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these men were accompanied by
their 'wives', girls from orphanages
or reformatory schools whom they
married at the moment of embarkation from Europe.. These unfortunate people who had already been
degraded in mind and body by imprisonment at home and the rigours
of the voyage, merely added to the
misery and inefficiency of the
colony."
DIET CHEAP
By 1800 slaves formed the bulk
o(- Mozambique's exports. Slavery
as a domestic institution was more
important here than in Angola.
Many a prazero (the plantations
owner) had an army of captive
Africans in addition to the usual
large number of house and field
workers.
There was the slave and the colo-
no. The colono, allegedly a free
man, was the tribesman living on
the prazo. He paid a poll-tax, was
obliged • to work without pay, and
was subject to the whims and caprices of his landlord. Both the slave
•and the colono were cheap labour,
dirt cheap labour.
The Peninsular War and Brazil's
declaration of her independence
from the rule of Portugal (1822) upset the domestic economy of both
Portugal and her colonies including
Mozambique.
The threatened abolition of slavery was a happening that the settlers feared would wreck their means
of livelihood.
Mozambique, being an integral
part of Africa, was greatly affected
by the decisions at the Berlin Conference of the three great Western
powers, Britain, France and Germany held from November 1844 to
February 1855.
APPLE CART
Although Portugal was at this
time already a decadent colonial
power she became by the grace of
the big three 'an ally and partner
in thc execution of the great purpose of providence for the advancement of mankind,' as Gladstone
euphemistically called the exploitation of ihe African people.
The new doctrine of effective occupation was advanced as the basis
of colonization in Africa. Portugal was allowed to keep Mozambique not because she was in effective
occupation there but because xshe
had "discovered" the territory.
Before 1855, Portugal had hoped
to preserve   a   continuous   belt   of
territory from coast to coast uniting
modern Angola with Mozambique,
but events upset her apple cart.
AUTONOMY
The British acquired the land
south of lake Nyasa and the shire
highlands. The Portuguese prepared
a counter-expedition. Major A de
Serpe Pinto came into conflict with
'peoples under British protection.'
Lord Salisbury, the British Prime
Minister sent Portugal an ultimatum. (1890)
This was followed by a treaty defining the frontiers of British and'
Portuguese possessions and the
creation of the Mozambique and
Naissa companies for the development of the area.
Under the Portuguese Republic
(1910) the colony was granted a
measure of autonomy. This was extended in 1920.
- After the taking over of power
by the Salazar regime (1926) colonial autonomy was swept away. A
much more centralised system was
adopted.
The building of railways' led to
the rapid expansion of Mozambique's economy. Conventions were
signed with the countries of the hinterland. These governed the questions of transit trade the recruitment of an African labour force and
other matters.
The Mozambique convention
(1909) concluded with the Transvaal government lapsed in 1923. It
was replaced in 1934 by a new
treaty which ran until 1939. It remained • in force thereafter to 12
month's notice of termination by
either party.
The Companhia de Mozambique
was wounded up in 1942. In 1951
Mozambique was designated an
overseas province of Portugal, a
ruse designed to conceal thc reality
of its colonial status behind a
mask of a juridical technically.
MOZAMBIQUE TODAY
The population of Mozambique
during 1959 was estimated by the
United Nations at 6,310,000 compared with the 5,732,317 of the
1950 official Portuguese estimates.
The National Democratic Union
of Mozambique estimates the population as 6,530,000 African, 75,000
Europeans and 18,000 Asians.
All the African people of Mozambique are Bantu-speaking. The
main tribal groups are : the Yao
in Niassa, the Makwa in Niassa
and Zambezia, the Bassenga in
Zambezia and Sofala, the Baan-
goni and Basenega in Manica, the
Baronga, Batonga and Bachopi in
Sul do Save.
HONEST TRUTH
The most important towns are:
Lourenco Marques, the capital
where about half of the colony's
white settlers live; Beira, the headquarters of the former Companhia
de Mozambique; established as a
Portuguese port in 1505 and the
capital of the territory until 1897;
Quclimane, Inhambane and Chinde.
The governor-general is thc head
of the colonial government. He is
appointed by the council of Ministers in Lisbon for a four year term,
subject to reappointment. He is
directly responsible to the Minister
for Overseas Provinces in Portugal.
Beneath all this facade of technicalities is concealed the honest
truth that the governor-general is
appointed by the Dictator-President
of Portugal, Dr. Antonio Olivcira
da Salazar, who boasted way back
in 1939 that:
"Wc are anti-parliamentarians,
anti-democrats and a n t i-liberals
and are determined to establish a
corporate state."
This self-same fascist . dictator,
who is Britain's oldest ally' ordered
the Portuguese flags to be flown at
'    DECEMBER, 1964       17