Maputo
History

On the northern bank of Espírito Santo Estuary of Delagoa Bay, an inlet of the Indian Ocean, Lourenço Marques was named after the Portuguese navigator who, with António Caldeira, was sent in 1544 by the governor of Mozambique on a voyage of exploration. They explored the lower courses of the rivers emptying their waters into Delagoa Bay, notably the Espírito Santo. The forts and trading stations that the Portuguese established, abandoned and reoccupied on the north bank of the river were all named "Lourenço Marques". The existing town dates from about 1850, with the previous settlement having been entirely destroyed by the natives. The town developed around a Portuguese fortress completed in 1787.

On 9 December 1876, Lourenço Marques was elevated to the status of village, and on the 10 November 1887 it became a city. The Luso-British conflict for the possession of Lourenço Marques ended on the 24th of July 1875 with Patrice de MacMahon, the French President, ruling in favour of Portugal.

In 1871, the town was described as a poor place, with narrow streets, fairly good flat-roofed houses, grass huts, decayed forts, and a rusty cannon, enclosed by a recently erected wall 1.8 metres (6 ft) high and protected by bastions at intervals. The growing importance of the Transvaal led, however, to greater interest being taken back in Portugal in the development of a port. A commission was sent by the Portuguese government in 1876 to drain the marshy land near the settlement, to plant the blue gum tree, and to build a hospital and a church. A city since 1887, it superseded the Island of Mozambique as the capital of Mozambique in 1898. In 1895, the opening of the NZASM railroad to Pretoria, South Africa, caused the city's population to grow. The Witwatersrand Gold Rush, which began in 1886, also increased the economic development of the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as Lourenço Marques served as the closest seaport for the export of gold from South Africa.

In the early 20th century, with a well equipped seaport, with piers, quays, landing sheds and electric cranes which enabled large vessels to discharge cargoes direct into the railway trucks, Lourenço Marques developed under Portuguese rule and achieved great importance as a lively cosmopolitan city. It was served by British, Portuguese, and German liners, and the majority of its imported goods were shipped to Southampton, Lisbon, and Hamburg.

With the continuous growth of the city's population due to its expanding economy centred on the seaport, from the 1940s Portugal's administration built a network of primary and secondary schools, industrial and commercial schools as well as the first university in the region. The University of Lourenço Marques was opened in 1962. Portuguese, Islamic (including Ismailis), Indian (including from Portuguese India) and Chinese (including Macanese) communities — but not the unskilled African majority — achieved great prosperity by developing the industrial and commercial sectors of the city. Urban areas of Mozambique grew quickly in this period due to the lack of restriction on the internal migration of indigenous Mozambicans, a situation that differed from the apartheid policies of neighbouring South Africa. Before Mozambique's independence in 1975, thousands of tourists from South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) frequented the city and its scenic beaches, high-quality hotels, restaurants, casinos, and brothels.

The Mozambique Liberation Front, or FRELIMO, formed in Tanzania in 1962 and led by Eduardo Mondlane, fought for independence from Portuguese rule. The Mozambican War of Independence lasted over 10 years, ending only in 1974 when the Estado Novo regime was overthrown in Lisbon by a leftist military coup — the Carnation Revolution. The new government of Portugal granted independence to almost all Portuguese overseas territories (except for Timor Leste and Macau).

The words "Aqui é Portugal" (Here is Portugal) were once inscribed on the walkway of its municipal building.
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