Publication Date
2009
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A settlement, then a town, on the left shore of Bons Sinais (Qua Qua) River [River of the Good Signs], about 10 miles off the coast, in what is nowadays known as the Zambezia Province, in Mozambique (17º 52' S; 36º 53' E). The toponym also named the area of the respective district captaincy (the district of Quelimane), which made part of the government of Cuama Rivers, afterwards Sena Rivers, under the rule of the captaincy of Mozambique.
Located in the territory of the Makua people, Quelimane was part of the Muslim commercial net dominated by Quiloa in the 15th century, stretching over different places along the African Eastern coast. Its foundation was related to the extension of the gold exploration centres further north into the karanga plateau, and the expansion of the State of Monomotapa. This scenario led to the creation of a Muslim trade route through the Zambeze River ending in several ports between the delta and Angoche. This itinerary competed with an older one linking the plateau to Sofala. The settlement probably originated from a dispersal of Angoche Islamic families who later founded several leaderships on the region of the delta. It was one of these leaders that Vasco da Gama found when he stopped by the Bons Sinais river, in 1498, during his first voyage to India.
There are records of a continued presence of the Portuguese in Quelimane since 1544, when the captain of Mozambique established a trading post there for the purpose of trading ivory. As they progressed further into the interior, the Portuguese started to use the Zambeze River route starting from Quelimane and Luabo. By the end of the century, a captain of Rios fixed his residence there. Traders heading towards the interior used to be hosted in the houses of that locality. The Portuguese settlement, built on a plain and drenched zone, was located in the neighbourhood of the Muslim community, which supplied goods and services to the traders.
In the first years of the sixteen hundreds, the Portuguese reinforced their power in the region. After the 1607 Treaty granted Portugal the Monomotapa mines, the Crown organised settlement plans for the valley of the Zambeze, but without control of the delta they could not be carried out. European competition, as shown by the sieges that the Dutch had laid to the island of Mozambique in 1607 and 1608, posed a threat to Portuguese hegemony in the region. The Crown issued regular orders of fortification for the mouths of the Zambeze. In this context, the government of General Dom Estêvão de Ataíde (1610-1613) managed to decisively progress into the delta territory, subjecting some Makua leaders and transferring their land to Portuguese possession. In the first year of his rule, the general ordered the building of the fort of Santa Cruz, on the south extremity of Cavalos Marinhos. A new settlement was devised subsequently to the 1629 treaty, in which the mutapa Mavhura Mhande assumed his condition of vassal to the Portuguese Crown. The delta region, formerly under the rule of the captain of Sena, was divided in 1633 in two district captaincies, those of Luabo and of S. Martinho of Quelimane.
Wood forts began to be built upon the drafts designed by the engineer Bartolomeu Cotton, sent from India. However, in 1637, the Crown abandoned exploring the mines and stopped the building of the forts on the bay of the Linde and on the region of Cavalos Marinhos. The delta area was incorporated again into the Sena captaincy, but shortly after the district captaincy of Quelimane gained autonomy.
By the 1630s the area comprised by the captaincy, divided into prazos da coroa , extended along the coast from Maindo River to the environs of Licungo River, circa 32 miles north of the settlement and 16 miles along the Bons Sinais river till it reached the land of the Muslim Sheikh of Mirambone. This territory was expanded by the end of the sixteen hundreds, following the coast line till it reached the right shore of the Raraga river. But the main acquisition of the period was the vast territory further inland the Bororo (1693) along the shores of the Licar river. This movement of territorial expansion allowed to contrast two different configurations of Quelimane. "Quelimane, the old one" emerged as a means of naming in the 18th century the initial area of the allotments.
During the sixteen hundreds, Quelimane stood out as entrance harbour into the Zambeze, as opposed to Luabo. It led to the vast region served by the river in which the royal trade monopoly was located and which was either rented to the captain of Mozambique or administered by the Crown's institutions (the Board of Trade and the Treasure Department Council of India). Its seaport agent was the trade factor, one of the main officials in the settlement along with the district governor and the judge. He was tasked with sending the fabrics to the trading posts of Sena as well as with shipping to the island of Mozambique those originating from that settlement. Twice a year contacts were established with the island during the big monsoon that lasted from April to July (when the greatest part of the trading activity took place), and the shorter one spanning from October till November. At the port, all merchandise was transferred to canoes in order to be transported along the river. The mouth of the river was dangerous and sailing through its sandbanks and reefs demanded experienced sailors, that is, the Muslim steersmen from Mozambique.
The settlement is usually described as possessing a small number of dwellers. Those who lived in the region sought after the high profits derived from gold and ivory trade that could be obtained in Sena and Tete. The fertile delta land hardly met matching market possibilities for its agricultural production, given the scarce transport facilities to the island of Mozambique. Besides the small gains from selling some victuals, the inhabitants of Quelimane also worked on the ivory trade and rendered services to those who used the river route, through renting houses, boats and slaves.
The town centre mirrored the small income of the dwellers, who were mostly from Goa though a few were from the kingdom. By 1634 a dozen houses could be seen along the river, and by the end of the century they were no more than fourteen or fifteen. The buildings, covered with thatch (and seldom with tiles), were made of mud, because there was not enough stone, and humidity damaged the adobe bricks. The houses were surrounded by a vegetable-garden and fenced with strong palisades. Around them there were extensive pieces of land covered with palms, orchards and the slaves' houses. The settlement had a church (named Nossa Senhora do Livramento) run by the Jesuits, a hospice under the Dominicans' supervision, and the house of the priests belonging to the Society of Jesus. The urban centre had also in the sixteen hundreds the chuambo, a fort made of wood, without military garrison, which provided shelter to the inhabitants against the attacks of the African leaders. The frequent assaults by the Marave peoples who came from the North led the Makuas to seek protection in the Portuguese fort. They therefore developed a distinct identity from the other natives, and became known as chuabos ("people from the fort").
By mid-eighteenth century onwards, the port and the settlement gained a new impetus in the context of the autonomy of Mozambique in relation to India (1752). The harbour entrance was fortified after two Dutch ships were stranded there. The building of the fort of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, in Tangalane, was directed by the engineer António José de Melo. It required the transport of stone from the island of Mozambique and the mountain range of Morrumbala, from 1753 to 1757. The following year, floods in the Zambeze river ruined the fort, and an attempt to rebuild it in wood was made in 1770, but the opinion that the dangerous harbour offered difficulties enough to provide by itself sufficient means of defence prevailed. Still in the 1750s, the post of master skipper of the port was created. His job was to guide the ships from the coast into the harbour. In a similar manner, the post of condestável was adopted to the context of Mozambique. The condestável's function was to keep a lighthouse and a flag in Tangalane, in order to indicate the harbour's entrance, as well as to announce the boats' arrival with gunpowder charges.
Free trade implemented in 1757 increased the commercial exchanges and the number of ships using the port. Some naval building activity was even recorded. From the 1770s onwards a significant part of the corn production from the prazos and the neighbouring lands was channelled to Mozambique island with the purpose of feeding the population and the slave ships. A notorious growth of the slave trade for the French islands of the Indian Ocean, in the 1770s, and for Brazil, from the 1790s onwards, took place. The slaves were sent to the customs house of the island of Mozambique and from there they were taken to their destination ports. Notwithstanding this arrangement, it became customary in the 1790s to allow some ships to sail directly from Quelimane to the transoceanic routes, until 1812, when a customs house was open.
Royal orders issued in 1761 paved the way for the creation of the town council on 6 July 1763. The settlement rose to town under the name of São Martinho de Quelimane. The district governor and judge was replaced by a commander, sometimes also called governor, a position he held along with that of Treasury factor.
The slave trade business opportunities caused a population rise, namely in the number of prominent inhabitants: 20 in 1789, 30 in 1790, and 65 in 1822. Although richer dwellers and house interiors could be found, the town kept its original traces: some farms scattered over two or three irregular streets, often drenched. The new town buildings, the town council house and the pillory, appeared in the 1770s. The governor and captain-general Baltazar Pereira do Lago ordered the rebuilding of the church of Nossa Senhora do Livramento in 1776, but the work would not be completed before 1786, under the guidance of António Melo e Castro. In the 1780s the trading post was rebuilt in stone after having been for some time located in the former facilities of the Jesuits' houses. The town's warehouses were occupied by a military force and by the only local prison.
Due to the poor materials used in the construction of the old buildings, nowadays the city of Quelimane keeps few evidences of a past previous to the 19th century, one of them being its church.
[Nota1: The term means in Portuguese "the crown's terms" or "deadlines", and stands for the shape that settlement in Mozambique took when the Portuguese Crown decided to allow land occupation for a period of time of three generations, after which the land would fall into royal possession again.]
[Nota2: The post had similarities to the Chief Ensign, being comparable to the supreme commander of an army. The constable was the second person in power, immediately after the King. The Lord High Constable became an honorific title in time.]
Bibligraphy:
ANDRADE, António Alberto Banha de (ed.), Relações de Moçambique Setecentista, Lisboa, AGU, 1955; NEWITT, Malyn, A history of Mozambique, London, Hurst & Company, 1995; RODRIGUES, Eugénia, "O porto de Quelimane e a Carreira dos Rios de Sena na Segunda Metade do Século XVIII", in MENESES, Avelino de Freitas (coord.), Portos, Escalas e Ilhéus no Relacionamento entre o Ocidente e o Oriente, s/l, Universidade dos Açores / CNCDP, 2001; RODRIGUES, Eugénia, Portugueses e Africanos nos Rios de Sena. Os Prazos da Coroa nos Séculos XVII e XVIII, Dissertação de Doutoramento em História, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2002.
Translated by: Leonor Sampaio da Silva
Located in the territory of the Makua people, Quelimane was part of the Muslim commercial net dominated by Quiloa in the 15th century, stretching over different places along the African Eastern coast. Its foundation was related to the extension of the gold exploration centres further north into the karanga plateau, and the expansion of the State of Monomotapa. This scenario led to the creation of a Muslim trade route through the Zambeze River ending in several ports between the delta and Angoche. This itinerary competed with an older one linking the plateau to Sofala. The settlement probably originated from a dispersal of Angoche Islamic families who later founded several leaderships on the region of the delta. It was one of these leaders that Vasco da Gama found when he stopped by the Bons Sinais river, in 1498, during his first voyage to India.
There are records of a continued presence of the Portuguese in Quelimane since 1544, when the captain of Mozambique established a trading post there for the purpose of trading ivory. As they progressed further into the interior, the Portuguese started to use the Zambeze River route starting from Quelimane and Luabo. By the end of the century, a captain of Rios fixed his residence there. Traders heading towards the interior used to be hosted in the houses of that locality. The Portuguese settlement, built on a plain and drenched zone, was located in the neighbourhood of the Muslim community, which supplied goods and services to the traders.
In the first years of the sixteen hundreds, the Portuguese reinforced their power in the region. After the 1607 Treaty granted Portugal the Monomotapa mines, the Crown organised settlement plans for the valley of the Zambeze, but without control of the delta they could not be carried out. European competition, as shown by the sieges that the Dutch had laid to the island of Mozambique in 1607 and 1608, posed a threat to Portuguese hegemony in the region. The Crown issued regular orders of fortification for the mouths of the Zambeze. In this context, the government of General Dom Estêvão de Ataíde (1610-1613) managed to decisively progress into the delta territory, subjecting some Makua leaders and transferring their land to Portuguese possession. In the first year of his rule, the general ordered the building of the fort of Santa Cruz, on the south extremity of Cavalos Marinhos. A new settlement was devised subsequently to the 1629 treaty, in which the mutapa Mavhura Mhande assumed his condition of vassal to the Portuguese Crown. The delta region, formerly under the rule of the captain of Sena, was divided in 1633 in two district captaincies, those of Luabo and of S. Martinho of Quelimane.
Wood forts began to be built upon the drafts designed by the engineer Bartolomeu Cotton, sent from India. However, in 1637, the Crown abandoned exploring the mines and stopped the building of the forts on the bay of the Linde and on the region of Cavalos Marinhos. The delta area was incorporated again into the Sena captaincy, but shortly after the district captaincy of Quelimane gained autonomy.
By the 1630s the area comprised by the captaincy, divided into prazos da coroa , extended along the coast from Maindo River to the environs of Licungo River, circa 32 miles north of the settlement and 16 miles along the Bons Sinais river till it reached the land of the Muslim Sheikh of Mirambone. This territory was expanded by the end of the sixteen hundreds, following the coast line till it reached the right shore of the Raraga river. But the main acquisition of the period was the vast territory further inland the Bororo (1693) along the shores of the Licar river. This movement of territorial expansion allowed to contrast two different configurations of Quelimane. "Quelimane, the old one" emerged as a means of naming in the 18th century the initial area of the allotments.
During the sixteen hundreds, Quelimane stood out as entrance harbour into the Zambeze, as opposed to Luabo. It led to the vast region served by the river in which the royal trade monopoly was located and which was either rented to the captain of Mozambique or administered by the Crown's institutions (the Board of Trade and the Treasure Department Council of India). Its seaport agent was the trade factor, one of the main officials in the settlement along with the district governor and the judge. He was tasked with sending the fabrics to the trading posts of Sena as well as with shipping to the island of Mozambique those originating from that settlement. Twice a year contacts were established with the island during the big monsoon that lasted from April to July (when the greatest part of the trading activity took place), and the shorter one spanning from October till November. At the port, all merchandise was transferred to canoes in order to be transported along the river. The mouth of the river was dangerous and sailing through its sandbanks and reefs demanded experienced sailors, that is, the Muslim steersmen from Mozambique.
The settlement is usually described as possessing a small number of dwellers. Those who lived in the region sought after the high profits derived from gold and ivory trade that could be obtained in Sena and Tete. The fertile delta land hardly met matching market possibilities for its agricultural production, given the scarce transport facilities to the island of Mozambique. Besides the small gains from selling some victuals, the inhabitants of Quelimane also worked on the ivory trade and rendered services to those who used the river route, through renting houses, boats and slaves.
The town centre mirrored the small income of the dwellers, who were mostly from Goa though a few were from the kingdom. By 1634 a dozen houses could be seen along the river, and by the end of the century they were no more than fourteen or fifteen. The buildings, covered with thatch (and seldom with tiles), were made of mud, because there was not enough stone, and humidity damaged the adobe bricks. The houses were surrounded by a vegetable-garden and fenced with strong palisades. Around them there were extensive pieces of land covered with palms, orchards and the slaves' houses. The settlement had a church (named Nossa Senhora do Livramento) run by the Jesuits, a hospice under the Dominicans' supervision, and the house of the priests belonging to the Society of Jesus. The urban centre had also in the sixteen hundreds the chuambo, a fort made of wood, without military garrison, which provided shelter to the inhabitants against the attacks of the African leaders. The frequent assaults by the Marave peoples who came from the North led the Makuas to seek protection in the Portuguese fort. They therefore developed a distinct identity from the other natives, and became known as chuabos ("people from the fort").
By mid-eighteenth century onwards, the port and the settlement gained a new impetus in the context of the autonomy of Mozambique in relation to India (1752). The harbour entrance was fortified after two Dutch ships were stranded there. The building of the fort of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, in Tangalane, was directed by the engineer António José de Melo. It required the transport of stone from the island of Mozambique and the mountain range of Morrumbala, from 1753 to 1757. The following year, floods in the Zambeze river ruined the fort, and an attempt to rebuild it in wood was made in 1770, but the opinion that the dangerous harbour offered difficulties enough to provide by itself sufficient means of defence prevailed. Still in the 1750s, the post of master skipper of the port was created. His job was to guide the ships from the coast into the harbour. In a similar manner, the post of condestável was adopted to the context of Mozambique. The condestável's function was to keep a lighthouse and a flag in Tangalane, in order to indicate the harbour's entrance, as well as to announce the boats' arrival with gunpowder charges.
Free trade implemented in 1757 increased the commercial exchanges and the number of ships using the port. Some naval building activity was even recorded. From the 1770s onwards a significant part of the corn production from the prazos and the neighbouring lands was channelled to Mozambique island with the purpose of feeding the population and the slave ships. A notorious growth of the slave trade for the French islands of the Indian Ocean, in the 1770s, and for Brazil, from the 1790s onwards, took place. The slaves were sent to the customs house of the island of Mozambique and from there they were taken to their destination ports. Notwithstanding this arrangement, it became customary in the 1790s to allow some ships to sail directly from Quelimane to the transoceanic routes, until 1812, when a customs house was open.
Royal orders issued in 1761 paved the way for the creation of the town council on 6 July 1763. The settlement rose to town under the name of São Martinho de Quelimane. The district governor and judge was replaced by a commander, sometimes also called governor, a position he held along with that of Treasury factor.
The slave trade business opportunities caused a population rise, namely in the number of prominent inhabitants: 20 in 1789, 30 in 1790, and 65 in 1822. Although richer dwellers and house interiors could be found, the town kept its original traces: some farms scattered over two or three irregular streets, often drenched. The new town buildings, the town council house and the pillory, appeared in the 1770s. The governor and captain-general Baltazar Pereira do Lago ordered the rebuilding of the church of Nossa Senhora do Livramento in 1776, but the work would not be completed before 1786, under the guidance of António Melo e Castro. In the 1780s the trading post was rebuilt in stone after having been for some time located in the former facilities of the Jesuits' houses. The town's warehouses were occupied by a military force and by the only local prison.
Due to the poor materials used in the construction of the old buildings, nowadays the city of Quelimane keeps few evidences of a past previous to the 19th century, one of them being its church.
[Nota1: The term means in Portuguese "the crown's terms" or "deadlines", and stands for the shape that settlement in Mozambique took when the Portuguese Crown decided to allow land occupation for a period of time of three generations, after which the land would fall into royal possession again.]
[Nota2: The post had similarities to the Chief Ensign, being comparable to the supreme commander of an army. The constable was the second person in power, immediately after the King. The Lord High Constable became an honorific title in time.]
Bibligraphy:
ANDRADE, António Alberto Banha de (ed.), Relações de Moçambique Setecentista, Lisboa, AGU, 1955; NEWITT, Malyn, A history of Mozambique, London, Hurst & Company, 1995; RODRIGUES, Eugénia, "O porto de Quelimane e a Carreira dos Rios de Sena na Segunda Metade do Século XVIII", in MENESES, Avelino de Freitas (coord.), Portos, Escalas e Ilhéus no Relacionamento entre o Ocidente e o Oriente, s/l, Universidade dos Açores / CNCDP, 2001; RODRIGUES, Eugénia, Portugueses e Africanos nos Rios de Sena. Os Prazos da Coroa nos Séculos XVII e XVIII, Dissertação de Doutoramento em História, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2002.
Translated by: Leonor Sampaio da Silva