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 compartmentalised 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.

A Short History of Mozambique

Malyn Newitt

GARDNERS VI BOOKS AMS006

This is the first history of Mozambique from the 15th century to the present. The Mozambican people have had contact with Muslim and European traders for nearly 1000 years, and their history is given a unity by the influence of commerce and seaborne trade. Indeed Mozambique itself consists of a series of ancient sea and river ports with their commercial hinterlands. Through 21 chapters the book traces two major themes: the gradual development of forms of overall political control - by the Karanga and Maravi ruling dynasties, Afro-Portuguese feudal families, the Nguni military monarchies and the chiefs and sheikhs who ran the slave trade - and the periodic crises that led to disintegration and social dislocation. Disintegration, often associated with drought and ecological disaster, led to a recurring pattern of banditry, and the breakdown of society into warring factions. Although its frontiers were drawn in 1891, Mozambique did not become a unified state till the 1930s, and many of these themes continued during the colonial era, the large concession companies taking over from Nguni and Afro-Portuguese chiefs in providing a form of feudal political control. Under the Portuguese colonial administration Mozambique provided railway and port facilities for South and Central Africa while large areas became in effect labour reserves. A thriving plantation economy also developed, the country becoming a leading producer of cash crops. An extended final chapter looks at Mozambique since independence, when the country's development fell victim to South Africa's attempts to destabilise its neighbours, and its fragile institutions were broken down once again by banditry and drought.

A History of Mozambique

C. Hurst & Co. Publishers Ltd.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Malyn Newitt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Malyn Newitt

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Malyn Newitt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Short History of Mozambique

A History of Mozambique