Maputo (Lourenço Marques) Maputo Mozambique

The last missing ship, António do Campo's caravel from the first squadron, will not make it across to India this year.

It is said to have been caught up and battered by bad winds at Cape Correntes and forced to drift with the current of the Mozambique Channel aimlessly southwest.

Campo's caravel is said to have alighted at Delagoa Bay (now Maputo Bay).

The hitherto unknown capacious bay is watered by three rivers: the Maputo river to the south, the Espirito Santo 'river' to the west (actually an estuary formed by the Umbeluzi, Matola and Tembe rivers) and the Maniça (now Incomati) river to the north.

Being told by the local inhabitants that the Espírito Santo 'river' is sourced from a great lake deep in the interior, Campo names it Rio da Lagoa (River of the Lagoon), from which we get the name by which Maputo Bay will long be known: 'Delagoa Bay'.

Portugal's main goal on the Swahili coast is to take control of the spice trade from the Arabs.

At this stage, the Portuguese presence in East Africa serves the purposes of controlling trade within the Indian Ocean and securing the sea routes linking Europe to Asia.

Portuguese naval vessels are very disruptive to the commerce of Portugal's enemies within the western Indian Ocean and are able to demand high tariffs on items transported through the sea due to their strategic control of ports and shipping lanes.

As the Portuguese settle along the East African coast, they make their way into the hinterland as sertanejos (backwoodsmen).

These sertanejos live alongside Swahili traders and even take up service among Shona kings as interpreters and political advisors.

One such sertanejo, António Fernandes, has managed to travel through almost all the Shona kingdoms, including the Mutapa Empire's (Mwenemutapa) metropolitan district, between 1512 and 1516.

António de Campo, one of the captains of the famously successful Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, had in 1502 discovered Delagoa Bay (now Maputo Bay), an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of the extreme southeastern part of present-day Mozambique.

Lourenço Marques, after exploring the upper reaches of the estuaries leading into the bay, establishes an eponymous settlement in 1544, situated on a large natural harbor and peopled with the Portuguese trader's native wife and mixed-race children.

Today the capital and largest city of Mozambique, its economy centered around the harbor, Maputo, the former Lourenço Marques, has an official population of approximately 1,244,227 (2006), but the actual population is estimated to be much higher because of slums and other unofficial settlements.

The Shangaan, or Xi-Tsonga, are a mixture of Nguni (a language group which includes Swazi, Zulu and Xhosa), and Tsonga speakers (Ronga, Ndzawu, Shona, Chopi tribes), which Soshangane has conquered and subjugated.

Soshangane has insisted that Nguni customs be adopted, and that the Tsonga learn the Zulu language.

Young Tsonga men are assigned to the army as 'mabulandlela' (those who open the road).

Soshangane also imposes Shaka's military system of dominion and teaches the people the Zulu ways of fighting.

Soshangane’s army overruns the Portuguese settlements in Mozambique, at Delagoa Bay, ...