History

Mozambique's first inhabitants were hunters and gatherers, ancestors of the Khoisani peoples. Between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, waves of Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from the west and 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 commercial and slave 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 and officials 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 colonisation of Brazil.

By the early 20th century, the Portuguese had shifted the administration of much of Mozambique to large private companies, such as the Mozambique Company, the Zambezi Company and the Niassa Company, controlled and financed mostly by the British, which established railroad lines to neighbouring countries and supplied cheap (often forced) African labour to the mines and plantations of the nearby British colonies and South Africa. Because policies were designed to benefit Portuguese immigrants and the Portuguese homeland, little attention was paid to Mozambique's national integration, its economic infrastructure, or the skills of its population.

Post-War Period

After World War II, while many European nations were granting independence to their colonies, Portugal maintained that Mozambique and other Portuguese possessions were overseas provinces of the mother country, and emigration to the colonies soared. Calls 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. However, as Portugal had occupied the country for more than 400 years, not all Mozambicans desired independence, and fewer still sought change through armed revolution.

Despite arms shipments by China and the Soviet Union, FRELIMO and other loosely linked armed guerilla forces proved no match for Portuguese counterinsurgency forces. After ten years of sporadic warfare, FRELIMO had not made appreciable progress towards capturing either significant amounts of territory or population centres. After a socialist-inspired military coup which overthrew the quasi-fascist Portuguese government of Antonio Salazar in 1974, Portugal determined to grant independence to its remaining colonies. Mozambique became independent on June 25, 1975.

The last thirty years of Mozambique's history have reflected political developments elsewhere in the 20th century. Following the coup in Lisbon, Portuguese withdrew from Mozambique. 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, FRELIMO 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.

Conflict and Civil War

Civil war, sabotage from neighbouring states, and economic collapse characterised the first decade of Mozambican independence. The new government, under President Samora Machel, gave shelter and support to South African (ANC) and Zimbabwean (ZANU) communist 'liberation' movements, whilst the governments of first Rhodesia and later South Africa (at that time still operating the apartheid laws) fostered and financed an anti-Communist armed rebel movement in central Mozambique called the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO).

In 1982, RENAMO launched a series of attacks on transport routes, schools and health clinics, and the country descended into civil war. 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 neighbouring states and several million more were internally displaced.

In 1984, Mozambique negotiated the Nkomati Accord with P. W. Botha and the South African government, in which Mozambique was to expel the African National Congress in exchange for South Africa stopping support of RENAMO. Mozambique complied, but South Africa reneged, and continued to supply the rebels, and the war continued. In 1986, Mozambican President Samora Machel died in an air crash in South African territory. Although unproven, many suspect the South African government of responsibility for his death.

Machel was replaced by Joaquim Chissano as president, who 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, brokered by the Community of Sant'Egidio. 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 neighbouring 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 four million internally displaced persons returned to their areas of origin.

Democracy

Mozambique held elections in 1994, which were accepted by most parties as free and fair while still contested by many nationals and observers alike. FRELIMO won, under Joaquim Chissano, while RENAMO, led by Afonso Dhlakama, ran as the official opposition. Chissano also won the election that took place in 1999, but stepped down before the third elections took place in 2004. FRELIMO candidate Armando Guebuza won with 64% of the popular vote and was inaugurated as the President of Mozambique on February 2, 2005.

In 1995, Mozambique joined the Commonwealth of Nations, becoming the only member nation that was never part of the British Empire.

The country is now still largely derelict, having not yet fully recovered from Portuguese colonialism, the disinvestment following independence, and the subsequent Communist regime and ensuing civil war. Much of the economical recovery is being led by investors and tourists mainly from South Africa, and to a smaller extent East Asia, as well as a limited number of returning Portuguese nationals.