Maputo Bay, formerly also known as Delagoa Bay from Baía da Lagoa in Portuguese, is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique. In 1776, an expelled British trade official, Colonel William Bolts, approached the Austrian Imperial Court with a request to found a trading company to explore possible routes in Africa, India, and China. Empress Maria Theresa was intrigued and decided to form the Austrian Asiatic Company of Trieste, with Bolts as the head of the company. Colonel Bolts had previously been under the service of the British East India Company and was already competent in trade and colonization efforts. Bolts had also heard that the area was a possible site for gold mining.
