Mueda is the largest town of the

Makonde Plateau The Makonde Plateau, also known as the Newala Plateau, is a plateau in southeastern Tanzania. It is mostly within Mtwara Region, with the northeast corner in Lindi Region. The Makonde Plateau is a roughly rectangular, rising from the coast west ...

in northeastern

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. It is the capital of the Mueda District in

Cabo Delgado Province Cabo Delgado is the northernmost province of Mozambique. It has an area of and a population of 2,320,261 (2017). It borders the Mtwara Region in the neighbouring country of Tanzania, and the provinces of Nampula and Niassa. The Province is ri ...

. It is the center of the culture of the Makondes, and the production of their ebony sculptures.

Geography

Mueda is located on the upland

Mueda Plateau The Mueda Plateau, also known as the Maconde Plateau, is a plateau in Cabo Delgado Province of northeastern Mozambique. Geography The Mueda Plateau lies between the Ruvuma River on the north, which forms the border with Tanzania, and the Messal ...

, which has a more temperate climate than the coast, but where, because of the permeable sandy soil, water infiltrates to a great depth, making it difficult to supply drinking water. In about 1970,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, the ruling authority of Mozambique at the time, built a system to supply drinkable water, under the direction of the engineer Canhoto. In the 1980s, after the independence of Mozambique from Portugal, the system was rebuilt by the Mozambican government, with the assistance of

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

and

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

co-operation.

Climate

History

Mueda was founded around a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

colonial

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

Massacre of Mueda

On 16 June 1960, Makonde nationalists organized a demonstration in front of the Mueda District headquarters on the Mueda town square in order to demand independence from Portugal. Apparently the district administrator had invited them to present their grievances. The administrator ordered the leaders arrested, and the crowd protested. The Portuguese administrator ordered his pre-assembled troops to fire on the crowd, after which many more were thrown to their death into a

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...

. The number of dead is in dispute. However, resentment generated by these events ultimately led to the independentist guerrilla organization

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It has governed the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975. Founded in 1962, FRELIMO began as a nationalist movement fighting for the self-determination ...

gaining needed momentum at the outset of the

Mozambican War of Independence The Mozambican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the guerrilla forces of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) and Portuguese Armed Forces, Portugal. The war officially started on 25 September 1964, and ended with a ceas ...

(1964–1975). The site of the massacre is marked by a commemorative

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

War for independence

The Makonde were strong supporters of FRELIMO. In fact, the Makonde African National Union (MANU - later Mozambique African National Union) was one of the three founding organizations of FRELIMO. Mueda was also the site of Portuguese operations against FRELIMO. In 1967, in one of its first major military actions, FRELIMO launched an abortive attack against the airbase there, although the base was seriously damaged. In May 1970, General Arriaga began

Operation Gordian Knot Operation Gordian Knot (''Operação Nó Górdio'') was the largest and most expensive Portugal, Portuguese military campaign in the Portuguese overseas province of Portuguese East Africa, Mozambique, East Africa. The operation was carried out ...

, headquartered out of Mueda. By the end of the operation, he claimed to have eliminated over seventy FRELIMO bases. However, other than loss of equipment and supplies, the operation did not affect FRELIMO's ability to infiltrate additional arms from

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, and did not substantially affect their ability to wage war. In a later attack, in 1972, against the Mueda airbase, all nineteen airplanes were destroyed.

Images from Mueda

File:Municipio de Mueda (9806338906).jpg, Mueda Municipality Building File:MuedaAirport.JPG, Mueda Airport c. 1995 File:MuedaGas 0126.jpg, Refueling station in Mueda c. 1995

Notes

External links

{{commons category Populated places in Cabo Delgado Province Makonde people Mozambican War of Independence