THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALISM IN MOZAMBIQUE - Page 4.
to be the proverbial "King Solomon's Mines".  Again, in this instance,
the imperialistic activities of the Portuguese affected an area which
included what is today known as Zambia and Zimbabwe or Southern
Rhodesia.  The capital of Monomotapa's empire was located in
Mashonaland and was part of the Makalanga confederacy of that time.
During a period of 200 years, the Portuguese were able to
derive a great deal of wealth by the simple fact that it had been
able to control the flow of commerce from the interior of the country
to the coastal city states and abroad.  During the 17th and 18th
centuries, Portuguese aothority was firmly enough established in
the northern and central parts of Mozambique so that it was possible
to introduce Catholic missionaries, first, the Dominicans, then the
Jesuits, who were the first to introduce Christianity in East Africa.
However, whatever success this first missionary effort was crowned
with, was almost completely destroyed in the 18th century by the
corrupting effect of the marriage which had naturally resulted from
the association of commercial, religious and political activities of
the Church and the State.  It was during this time that the prazeiros
system was introduced in Mozambique.  Prazeiros were Portuguese white
and Mulatto settlers and landowners who, not unlike European feudal
lords, ruled those Africans who had the misfortune to fall under
their authority and control.  Their lot was worse than that of slaves.
These prazeiros often controlled v/hole districts as personal properties
and recognised no law but their own, and only occasionally paid their
vassalage to the king of Portugal.  Jesuit and Dominican missionaries
of the time also came to own vast tracts of land, administering it
like any prazeiro, collecting head taxes and when slavery became more
profitable, they dealt in slaves.  It was out of the prazo system
that the great land companies, such as the Nyasa and Manica e Sofala
companies developed.  It can also be presumed that at least the
peculiarly Portuguese and heartless concessionary company system
which typifies the major economic enterprises of Portuguese colonialism derived its refinements from the prazos system of this period.
Corruption in the prazos system was so rampant that by the
third decade of the 19th century even the Portuguese government
felt compelled to outlaw it.  Among other reasons for its abolition
by the Portuguese colonial gavernment, the prazos system was
notorious for fostering insecurity for person and property, and for
the excessive number of Africans who were compelled to leave the
area altogether due to the slaving practices of the manor lords.  All
of this resulted in the almost complete collapse of the Portuguese
administration.  However, in order to reimpose Portuguese authority,
it was necessary to recruit the cooperation of some of the prazeiros,
which meant their reinstatement;  therefore, the vicious circle!