language of Mozambique.

Mozambican staple foods, such as cassava and cashew nuts were brought in by the Portuguese.

Personally, I believe that Mozambique was completely flipped by colonization. The language they speak, what they eat, the way some of them look is all due to the Portuguese. You don't even have to look hard to find the effects of colonization (which led to the civil war).

Positives of Colonization

In terms of infrastructure, Mozambique was well catered for. For example, after the abolition of slavery, the Beira railroad, which went from Mozambique to Harare was built.

Also, because of the many settlers that came, over 1000 schools were built, and hospitals and all their technology developed.

Lastly, because Mozambique was a agricultural minefield, a lot of agricultural techniques (irrigation and such) were developed and put to use there.

Negatives of Colonization

The people of Mozambique were hugely inconvenienced by colonization. They were the ones that faced all the negatives.

From the 1700s to the 1900s, over 8000 slaves per month were traded from Mozambique. Also, after the land laws were put into place by Portugal, the natives worked, tirelessly for no pay. Even after all that was abolished, the natives still worked for little pay.

The natives were forced to convert to Portuguese Christianity, which kinda threw out their tradtitional beliefs, languages and practices out the window. Intermarriage between the natives and the settlers contributed to that as well.

The Colonization of Mozambique

by Tiffany