| From 300 A.D.: |
Bantu-speaking people settle in Mozambique.
|
| 1000: |
Bantus make commercial connections with Arab, Persian, and Asian traders.
|
| 1200-1400: |
Arab traders settle along the East African coastline.
|
| 1498: |
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives in Mozambique and travels to Ilha de
Moçambique to find a developed city based on international trade and a cadre of
wealthy merchants. Not the most diplomatic visitor, he proceeds to plunder the
city.
|
| 1600s: |
Portuguese settlers move inland, consolidating their "possessions" in the late
1600s.
|
| 1752: |
Portugal announces that Mozambique is an official colony and the slave trade
begins.
|
| 1800s: |
Approximately one million people are shipped from Mozambique; although Portugal
officially bans slavery in 1869, the trade continues until about 1900.
|
| 1891:
|
Mozambique's current borders are agreed upon by Portugal and Britain.
|
| 1907: |
Mozambique's capital is moved from Ilha de Moçambique to Lourenço Marques
(currently known as Maputo).
|
| 1926: |
Fascist António Oliveira Salazar comes to power in Portugal, whose government
proceeds to rule the Mozambican colony through a racist system.
|
| 1960s: |
Growing opposition to the rule of Portugal leads to tragedies such as the "The
Mueda Massacre," in which 500 protestors in Cabo Delgado Province were killed.
A resistance movement, FRELIMO (the Front for Liberation of Mozambique), is
formed under the leadership of Eduardo Mondlane and quickly gains control of
the two Northern Provinces of Cabo Delgado and Niassa.
|
| 1974: |
The military coup in Portugal enables FRELIMO to gain power in Mozambique.
Mozambique gains independence the next year with Samora Machel as its first
president. Lourenço Marques becomes Maputo.
|
| Late 1970s: |
In response to FRELIMO's Marxist-Leninist policies (and support of ZANU (the
Zimbabwean African National Union fighting the white minority leadership in
Rhodesia)), RENAMO (the National Resistance movement of Mozambique) is formed
with Zimbabwean and South African support.
|
| 1981:
|
The civil war between FRELIMO and RENAMO begins, and the country's rural
inhabitants suffer significantly as infrastructure (including schools and
hospitals) are attacked.
|
| 1990:
|
Mozambique adopts a new constitution which allows a multiparty system and
changes its name to "Republic of Mozambique" from the previous "People's
Republic of Mozambique."
|
| 1992: |
A ceasefire and peace treaty is signed.
|
| 1994:
|
The first free elections in Mozambique are held, with FRELIMO winning with 44%
of the vote (whereas RENAMO won 35% of the vote). President Joaquim Chissano
sets upon the difficult task of reconciliation.
|
| 1995:
|
Mozambique becomes a member of the 54-member Commonwealth countries, due to a
formal plea by Nelson Mandela who praised Mozambique for its role in freeing
South Africa from apartheid.
|
| 1999: |
President Joaquim Chissano (FRELIMO) wins the second presidential elections and
succeeds in pushing through economic reforms which make Mozambique one of the
fastest growing economies in Africa.
|
| 2000-1:
|
Mozambique hit by two devastating floods, which destroyed much of the country's
infrastructure.
|
| 2004: |
President Joaquim Chissano's successor, Armando Emilio Guebuza, wins nearly 64%
of the Mozambican vote for President and commits to combating corruption,
bureaucracy and poverty. |
