50 Fun Facts About Mozambique

What is the capital and largest city of Mozambique?

It was renamed in 1976, a year after independence.

Mozambique's coastline lies on which ocean?

The Mozambique Channel separates it from Madagascar and the Comoros.

Which European power colonised Mozambique for over four centuries?

Independence came in 1975.

Whose 1498 voyage marked the arrival of Europeans in Mozambique?

Gradual colonisation and settlement began in 1505.

Mozambique is named after what?

The name is thought to come from Mussa Bin Bique, an Arab trader who lived on the island.

The Island of Mozambique was the colonial capital until 1898, when the capital moved south to which city?

That city is now the national capital under a new name.

The Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte on the Island of Mozambique, built in 1522, is considered what?

The island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What is the only official language of Mozambique?

Local languages include Tsonga, Makhuwa, Sena, Chichewa and Swahili.

On what date did Mozambique become independent?

Most of the 250,000 colonists left within a year.

Which liberation movement began a guerrilla war against colonial rule in 1964 and has governed since independence?

Its founder Eduardo Mondlane was killed by a parcel bomb in 1969.

Which event in Lisbon in April 1974 hastened Mozambique's independence?

The fall of the Estado Novo ended Lisbon's colonial wars.

Who was Mozambique's first president?

He set up a one-party Marxist state.

How did Mozambique's first president die in October 1986?

His Tupolev crashed into a hillside at Mbuzini on the way home from a summit in Zambia.

Graça Machel, widow of the first president, later married which world leader?

She became the only woman to have been first lady of two countries.

Which rebel movement fought the government in the civil war of 1977 to 1992?

It was backed by Rhodesia and later by the apartheid regime to the south.

Roughly how many Mozambicans died in the civil war?

A further 1.7 million fled to neighbouring countries.

The civil war ended in October 1992 with peace accords signed in which city?

The Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio brokered the deal.

Which president succeeded Machel and steered Mozambique from Marxism to capitalism and peace?

He won the first multiparty elections in 1994.

When Mozambique joined the Commonwealth in 1995, what made it unusual?

It was the first such member; Rwanda later followed.

Which weapon appears on Mozambique's flag?

It sits on a red triangle with a gold star; since 1990 there have been calls to remove it.

Besides the rifle, which two objects appear on the Mozambican flag?

The design was adopted on 1 May 1983 and is written into the constitution.

Which river divides Mozambique into its two topographical regions?

It is the largest and most important of the country's five main rivers.

The Cahora Bassa Dam was built mainly to supply hydroelectric power to which country?

Lisbon owned 82 percent of it until 2007.

Which great lake, shared with Malawi, forms part of Mozambique's northwestern border?

Mozambique's other notable lakes are Chiuta, Cahora Bassa and Shirwa.

How many provinces does Mozambique have?

The capital city has provincial status on top of them, and the provinces contain 129 districts.

What is the currency of Mozambique?

In October 2023 a US dollar bought about 64 of them.

Which two cyclones struck Mozambique in 2019, the first time two had hit in one season?

They caused devastating floods.

Huge offshore reserves of which resource were discovered in the Rovuma Basin in 2010-11?

The finds could make Mozambique one of the world's largest LNG producers.

In 2017, an Islamist insurgency broke out in which northern province of Mozambique?

It has threatened multi-billion-dollar LNG projects on the Afungi peninsula.

Which ethnic group is the largest in northern Mozambique?

The Tsonga dominate the south and the Sena and Shona the central river valley.

Which religion is the most popular in Mozambique?

Muslims make up roughly 18 percent, concentrated in the north.

The colonial land grants that tied settlers to inland estates were called what?

Their holders, the prazeiros, kept armies of enslaved men known as Chikunda.

Which Swahili port towns were regional powers on this coast by the 15th century?

They traded the gold and ivory of inland kingdoms such as Mutapa.

Large mammal numbers in Gorongosa National Park fell by as much as what during the civil war?

Both sides shot elephants for ivory to buy arms; the Carr Foundation has led the park's restoration.

Football legend Eusébio, the 'Black Panther', was born in which neighbourhood of the Mozambican capital?

He was born there in 1942 and went on to become Benfica's all-time top scorer.

Eusébio was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup with how many goals?

He led the national side to third place and had won the Ballon d'Or the year before.

Mozambican novelist Mia Couto won which literary award in 2014?

His novel Sleepwalking Land was named one of the 12 best African books of the 20th century.

Besides writing, Mia Couto works professionally as what?

He is employed by the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

Who was sworn in as Mozambique's fifth president in January 2025?

Filipe Nyusi had served two terms from 2015.

Which two island groups are Mozambique's best-known beach destinations?

Their clean waters lie far from urban centres.

Bantu-speaking peoples began migrating into Mozambique as early as when?

They brought iron smelting and cattle herding.

Which two Mozambican provinces hold about 45 percent of the population?

Both lie in the north-centre of the country.

In 1951 the Estado Novo rebranded Lisbon's African colonies, including Mozambique, as what?

The chartered companies' concessions had already been allowed to lapse.

Which French president arbitrated the 1875 Luso-British dispute over Lourenço Marques in Portugal's favour?

The town was then a poor place of grass huts and decayed forts, but the Transvaal's growth soon made its port important.

In which year was the capital renamed from Lourenço Marques to Maputo?

At independence it was expected to become Can Phumo, 'Place of Phumo', after a Shangaan chief, but the river name won out in February 1976.

What do Maputo residents call the three-wheeled motor taxis known elsewhere as tuk-tuks?

They are cheaper to own and run than cars and have become a commercial threat to conventional taxis.

Maputo's Jardim Tunduru was designed in the 1880s by a British architect under what former name?

Thomas Honney designed it, and its entrance is in the Neo-Manueline style; the name changed after independence.

The country's largest university, named for Eduardo Mondlane, was founded in 1968 under what name?

Most of its ten faculties are in Maputo, with nearly 8,000 students attending.

Which chartered concern's concession in the colony was not renewed when it expired in 1942?

The Estado Novo under Salazar wanted stronger state control after the chartered companies, financed largely by British money, underperformed.

What share of the population speaks Portuguese, the country's official language?

More than 2,000 ethnic groups make up a population of about 34.8 million, overwhelmingly Bantu peoples.