Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Historical Dictionary of Mozambique (Historical Dictionaries of Africa)

Product Description The new edition of Historical Dictionary of Mozambique covers the Bantu expansion; the arrival of the Portuguese navigators and their str competition with local African power centers and coastal Arab-Swahili trading towns; the trade cycles of gold, ivory, and slaves; the establishment of the semi-Africanized prazos along the Zambezi Valley; "pacification" campaigns; and the period of Portuguese weakness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when vast tracts of land were rented to concessionary companies. In the late colonial period the Salazar dictatorship tried to reassert Portuguese power, but after ten years of armed struggle for national liberation, Mozambique gained its independence in 1975. The book contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 600 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Mozambique. Review This readable third edition of a major English-language reference work on one of the two former Portuguese colonies of southern Africa is the first update in fifteen years. Editorship has shifted to a librarian and researcher with extensive experience of Mozambique, both in-country from 1979 to 1987, and subsequently on the international scene. All entries in the volume are freshly written to reflect the publication of significant new scholarship on Mozambique in languages other than the two primary bodies of research in Portuguese and English and 21st-century economic and political events. Readers are also provided with information on aspects of Portuguese usage in Mozambique and a valuable introduction covering basic background on land and climate, religion, and major stages of both colonial and post-independence history. Appendixes provide a chronology of colonial military commanders, governors and heads of state from 1501 to 2018, and a listing of contemporary and historical sources of statistical information. Readers will find the listing of acronyms from organizations or governmental units formed in Mozambique and the lengthy bibliography of print and internet resources invaluable. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.--CHOICE About the Author Colin Darch is a retired documentalist, librarian and historian who currently holds honorary positions at the University of Cape Town and the Human Sciences Research Council. He worked in Mozambique between 1979 and 1987, and visits frequently. He has published on the country in both English and Portuguese and runs the website Mozambique History Net.