Pupils in front of their school in Mozambique. *Photo from Wikipedia
June 25 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Mozambique from Portugal in 1975.
Between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from farther north and west. Swahili (and later Arab) commercial ports existed along the coasts until the arrival of Europeans.
The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonised by Portugal from 1505. The country was an important place where Somali merchants enslaved the local population, starting what is now known as the Somali slave trade.
After over four centuries of Portuguese rule, Mozambique gained independence in 1975, becoming the People’s Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. After only two years of independence, the country descended into an intense and protracted civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992.
In 1994, Mozambique held its first multiparty elections and has remained a relatively stable presidential republic. However, since 2013, following more than 20 years of peace, a renewed insurgency by RENAMO (Mozambican National Resistance, or Resistência Nacional Moçambicana in Portugese) has been occurring.
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest.
*Reference: Wikipedia
