Mozambique History: Colonisation & War

Vasco Da Gama returned to Mozambique in 1500, intending to subjugate its coastal areas and establish Portuguese dominance there. This he did very effectively by a religious crusade in the 1500s, destroying most of the Islamic-African coastal civilizations.

During the 1600s the Portuguese extended their control to cover all of Mozambique, and in 1752 the country was finally declared a Portuguese colony. The slave trade began, of which Mozambique would become a major centre.

By the late 1800s Portugal was unable to control all but the southern part of Mozambique. The colonists were forced to lease the administration of northern Mozambique to a private company - Companhia de Mocambique. This company was controlled mostly by British interests, and its policies were designed to profit only British colonies and the Portuguese homeland, to the great expense of the Mozambican people.

The lease arrangement ended abruptly 1932 when Portugal came under the control of the fascist dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who wished to gather all of the potential profits from Mozambique. After the Second World War he declared the country an 'overseas province' of Portugal, and emigration to Mozambique soared.

Several nationalist groups began to form in Mozambique during the same period. Notable amongst these was the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), which began a guerrilla civil war against the Portuguese in 1962. The protracted conflict gradually liberated portions of the country.

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