Quelimane

Seaport and capital of Zambezia province in northern Mozambique, lying on the Quelimane River, 322km/200 mi northeast of Beira; population (1991 est) 146,200. First a Swahili trading centre, Quelimane was visited by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498, and there followed over 400 years of Portuguese occupation, during which, until 1875, the port was a major centre of the slave trade. Under the Portuguese, plantation agriculture was developed in the area, producing coconuts, cotton, sugar, oilseeds, tea, and rice. Following independence in 1975 and civil unrest in the 1980s, the port, and its hinterland, experienced economic decline, though it continues to be a centre for administration, marketing and processing of agricultural produce, and for the fishing industry, especially shrimp fishing.