This comprehensive overview traces the evolution of modern Mozambique, from its early modern origins in the Indian Ocean trading system and the Portuguese maritime empire to the fifteen-year civil war that followed independence and its continued after-effects. Though peace was achieved in 1992 through international mediation, Mozambique's remarkable recovery has shown signs of stalling. Malyn Newitt explores the historical roots of Mozambican disunity and hampered development, beginning with the divisive effects of the slave trade, the drawing of colonial frontiers in the 1890s and the lasting particularities of the north, centre and south, inherited from the compartmentalized approach of concession companies. Following the nationalist guerrillas' victory against the Portuguese in 1975, these regional divisions resurfaced in a civil war pitting the south against the north and centre, over attempts at far-reaching socioeconomic change. The settlement of the early 1990s is now under threat from a revived insurgency, and the ghosts of the past remain. This book seeks to distill this complex history, and to understand why, twenty-five years after the Peace Accord, Mozambicans still remain among the poorest people in the world.

This book summarizes five hundred years of the history of the societies that exist within the area that became Mozambique in 1891. It also takes the story up to the present, including the War of Liberation and Mozambique after independence. It is work of major scholarship that will appeal to experts and students alike.

The precipitous rise and controversial fall of a formidable African leader. Samora Machel (1933–1986), the son of small-town farmers, led his people through a war against their Portuguese colonists and became the first president of the People’s Republic of Mozambique. Machel’s military successes against a colonial regime backed by South Africa, Rhodesia, the United States, and its NATO allies enhanced his reputation as a revolutionary hero to the oppressed people of Southern Africa. In 1986, during the country’s civil war, Machel died in a plane crash under circumstances that remain uncertain. Allen and Barbara Isaacman lived through many of these changes in Mozambique and bring personal recollections together with archival research and interviews with others who knew Machel or participated in events of the revolutionary or post-revolutionary years.

This volume is a multi-disciplinary contribution to contemporary and historical dynamics that shape the vibrant cultural, political, economic and social world of Mozambique. Comprising a global range of scholars, the book serves as a generous introduction to Mozambique.

The book focuses on an area called Maúa, not because I believe Maúa represents the whole of Mozambique as such, but because highlighting a specific area and people helps to understand the Mozambican history more deeply and comprehensively. In any case, it would be impossible to study the experience of all Mozambicans. I am not attempting to write a history textbook of Mozambique, or a glorious history of the liberation struggle, but rather trying to fill a gap in the descriptions of contemporary Mozambican history by delving into matters that have not been written about before.

The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, and one of the continent’s principal arteries of movement, migration, conquest and commerce. In this book, historian Malyn Newitt quotes rarely used Portuguese sources that throw vivid light on the culture of the river peoples and their relations with the Portuguese creole society of the prazos. Hitherto unused manuscript material illustrates Portuguese and British colonial rule over the people of the long-lived Lunda kingdoms, and the Lozi of the Barotse Floodplain. The Zambezi became a war zone during the ‘Scramble for Africa’, the struggle for independence and the civil wars that followed the departure of colonial powers. Recent history has also seen the river’s wild nature tamed by the introduction of steamers and the building of bridges and dams. These developments have changed the character of the waterway, and impacted–often drastically–the ecological systems of the valley and those settled along its course. The Zambezi traces the history of the communities that have lived along this great river; their relationship with the states formed on the high veldt; and the ways they have adapted to the vagaries of the Zambezi itself, with its annual floods, turbulent rapids and dramatic gorges.

Ending slavery and creating empire in Africa: from the "Indelible stain" to the "light of civilization"--Law to practice: "certain excesses of severity"--The critiques and defenses of modern slavery: from without and within, above and below -- Mobility and tactical flight: of workers, chiefs, and villages -- Targeting chiefs: from "fictitious obedience" to "extraordinary political disorder" -- Seniority and subordination: disciplining youth and controlling women's labor -- An "absolute freedom" circumscribed and circumvented: "Employers chosen of their own free will" -- Upward mobility: "improvement of one's social condition" -- Conclusion: forced labor's legacy.