Yearbook 2008
Mozambique. Like many poor developing countries, Mozambique was severely affected by sharply increased world market prices for food and fuel. In February, price increases led to, among other things, diesel for extensive protests. At least four people were killed and about a hundred were seriously injured in clashes between protesters and police. The protests forced the government to withdraw most price increases, which in some cases had reached 50 percent.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Click to see the meanings of 2-letter acronym and abbreviation of MZ in general and in geography as Mozambique in particular.
Liberation Fight
Towards the end of the 1950s, the demand for independence in Mozambique grew as in the other colonial areas, and more exile movements were formed in neighboring countries. The process was made more difficult by the fact that Portugal deliberately worked on playing the different tribes against each other. In 1960, a spontaneous and peaceful demonstration of independence in Mueda was attacked by the military and 500 killed. The following year, Eduardo Mondlane visited his homeland. He was employed by the UN at that time. He convinced the various independence groups of the need to join together. It happened with the formation of FRELIMO on July 25, 1963 in Tanzania. It had activists and member organizations from all regions and ethnic groups in the country.
At the same time, however, it became clear that Portugal itself was too weak to choose a form of «neo-colonialist decolonization» – such as the France or England. FRELIMO therefore began to prepare for armed struggle, and after 2 years of secret organizational and political preparation, it began on December 25, 64. Towards the end of 65, there were regions in Mozambique where FRELIMO was the sole authority. Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, large areas in the north were liberated, and emphasis was placed on building an alternative society where local government, better health and schooling, agricultural production for self-sufficiency etc. were the focal points. Political mobilization and material progress in the liberated areas were inextricably linked to the armed struggle for liberation.
In 69, the movement controlled one-fifth of the country. In February of that year, however, Mondlane was assassinated by agents in the colonial service. It triggered a power struggle in the movement, on the one hand, those who simply regarded independence as a matter of “Africanizing” foreign domination, and on the other, those advocating the building of a new popular and democratic society. The power struggle was decided when FRELIMO held its 2nd congress. It took place in the liberated zones and elected Samora Moisés Machel as the new chairman of the movement.
In the early 1970s, FRELIMO halted a Portuguese military offensive – Operation “The Gordian Knot” – and then opened new fronts and liberated areas in the central parts of the country. Despite increased NATO support, the Portuguese military force was increasingly challenged. It turned out that the attempts to imprison 1 million Africans in “sheltered villages” according to North American pattern from Vietnam merely strengthened the dissatisfaction in the country.
Population 2008
According to Countryaah reports, the population of Mozambique in 2008 was 23,531,463, ranking number 49 in the world. The population growth rate was 2.800% yearly, and the population density was 29.9239 people per km2.
MOZAMBIQUE. – City of Portuguese East Africa, capital of the district of the same name. He gave his name to the whole possession (for which see Portuguese East Africa) and represented for a long time one of the major bulwarks of Portuguese domination in East Africa; it was the seat of the government of the colony for over three centuries. It stands on the islet of the same name, which blocks the vast bay of Mossuril towards the ocean. On the island the Portuguese built a fortress completed in 1508, currently used as a penitentiary. The population rises to 6900 residents (1930). The climate is tropical, somewhat unhealthy; NE winds blow from November to March. and from May to October those of SO. The port, accessible at all times, and in any weather, even to large tonnage ships, is vast and safe; Most of the products of the interior, corn, sesame, peanuts, cassava, fruit, etc. flow into it.
The centers of Mossuril, Lumbo and Cabaceira arise in the vast bay of Mossuril. Mossuril was the base for the military occupation of the territory, completed in 1913. From Lumbo, about 10 km. from the island of Mozambique, starts the railway which will have to be joined in the future to the English Nyassaland railway, and which now arrives near Mconta (90 km long); once the works are completed, this will be the shortest route between the sea and Lake Niassa. The railway will owe its importance to the territory it will cross, including healthy regions of great agricultural interest, in areas 600-700 meters high and over 2500 meters above sea level in the mountains of Namuli. The indigenous people, who populate the district of Mozambique in number of more than 800,000, are dedicated to agriculture and do not limit themselves to producing what may be necessary for their needs, but they sell numerous products of the soil to European and Indian traders. There also appear to be important mineral and forest resources. On the coast, the cultivation of coconut and sisal is spreading. The fish drying industry is very popular.