Maputo

Capital of Mozambique, and Africa's second-largest port, on Delagoa Bay; population (2000 est) 1,019,000. Linked by road and rail with Zimbabwe, Swaziland, and South Africa, it is a major outlet for these countries, as well as for Mozambique. Industries include brewing, shipbuilding, and textile and cement manufacture. Minerals, steel, textiles, processed foods, and furniture are exported.

The town was named in 1544 after the Portuguese trader Lourenço Marques, the first European to explore the region. It was declared a city in 1887, and became capital of Portuguese East Africa in 1907. Before Mozambiques's independence in 1976 it was a popular holiday resort.