Mozambique, Imperialism and

Mozambique has been exploited for slaves and ivory in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: sugar, labor for the South African mines, and land in the twentieth century and energy and minerals in the twenty-first century. Independence in 1975 brought a brief window of local control, but imperialism fought a decade-long war in 1982–1992 which killed one million Mozambicans and regained control. This new control is managed through a comprador elite which has become the new wealthy oligarchs, while Mozambique remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Mozambique in Southeast Africa has always been shaped by its 2470 km coastline. There were Arab traders and coastal settlements from the tenth century followed by Persian and Indian traders. Chinese explorers arrived in the fifteenth century and the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. This generated an important Mozambican trade between the coast and the interior and linked commercial farming. Portugal became dominant but did not...