Northern Mozambique 

The Island of Mozambique in the north of Mozambique, about 500km south of the border to Tanzania, is historically important as it was the first capital of the country named after it. Due to its rich history, manifested by an interesting architectural heritage, the island was considered an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

Way back, when Vasco da Gama arrived in 1498, the Island of Mozambique had become a Swahili village of Arabs and blacks with its sheik, subordinate to the sultan of Zanzibar and it was continuously frequented by Arabs who continued their trade of centuries with the Red Sea, Persia, India and the islands of the Indian Ocean. 

In 1558, started the construction of the Fortaleza de S. Sebastião which is the largest in Southern Africa. This fortress was of extreme importance because the island had become the trading post for cloths and beads from India in exchange of gold, slaves, ivory and black wood from Africa. Besides the Portuguese, other European competitors such as the French, English and Dutch appeared in the race for the control of trade routes.

Today, the Island of Mozambique is linked to the mainland by a narrow, about 5 km long bridge which was built in the 1960s.

Further north, Pemba has became an important harbour city and the gateway to the Cabo Delgato Province. TRAVEL WARNING: It is currently not advised to travel to the province of Cabo Delgado due to the threat of terrorism, and ongoing clashes between armed groups and security forces.