History of Mozambique

Mozambique which is officially known as the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in the Southern part of Africa. It shares borders with the Indian Ocean in the east, Malawi and Zambia in the Northwest, Tanzania in the North, Zimbabwe in the west and Eswatini and South Africa in the south west. Having a population of over 30 million, its population constitutes up to 0.4% of the total world population. It is a multiethnic nation, though not having many ethnic groups like other African nations. It has ten major ethnic groups/clusters scattered round the country, and more than 40 languages spoken in the country. But amongst the ethnic groups, the major ones are the Makua, Tsonga, Makonde, Shangaan, Shona, Sena and Ndau.  The largest of the ethnic group residing in the North of the Zambezi representing about 37% of the country’s population. And the major recognized languages being Swahili, Mwani, Chewa, Tsonga. Due to the diversities in languages and ethnicity, communication amongst individuals posed a great challenge. This led to the adoption of Portuguese as the Country’s official language. English is generally spoken in hotels and other tourist sites to enable free flow communication with tourists. The Dominant religion in the country is Christianity with 57.5%, the other religions include 18.3% Islam, 4.7% Jewish, Hindu and Baha’i. The remaining 13.4% belongs to those who are unsure of their religious beliefs. The country was named after the Island of Mozambique, the name was given to it by Mussa Ibn Malik an Arab trader who visited the Island and eventually lived there.