{"id":937,"date":"2022-01-10T04:19:43","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T04:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/?p=937"},"modified":"2022-01-10T04:27:46","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T04:27:46","slug":"maputo-mozambique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/10\/maputo-mozambique\/","title":{"rendered":"Maputo, Mozambique"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maputo<\/strong> (Portuguese pronunciation: [m\u0250\u02c8putu]<\/a>), officially named Louren\u00e7o Marques<\/strong> until 1976, is the capital<\/a> and most populous city of Mozambique<\/a>. The city is named after chief Maputsu I of the Tembe clan, a subgroup of the Tsonga people<\/a>. Located near the southern end of the country, it is positioned within 120 km<\/a> (75 miles) of the Eswatini<\/a> and South Africa<\/a> borders. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017[3]<\/a><\/sup>) distributed over a land area of 347.69 km2<\/sup><\/a> (134 sq mi<\/a>). The Maputo metropolitan area<\/a> includes the neighbouring city of Matola<\/a>, and has a total population of 2,717,437. Maputo is a port city<\/a>, with an economy centered on commerce. It is also noted for its vibrant cultural scene and distinctive, eclectic architecture.[4]<\/a><\/sup>[5]<\/a><\/sup>[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maputo is situated on a large natural bay<\/a> on the Indian Ocean<\/a>, near where the rivers Tembe, Mbuluzi, Matola and Infulene converge. The city consists of seven administrative divisions, which are each subdivided into quarters<\/a> or bairros<\/em>. The city is surrounded by Maputo Province<\/a>, but is administered as a self-contained, separate province<\/a> since 1998. Maputo City is the geographically smallest and most densely populated province in Mozambique.[5]<\/a><\/sup> Maputo is a cosmopolitan<\/a> city, with Bantu<\/a>, Tsonga languages being more common, Portuguese<\/a>, and, to a lesser extent, Arabic<\/a>, Indian<\/a>, and Chinese<\/a> languages and cultures present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area on which Maputo stands was first settled as a fishing village<\/a> by ancient Tsonga people.[6]<\/a><\/sup> It was soon named Louren\u00e7o Marques, after the navigator of the same name<\/a> who explored the area in 1544. The modern city traces its origins to a Portuguese<\/a> fort established on the site in 1781. A town grew around the fort starting around 1850, and in 1877 it was elevated to city status. In 1898, the colony of Portuguese Mozambique<\/a> relocated its capital there. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Louren\u00e7o Marques grew both in population and economic development as a port city. Upon Mozambican independence<\/a> in 1975, the city became the national capital and was renamed Maputo. During the Mozambican Civil War<\/a>, the city’s economy was devastated. When the war ended, the FRELIMO<\/a> government launched a program to revive the city’s economy, and to clean up the city by forcibly removing criminals, squatters, and undocumented residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maputo has a number of landmarks, including Independence Square<\/a>, City Hall<\/a>, Maputo Fortress, the central market<\/a>, Tunduru Gardens<\/a>, and Maputo Railway Station<\/a>. Maputo is known as an aesthetically attractive, if dilapidated, city. With wide avenues lined by jacaranda<\/a> and acacia<\/a> trees, it has earned the nicknames City of Acacias<\/em>[7]<\/a><\/sup> and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean<\/em>.[8]<\/a><\/sup> The city is known for its distinct, eclectic architecture, with Portuguese colonial<\/a> Neoclassical<\/a> and Manueline<\/a> styles alongside modern<\/a> Art Deco<\/a>, Bauhaus<\/a>, and Brutalist<\/a> buildings.[5]<\/a><\/sup>[9]<\/a><\/sup>[10]<\/a><\/sup> The historic Baixa de Maputo<\/em> district is the downtown<\/a> area. Maputo has a vibrant cultural scene, with many restaurants, music and performance venues, and local film industry.[11]<\/a><\/sup> Maputo’s economy is centered around its port<\/a>, through which much of Mozambique’s imports and exports are shipped. The chief exports include cotton<\/a>, sugar<\/a>, chromite<\/a>, sisal<\/a>, copra<\/a>, and hardwood<\/a>. In addition to trade, the city has robust manufacturing<\/a> and service<\/a> sectors. Several colleges and universities are located in Maputo, including Pedagogical University<\/a>, S\u00e3o Tom\u00e1s University, Catholic University of Mozambique, and Eduardo Mondlane University<\/a>, the oldest in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maputo (Portuguese pronunciation: [m\u0250\u02c8putu]), officially named Louren\u00e7o Marques until 1976, is the capital and most populous city of Mozambique. The city is named after chief Maputsu I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,51],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-travel-blogs","tag-maputo-blogs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":938,"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions\/938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riteshparakkal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}