Maputo

Sister cities

• Chengdu
• Macau
• Shanghai
• Rio de Janeiro
• Lagos
• Durban
• Luanda
• Brasília
• Lisbon
• Lichtenberg

History

On the northern bank of Espírito Santo Estuary of Delagoa Bay, an inlet of the Indian Ocean, Lourenço Marques was named after the Portuguese navigator who, with António Caldeira, was sent in 1544 by the governor of Mozambique on a voyage of exploration. They explored the lower courses of the rivers emptying their waters into Delagoa Bay, notably the Espírito Santo. The forts and trading stations that the Portuguese established, abandoned and reoccupied on the north bank of the river were all named "Lourenço Marques". The existing town dates from about 1850, with the previous settlement having been entirely destroyed by the natives. The town developed around a Portuguese fortress completed in 1787. In 1871, the town was described as a poor place, with narrow streets, fairly good flat-roofed houses, grass huts, decayed forts, and a rusty cannon, enclosed by a recently erected wall high and protected by bastions at intervals. The growing importance of the Transvaal led, however, to greater interest being taken back in Portugal in the development of a port. A commission was sent by the Portuguese government in 1876 to drain the marshy land near the settlement, to plant the blue gum tree, and to build a hospital and a church. A city since 1887, it superseded the Island of Mozambique as the capital of Mozambique in 1898. In 1895, the opening of the NZASM railroad to Pretoria, South Africa, caused the city's population to grow. The Witwatersrand Gold Rush, which began in 1886, also increased the economic development of the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as Lourenço Marques served as the closest seaport for the export of gold from South Africa. On 9 December 1876, Lourenço Marques was elevated to the status of town ("vila" in Portuguese), and on 10 November…

Geography

Maputo is located on the west side of Maputo Bay, near the Estuário do Espírito Santo where the four rivers Tembe, Umbeluzi, Matola and Infulene drain. The bay is long and wide. At the extreme east of the city and bay is the island of Inhaca. The total area covered by the municipality of Maputo is and borders the city of Matola northeast and east, the districts of Marracuene to the north; Boane in the east and Matutuíne at the south all of which are part of Maputo Province. The city is from the South African border at Ressano Garcia and from the border with Eswatini near the town of Namaacha. Maputo features a tropical savanna climate (Aw) under the Köppen climate classification, having enough precipitation to prevent it from being classified as a hot semi-arid climate (BSh). Maputo is a relatively dry city, averaging of precipitation per year. Precipitation is abundant during summer and sparse during winter. The city has a relatively warm climate averaging a mean temperature of . The hottest month is January with a mean temperature of , while the coolest month is July with a mean temperature of . A 2019 paper published in PLOS One estimated that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, a "moderate" scenario of climate change where global warming reaches ~ by 2100, the climate of Maputo in the year 2050 would most closely resemble the current climate of Goiânia in Brazil. The annual temperature would increase by , and the temperature of the warmest month by , while the temperature of the coldest month would increase by . According to Climate Action Tracker, the current warming trajectory appears consistent with , which closely matches RCP 4.5. Moreover, Maputo is particularly vulnerable to impacts such as cyclones and flooding caused by sea level rise.…