Mozambique
Mozambique's major ethnic groups encompass numerous subgroups with
diverse languages, dialects, cultures, and histories. Many are
linked to similar ethnic groups living in neighboring countries. The
north-central provinces of Zambezia and Nampula are the most
populous, with about 45% of the population. The estimated 4 million
Makua are the dominant group in the northern part of the
country--the Sena and Ndau are prominent in the Zambezi valley, and
the Tsonga and Shangaan dominate in southern Mozambique.
Despite the influence of Islamic coastal traders and European
colonizers, the people of Mozambique have largely retained an
indigenous culture based on small-scale agriculture. Mozambique's
most highly developed art forms are wood sculpture, for which the
Makonde in northern Mozambique are particularly renowned, and dance.
The middle and upper classes continue to be heavily influenced by
the Portuguese colonial and linguistic heritage.
During the colonial era, Christian missionaries were active in
Mozambique, and many foreign clergy remain in the country. According
to the national census, about 40% of the population is Christian, at
least 20% is Muslim, and the remainder adheres to traditional
beliefs.
Under the colonial regime, educational opportunities for black
Mozambicans were limited, and 93% of that population was illiterate.
In fact, most of today's political leaders were educated in
missionary schools. After independence, the government placed a high
priority on expanding education, which reduced the illiteracy rate
to about two-thirds as primary school enrollment increased.
Unfortunately, in recent years school construction and teacher
training enrollments have not kept up with population increases.
With post-war enrollments reaching all-time highs, the quality of
education has suffered. |
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Mozambique's first inhabitants were San hunter and gatherers,
ancestors of the Khoisani peoples. Between the first and fourth
centuries AD, waves of Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from the
north through the Zambezi River valley and then gradually into the
plateau and coastal areas. The Bantu were farmers and ironworkers.
When Portuguese explorers reached Mozambique in 1498, Arab trading
settlements had existed along the coast and outlying islands for
several centuries. From about 1500, Portuguese trading posts and
forts became regular ports of call on the new route to the east.
Later, traders and prospectors penetrated the interior regions
seeking gold and slaves. Although Portuguese influence gradually
expanded, its power was limited and exercised through individual
settlers who were granted extensive autonomy. As a result,
investment lagged while Lisbon devoted itself to the more lucrative
trade with India and the Far East and to the colonization of Brazil.
By the early 20th century the Portuguese had shifted the
administration of much of the country to large private companies,
controlled and financed mostly by the British, which established
railroad lines to neighboring countries and supplied cheap--often
forced--African labor to the mines and plantations of the nearby
British colonies and South Africa. Because policies were designed to
benefit white settlers and the Portuguese homeland, little attention
was paid to Mozambique's national integration, its economic
infrastructure, or the skills of its population.
After World War II, while many European nations were granting
independence to their colonies, Portugal clung to the concept that
Mozambique and other Portuguese possessions were overseas provinces
of the mother country, and emigration to the colonies soared.
Mozambique's Portuguese population at the time of independence was
about 250,000. The drive for Mozambican independence developed
apace, and in 1962 several anti-colonial political groups formed the
Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), which initiated an
armed campaign against Portuguese colonial rule in September 1964.
After 10 years of sporadic warfare and major political changes in
Portugal, Mozambique became independent on June 25, 1975.
The last 30 years of Mozambique's history have reflected political
developments elsewhere in the 20th century. Following the April 1974
coup in Lisbon, Portuguese colonialism collapsed. In Mozambique, the
military decision to withdraw occurred within the context of a
decade of armed anti-colonial struggle, initially led by
American-educated Eduardo Mondlane, who was assassinated in 1969.
When independence was achieved in 1975, the leaders of FRELIMO's
military campaign rapidly established a one-party state allied to
the Soviet bloc and outlawed rival political activity. FRELIMO
eliminated political pluralism, religious educational institutions,
and the role of traditional authorities.
The new government gave shelter and support to South African (ANC)
and Zimbabwean (ZANU) liberation movements while the governments of
first Rhodesia and later apartheid South Africa fostered and
financed an armed rebel movement in central Mozambique called the
Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO). Civil war, sabotage from
neighboring states, and economic collapse characterized the first
decade of Mozambican independence. Also marking this period were the
mass exodus of Portuguese nationals, weak infrastructure,
nationalization, and economic mismanagement. During most of the
civil war, the government was unable to exercise effective control
outside of urban areas, many of which were cut off from the capital.
An estimated 1 million Mozambicans perished during the civil war,
1.7 million took refuge in neighboring states, and several million
more were internally displaced. In the third FRELIMO party congress
in 1983, President Samora Machel conceded the failure of socialism
and the need for major political and economic reforms. He died,
along with several advisers, in a suspicious 1986 plane crash.
His successor, Joaquim Chissano, continued the reforms and began
peace talks with RENAMO. The new constitution enacted in 1990
provided for a multi-party political system, market-based economy,
and free elections. The civil war ended in October 1992 with the
Rome General Peace Accords. Under supervision of the ONUMOZ
peacekeeping force of the United Nations, peace returned to
Mozambique.
By mid-1995 the 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 war and drought had
returned, as part of the largest repatriation witnessed in
Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, a further estimated 4 million
internally displaced people returned to their areas of origin. |
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