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118-581: The prazo system based on agriculture broke down as a result of drought and disease in the early 19th century and was replaced by a small number of virtually independent states in the Zambezi valley that were based on the trade in slaves and ivory. The name ‘’’Achikunda’’’ was then applied to groups of professional soldiers in these minor states, who were rewarded with a share of the profits of those trades. Although these minor states were mainly in Mozambique,

236-462: A capitão, or headman. These villages generally produced food to support the chikunda and also made a contribution in cash or goods to their master. If the prazo owner was strong, the chikunda acted as a defence and police force, keeping order and collecting tribute, but under a weak owner or in times of famine, they could become little more than bandits, preying on local communities and disregarding their nominal patron. Individuals were incorporated into

354-591: A different impact on the ecosystems of the delta from today, as it brought nutrient-rich fresh water down to the Indian Ocean coastal wetlands. The lower Zambezi experienced a small flood surge early in the dry season as rain in the Gwembe catchment and north-eastern Zimbabwe rushed through while rain in the upper Zambezi, Kafue, and Lake Malawi basins, and Luangwa to a lesser extent, is held back by swamps and floodplains. The discharges of these systems contribute to

472-420: A few villages. The Afro-Portuguese prazo holders, known locally from at least the early 17th century as “muzungos”, signifying a white man, boss or patron, were of diverse origin and, although most claimed at least some connection with metropolitan Portugal, many had original links with Portuguese India and all, after many generations of intermarriage with African women, were African in appearance and culture. By

590-416: A haven for migratory waterbirds, including pintails , garganey , African openbill ( Anastomus lamelligerus ), saddle-billed stork ( Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis ), wattled crane ( Bugeranus carunculatus ), and great white pelican ( Pelecanus onocrotalus ). Reptiles include Nile crocodile ( Crocodylus niloticus ), Nile monitor lizard ( Varanus niloticus ), African rock python ( Python sebae ),

708-475: A loyalty to the group to which they belonged. They were often recruited from areas of conflict or famine, offering themselves voluntarily or, in some cases, coming as captives. At their height in the 17th century, individual prazeiros such as António Lobo da Silva could have upwards of 5000 chikunda, some reputedly owning as many as 15000. In the mid-eighteenth century, the total chikunda population in Zambezia

826-469: A much larger flood in March or April, with a mean monthly maximum for April of 6,700 m (240,000 cu ft) per second at the delta. The record flood was more than three times as big, 22,500 m (790,000 cu ft) per second being recorded in 1958. By contrast, the discharge at the end of the dry season averaged just 500 m (18,000 cu ft) per second. In the 1960s and 1970s,

944-399: A number of aringas manned by the family's chikunda. After the deaths of João Bonifacio Alves da Silva in 1861 and of his brother Victorino Romão in 1874, the territory they had controlled evolved into a form of chikunda republic, with effective power devolved to the captains of each aringa . However, by the early 1890s, this chikunda statelet was in decline, following the suppression of

1062-564: A number of remote communities around the confluence of the Zambezi and Luangwa rivers. Other former chikunda, together with many Sena people, entered southern Nyasaland after the Portuguese invasion and conquest of Barue in 1901 and 1902 and the introduction by the Portuguese authorities of a system of forced labour there. The name chikunda or Kunda was mistakenly applied at that time as an ethnic designation applied to all these people from

1180-549: A reputation as great cloth traders throughout the region. In a curious note, Goese-born Portuguese trader Manuel Caetano Pereira, who traveled to the Bisa homelands in 1796, was surprised to be shown a second, separate river referred to as the "Zambezi". This "other Zambezi" that puzzled Pereira is most likely what modern sources spell the Chambeshi River in northern Zambia. The Monomatapa notion (reported by Santos) that

1298-630: A small number extended their influence into what are now parts of Zambia and Malawi . The minor states in and around the Zambezi River valley were brought under closer Portuguese control as a result of the Scramble for Africa , which required colonial powers to bring territories they claimed under their jurisdiction, the doctrine of "effective occupation". Between 1891 and 1902, the Mozambique Company took control of this area and

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1416-534: Is joined by sizeable tributaries such as the Luena and the Chifumage flowing from highlands to the north-west. It turns south and develops a floodplain , with extreme width variation between the dry and rainy seasons. It enters dense evergreen Cryptosepalum dry forest , though on its western side, Western Zambezian grasslands also occur. Where it re-enters Zambia, it is nearly 400 m (1,300 ft) wide in

1534-601: Is lost through evaporation in its swamp systems. The 1940s and 1950s were particularly wet decades in the basin. Since 1975, it has been drier, the average discharge being only 70% of that for the years 1930 to 1958. Up to the Late Pliocene or Pleistocene (more than two million years ago), the upper Zambezi flowed south through what is now the Makgadikgadi Pan to the Limpopo River . The change of

1652-463: Is not included in the figures because it only occasionally overflows to any extent into the Zambezi. Because of the rainfall distribution, northern tributaries contribute much more water than southern ones; for example: The Northern Highlands catchment of the upper Zambezi contributes 25%, Kafue 8%, Luangwa and Shire Rivers 16% each, total 65% of Zambezi discharge. The large Cuando basin in the south-west, though, contributes only about 2 m /s because most

1770-521: Is obstructed by a sand bar . A more northerly branch, called the Chinde mouth, has a minimum depth at low water of 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) at the entrance and 4 metres (13 ft) further in, and is the branch used for navigation. About 100 kilometres (62 mi) further north is a river called the Quelimane , after the town at its mouth. This stream, which is silting up, receives the overflow of

1888-481: Is sandy, and the banks are low and reed-fringed. At places, however, and especially in the rainy season, the streams unite into one broad, fast-flowing river. About 160 kilometres (99 mi) from the sea, the Zambezi receives the drainage of Lake Malawi through the Shire River . On approaching the Indian Ocean, the river splits up into a delta . Each of the primary distributaries, Kongone, Luabo, and Timbwe,

2006-618: Is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers 1,390,000 km (540,000 sq mi), slightly less than half of the Nile 's. The 2,574 km (1,599 mi) river rises in Zambia and flows through eastern Angola , along the north-eastern border of Namibia and

2124-546: Is very uniform, dropping only by another 180 m (590 ft) across a distance of around 800 km (500 mi). The first of its large tributaries to enter the Zambezi is the Kabompo River in the North-Western Province of Zambia. The savanna through which the river flows gives way to a wide floodplain, studded with Borassus fan palms . A little farther south is the confluence with

2242-534: The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 and its requirement for effective occupation rather than claims based on early discovery or more recent exploration. In 1880 Manuel António de Sousa, who has previously married a member of the royal family of Barue, which was adjacent to his statelet in Gorongosa, occupied Barue after the death of its ruler. As Barue lay close to both the land route from Sena to Tete and

2360-545: The Ikelenge District of North-Western Province , Zambia, at about 1,524 metres (5,000 ft) above sea level . The area around the source is a national monument, forest reserve, and important bird area . Eastward of the source, the watershed between the Congo and Zambezi Basins is a well-marked belt of high ground, running nearly east–west and falling abruptly to the north and south. This distinctly cuts off

2478-677: The Itezhi-Tezhi Dam 's deleterious effects on the Kafue Flats, this has these effects: The Zambezi Delta has extensive seasonally and permanently flooded grasslands, savannas, and swamp forests. Together with the floodplains of the Buzi , Pungwe , and Save Rivers, the Zambezi's floodplains make up the World Wildlife Fund 's Zambezian coastal flooded savanna ecoregion in Mozambique. The flooded savannas lie close to

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2596-579: The Kuomboka . After Lealui, the river turns south-southeast. From the east, it continues to receive numerous small streams, but on the west, it is without major tributaries for 240 km. Before this, the Ngonye Falls and subsequent rapids interrupt navigation. South of Ngonye Falls, the river briefly borders Namibia's Caprivi Strip . Below the junction of the Cuando River and the Zambezi,

2714-610: The Lungwebungu River . This is the beginning of the Barotse Floodplain , the most notable feature of the upper Zambezi, but this northern part does not flood so much and includes islands of higher land in the middle. About 30 km below the confluence of the Lungwebungu, the country becomes very flat, and the typical Barotse Floodplain landscape unfolds, with the flood reaching a width of 25 km in

2832-540: The Niassa Company . These Portuguese settlers took up residence in the region, founding cities and towns. In the process, they systematically destroyed the indigenous, independent farm-and-trade system and changed it to a plantation-based economy, under Portuguese authority. The expanding Portuguese Empire had their own well-established trading posts, forts and ports in East Africa from the 15th century; this

2950-528: The Quelimane or Quá-Qua, a small river on the northern end of the delta, which at that time was connected by navigable channels to the Zambezi River proper (the connection silted up by the 1830s). In a few of the oldest maps, the entire river is denoted as such. By the 16th century, a new name emerged, the Cuama River (sometimes "Quama" or "Zuama"). Cuama was the local name given by the dwellers of

3068-679: The Swahili coast for an outpost located on one of the southerly islands of the delta (near the Luabo channel). Most old nautical maps denote the Luabo entry as Cuama, the entire delta as the "rivers of Cuama", and the Zambezi proper as the "Cuama River". In 1552, Portuguese chronicler João de Barros noted that the same Cuama River was called Zembere by the inland people of Monomatapa . The Portuguese Dominican friar João dos Santos , visiting Monomatapa in 1597 reported it as Zambeze (Bantu languages frequently shifts between z and r) and inquired into

3186-411: The prazos , certain ex-chikunda took the initiative of fleeing north and northwest and establish their own states, modelled on the prazos. The most successful of these may have been José Rosário de Andrade, known as Kanyemba ("the ferocious"), who began assembling a private army in the 1870s and settled in the region of Bawa, two hundred kilometers west of Tete, from which he either traded with or raided

3304-515: The "Espirito Santo" Rivers converging deep in the interior, at the same lake. However, the Bisa-derived etymology is not without dispute. In 1845, W.D. Cooley, examining Pereira's notes, concluded the term "Zambezi" derives not from the Bisa people, but rather from the Bantu term "mbege"/"mbeze" ("fish"), and consequently it probably means merely "river of fish". David Livingstone , who reached

3422-550: The 16th century, the Portuguese Crown, which claimed ownership of the land in Mozambique , had leased crown lands in the Zambezi valley to Portuguese subjects under grants termed “prazos da coroa” (crown leases), nominally for three lives, with the aim of promoting development and enabling possible European settlement. In theory, a prazo grant could be cancelled if the lessee (or prazeiro ) did not occupy and develop

3540-638: The 1830s, when they were active as farmers and traders. Rich in culture, tradition and music, the Yao are primarily Muslim, and count among their famous progeny two former Presidents of the Republic of Malawi, Bakili Muluzi and Joyce Banda . The Yao had close ties with the Swahili on the coast during the late 19th century, and adopted some parts of their culture, such as architecture and religion, but still kept their own national identity. Their close cooperation with

3658-466: The 1860s by a sixth family, the de Sousa. There were also several less prominent Afro-Portuguese families in this area and on the fringes of Portuguese influence. Most of these families were of Indian, or specifically Goanese, origin although the original Alves da Silva were from Portugal, and all of the families based their economy on the slave trade, despite its legal abolition in 1830, or hunting for ivory, rather than agriculture. Through intermarriage with

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3776-490: The 19th century. The Yao are a predominantly Muslim -faith group of about two million, whose homelands encompass the countries of Malawi , the north of Mozambique , and the Ruvuma and Mtwara Regions of Tanzania . The Yao have a strong cultural identity, transcending national borders. The majority of Yao are subsistence farmers and fishermen. When Arabs arrived on the southeastern coast of Africa, they began trading with

3894-623: The Arabs gave them access to firearms, which gave them an advantage in their many wars against neighbouring peoples, such as the Ngoni and the Chewa . The Yao actively resisted the German forces that were colonizing Southeast Africa (roughly today's Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi). A particular example of Yao involvement in the resistance extended to the coastal areas of Kilwa Kivinje, Mikindani and Lindi on

4012-506: The Batoka Gorge, the current being continually interrupted by reefs. It has been described as one of the world's most spectacular whitewater trips, a tremendous challenge for kayakers and rafters alike. Beyond the gorge are a succession of rapids that end 240 km (150 mi) below Victoria Falls. Over this distance, the river drops 250 m (820 ft). At this point, the river enters Lake Kariba , created in 1959 following

4130-455: The Indian Ocean coast. Mangroves fringe the delta's shoreline. Although the dams have stemmed some of the annual flooding of the lower Zambezi and caused the area of floodplain to be greatly reduced, they have not removed flooding completely. They cannot control extreme floods, and they have only made medium-level floods less frequent. When heavy rain in the lower Zambezi combines with significant runoff upstream, massive floods still happen, and

4248-538: The Indian Ocean is navigable, although the river is shallow in many places during the dry season. This shallowness arises as the river enters a broad valley and spreads out over a large area. Only at one point, the Lupata Gorge , 320 kilometres (200 mi) from its mouth, is the river confined between high hills. Here, it is scarcely 200 metres (660 ft) wide. Elsewhere it is from 5 to 8 kilometres (3 to 5 mi) wide, flowing gently in many streams. The river bed

4366-601: The Makanjila), in Kilwa Kivinje in 1895. On the other hand, by 1893, Harry Johnston , with his British forces, was able to declare that he had practically conquered all the Makanjila territory on the shores of Lake Nyasa . In 1890, King Machemba issued a declaration to Commander Hermann von Wissmann , stating that he was open to trade but not willing to submit to German authority. After further engagements, however,

4484-688: The Pereira family, but two families continued to give the Portuguese governors trouble: the Vas dos Anjos in the Lower Shire and the da Cruz, who ruled a section of the middle Zambezi in Manica and Tete provinces, centred on the aringa of Massangano. The Vas dos Anjos were forced out of their aringa at Shamo, near the junction of the Shire and Zambezi in 1858, but were allowed to regroup further north up

4602-521: The Portuguese raised a much larger force, mainly of auxiliaries from the Nguni peoples, that broke the back of the rebellion by the end of 1917, although fighting on a smaller scale continued through 1918. Even before the Barue Revolt, the chikunda ceased to exist as an active institution and most merged into the general population, but their descendant's identification as chikunda has been preserved in

4720-574: The Portuguese were also involved in a large slave trade that transported Bantu African slaves from Mozambique to Brazil. By the late 1800s, the Portuguese Empire was one of the greatest political and economic powers in the world. Portuguese-run agricultural plantations started to expand, offering paid labour to the tribal population, yet the Yao increasingly became poor plantation workers under Portuguese rule. However, they preserved their traditional culture and subsistency agriculture. As Muslims,

4838-544: The Shire, near its confluence with the Ruo River ; the da Cruz posed much more of a problem. After successes against Angoche and the Pereira and Vas dos Anjos families, the governor of Tete, Miguel Gouveia, assembled a force of chikunda from the prazos around Tete in July 1867 to attack Massangano, which was only a few days march away. However, Gouveia's force was ambushed by da Cruz chikunda while on route to Massangano: most of

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4956-537: The Swahili (and later Portuguese) upriver trade station at Sena . In 1752, the Zambezi Delta, under the name "Rivers of Sena" ( Rios de Sena ) formed a colonial administrative district of Portuguese Mozambique , but common usage of "Zambezi" led eventually to a royal decree in 1858 officially renaming the district " Zambézia ". The Zambezi region was known to medieval geographers as the Empire of Monomotapa , and

5074-605: The Vas dos Anjos had been forced to submit to Portugal in 1884, leaving the da Cruz family at Massangano as the most prominent minor state in the area claimed by Portugal that insisted on its complete independence from the Portuguese Crown. Following the Berlin Conference, this could leave the da Cruz territory open to a British takeover, if it accepted British protection and there were indications it might do so. Manuel António de Sousa then left for Lisbon where, in March 1888, he participated in arrangements that later led to

5192-819: The Yao ended up surrendering to German forces. In Zimbabwe, the Yaos arrived as immigrants and established a society in Mvurwi under the leadership of the Jalisi clan (also known as Chiteleka or Jalasi). They were among the first to bring Islam to Zimbabwe on the Great Dyke Mountain Pass . The Yao also played a major role in the Maji Maji Rebellion in German East Africa. The Yao speak a Bantu language known as Chiyao ( chi- being

5310-591: The Yao people for ivory and grains, exchanged for clothes and weapons. They also traded in slaves. Due to their involvement in this coastal trade, they became one of the richest and most influential tribes in Southern Africa. Large Yao kingdoms came into being, as Yao chiefs took control of the Niassa province of Mozambique in the 19th century. During that time, the Yao began to move from their traditional home to today's Malawi and Tanzania , which resulted in

5428-586: The Yao populations present today. One of the most important milestones for the chiefdoms was the conversion of the entire nation to Islam . In 1870, Makanjila III (one of the Mangochi Yao chiefs of the Nyasa area) adopted Islam as his personal and court religion. Subsequently, through business relations with Arab and Swahili traders, the Yao chiefs (who called themselves “ sultans ”) needed scribes who were literate; thus, Islamic teachers were employed. Within

5546-516: The Yao trade caravans near the coast. The Yao chief Mataka rejected Christianity, as Islam offered them a social system which would seamlessly assimilate their traditional culture. With the prominence of the chiefs turning to Islam, their conversion influenced their subjects to do likewise. The folk Islam which the Yao people have embraced is syncretized with their traditional, animistic belief systems. The Yao originally lived in northern Mozambique (formerly Portuguese East Africa ); A close look at

5664-488: The Yao villages, these scribes had a significant impact on the people, offering not only literacy but the social, religious and economic benefits of the Muslim coastal areas. Furthermore, the Yao sultans strongly resisted Portuguese, British, and German colonial rule , which was viewed as a major cultural, political and economic (as well as personal) threat. The British tried to stop the ivory and slave trade, attacking some of

5782-407: The Yao would not withstand domination by the Portuguese, who forcibly offered them a Christian faith-based education, spoken in the Portuguese language. At least 450,000 Yao people live in Mozambique. They largely occupy the eastern and northern part of Niassa province, and form about 40% of the population of Lichinga , the province capital. They keep a number of traditions alive, including following

5900-471: The Zambezi in the rainy season. Average, minimum and maximum discharge of the Zambezi River at Marromeu (Lower Zambezi). Period from 1998 to 2022. The delta of the Zambezi is today about half as broad as it was before the construction of the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams controlled the seasonal variations in the flow rate of the river. Before the dams were built, seasonal flooding of the Zambezi had quite

6018-959: The Zambezi valley of what is now the Zambezia province of Mozambique and parts of Zambia who had migrated into the Lower Shire valley, regardless of whether they came from chikunda families or not, and many did not. These people were later more correctly called the Sena from their dominant ethnic group. 15th century 16th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 16th century 17th century 15th century 16th century Portuguese India 17th century Portuguese India 18th century Portuguese India 16th century 17th century 19th century Portuguese Macau 20th century Portuguese Macau Zambezi (Period: 1971–2000)4,256.1 m /s (150,300 cu ft/s) The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi )

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6136-543: The Zambezi was sourced from a great internal lake might be a reference to one of the African Great Lakes . One of the names reported by early explorers for Lake Malawi was "Lake Zambre" (probably a corruption of "Zambezi"), possibly because Lake Malawi is connected to the lower Zambezi via the Shire River. The Monomatapa story resonated with the old European notion, drawn from classical antiquity, that all

6254-535: The area around Nkhotakota and the Luangwa valley in search of new herds to exploit. They married women from the local Chewa and Tumbuka peoples and their offspring soon lost their identity as chikunda. By the 1840s, many of the former prazo owners that had survived the droughts and epidemics had left Zambezia and were replaced by five powerful families along the middle Zambezi, the da Cruz, Caetano Pereira, Vas dos Anjos, Ferrão and Alves da Silva, who were joined in

6372-506: The area between Angola and Mozambique, and little in many areas within the present borders of those countries. Although the Portuguese Minister of Marine, Andrade Corvo, who also had responsibility for the overseas territories, attempted bilateral negotiations with Britain in 1879, 1882 and 1884 to fix the Ruo River (now the south-eastern border of Malawi) as the northern limit of Portuguese rule, these talks were overtaken by

6490-536: The basin of the Lualaba (the main branch of the upper Congo) from the Zambezi. In the neighborhood of the source, the watershed is not as clearly defined, but the two river systems do not connect. The region drained by the Zambezi is a vast, broken-edged plateau 900–1,200 m high, composed in the remote interior of metamorphic beds and fringed with the igneous rocks of the Victoria Falls. At Chupanga , on

6608-628: The borders of its territory to facilitate slave raiding and as protection against external threats. The 19th century chikunda set themselves apart from the populations among which they were quartered by living in separate villages and using a mixed language among themselves, containing elements from the chikundas’ Shona and Mang'anja home languages, and also Sena and Tonga terms from the local people, with some Portuguese phrases. They disdained agriculture but took part in tax collection, trading, slave raiding and ivory hunting, as well as military duties and, although many came from matrilineal societies ,

6726-406: The building of dams changed that pattern completely. Downstream, the mean monthly minimum–maximum was 500 to 6,000 m (18,000 to 212,000 cu ft) per second; now it is 1,000 to 3,900 m (35,000 to 138,000 cu ft) per second. Medium-level floods especially, of the kind to which the ecology of the lower Zambezi was adapted, happen less often and have a shorter duration. As with

6844-424: The call from their fathers and pass it on to their sons. The chances of finding a beehive were greatly increased when hunters used the traditional call. The study also mentions that the Yao consider adult and juvenile honeyguides to be separate species, and hunters report that the former but not the latter responds to the specific honey-hunting call. The Yao moved into what is now the eastern region of Malawi around

6962-445: The calm stretches of the river, as well as Nile crocodiles. Monitor lizards are found in many places. Birds are abundant, with species including heron , pelican , egret , lesser flamingo , and African fish eagle present in large numbers. Riverine woodland also supports many large animals, such as buffalo, zebras , giraffes , and elephants . The Zambezi also supports several hundred species of fish, some of which are endemic to

7080-459: The chikunda made night attacks that caused the Portuguese forces to scatter with heavy losses. Although the da Cruz were subsequently left in peace for about 20 years, and recognised as effectively autonomous, they made little use of their military successes and never became more than a bandit state, based on the slave trade and the tolls it could impose on river traffic, as they occupied a sparsely-populated and infertile area. The formal abolition of

7198-439: The chikunda observed patrilineal descent and venerated the spirits of former chikunda, rather than their own ancestral spirits. To further distinguish themselves from local peasant farmers, chikunda had their own patterns of facial tattoos, filed their teeth and wore imported Calico cloth, whereas most local people wore Barkcloth . Portuguese attempts to co-opt the rulers of these minor Afro-Goan and Afro-Portuguese states into

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7316-752: The chikunda of the Rosário Andrade and Arujo Lobo families from raiding in the areas of the Luangwa and Kafue valleys that were now British territory or selling slaves to the Ndebele kingdom after it was conquered by the British South Africa Company in 1893. In Zambezia, the cipais , or armed police, of the Mozambique Company gradually asserted control of the area comprised in the company's charter, taking over

7434-411: The chikunda's police and tax gathering roles, but it took until 1902 before the last of the chikunda states came completely under Portuguese control One of the last such states was the so-called Military Republic of Maganja da Costa. The Maganja da Costa District had become the stronghold of the Afro-Portuguese Alves da Silva family after the final banning of the legal slave trade in 1830, and contained

7552-680: The class prefix for "language"), with an estimated 1,000,000 speakers in Malawi , 495,000 in Mozambique , and 492,000 in Tanzania . The nationality's traditional homeland is located between the Rovuma and the Lugenda Rivers in northern Mozambique. They also speak the official languages of the countries they inhabit, Swahili in Tanzania, Chichewa and Chitumbuka in Malawi, and Portuguese in Mozambique. and in majorine college mulawa uganda notes published by Karungi Ivan s.2 student at macom mulawa uganda . Illnesses in Yao culture are believed to originate through physical reasons, curses or by breaking cultural taboos. In such situations where illness

7670-446: The colonial system by granting them full legal title to the land they occupied, tax exemptions and even sums of cash generally failed. Although these statelets extended the area of nominal Portuguese influence westward and fought off invading Ngoni incursions, their forces were used not only against indigenous African rulers but, from 1849, in fighting among themselves and even against any government forces sent against them. Until 1868,

7788-410: The completion of the Kariba Dam . The lake is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, and the hydroelectric power-generating facilities at the dam provide electricity to much of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Luangwa and Kafue rivers are the two largest left-hand tributaries of the Zambezi. The Kafue joins the main river in a quiet, deep stream about 180 m (590 ft) wide. From this point,

7906-445: The confluence with the Luanginga is Lealui , one of the capitals of the Lozi people , who populate the Zambian region of Barotseland in the Western Province. The chief of the Lozi maintains one of his two compounds at Lealui; the other is at Limulunga , which is on high ground and serves as the capital during the rainy season. The annual move from Lealui to Limulunga is a major event, celebrated as one of Zambia's best-known festivals,

8024-414: The course of the river, as well as the position of lakes Ngami and Nyasa , were generally accurate in early maps. These were probably constructed from Arab information. Yao people (East Africa) The Yao people (or WaYao ) are a major Bantu ethnic and linguistic group living at the southern end of Lake Malawi . They played an important role in the history of Southeast Africa , notably in

8142-413: The definitive Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891 assigned virtually all the contested areas to Portugal. However, after being released, de Sousa was unable to re-establish his control of Barue before being killed in his 1892 attempt to do so. Barue reverted to being an African kingdom, and much of de Sousa's original Gorongosa domain fell under the control of his former lieutenants. The 1891 treaty prevented

8260-405: The desertion of local forces. The expedition of November 1867, mounted in the rainy season, managed to blockade the Massangano aringa , but it ran out of supplies and ammunition, managing, however, to withdraw in good order. The next expedition of May 1868 managed to besiege Massangano and caused significant casualties among its defenders. However, the da Cruz chikunda counterattacked and routed

8378-442: The endemic Pungwe worm snake ( Leptotyphlops pungwensis ), and three other snakes that are nearly endemic - floodplain water snake ( Lycodonomorphus whytei obscuriventris ), dwarf wolf snake ( Lycophidion nanus ), and swamp viper ( Proatheris ). Several butterfly species are endemic. The north of the Zambezi basin has mean annual rainfall of 1100 to 1400 mm, which declines towards the south, reaching about half that figure in

8496-553: The families of leading African chiefs, they were recognised as the legitimate holders of several chieftaincies by their African subjects and they adopted African titles and the indigenous symbols of kingship and patronised local religious cults, yet also received Portuguese offices or military ranks that gave them an official status. The areas controlled by the main families far exceeded those of earlier prazos, and they maintained large numbers of armed chikunda, said to number several thousand, although estimates vary. Their military strength

8614-458: The formation of the Mozambique Company . However, his plans for expansion were soon frustrated by the British South Africa Company , which also laid claim to the Mazoe area. De Sousa's failure to secure more of northern Mashonaland in 1887 allowed Rhodes to contest Portuguese claims in that area. Rhodes' troops arrested de Sousa in 1890 and drove his chikunda out of parts of Barue and Rupire before

8732-484: The former roles of the chikunda in securing slaves and ivory and providing internal and external security for those states became redundant, although many ex-chikunda were involved in the Barue uprising of 1917 to 1918 against the Portuguese government. A few communities along the Zambezi and Luangwa river valleys preserve their chikunda heritage, although most former chikunda have merged into their host communities. Since

8850-409: The government chikunda were massacred and Gouveia himself was executed by the da Cruz forces. Between November 1867 and May 1869, three more expeditions were sent against Massangano, with increasing numbers of troops from Portugal and Goa, artillery and assistance from the chikunda of the de Sousa state of Gorongosa. Each failed because of poor organisation, the effects of malaria on European soldiers and

8968-423: The government forces, causing them heavy casualties. The last and largest expedition of May 1869 was partly defeated by its own size as there was insufficient river transport for the troops or their supplies. Da Cruz chikunda harassed those Portuguese forces that had to march overland to Massangano and their supply lines to such an extent that they could not invest the aringa . Once the Portuguese began to retreat,

9086-470: The government in helping to put down a revolt by supporters of the Vas dos Anjos, reportedly sending 10,000 of his chikunda against these rebels The activities of the Rosário Andrade and Arujo Lobo families along the Upper Zambezi prompted the Portuguese government to lay claim to the Upper Zambezi valley . By the late 1870s, both these families had pledged a vague loyalty to the Portuguese Crown, and

9204-463: The governors of Mozambique and Tete had few troops of their own and preferred to use the chikunda of any prazeiros loyal to the Portuguese government or from any minor state opposed to whatever ruler they targeted, rather than using soldiers from metropolitan Portugal or Goa. These nominally loyal chikunda had been used with some success in the 1850s against slave trading by the Sultan of Angoche and

9322-751: The great African rivers—the Nile, the Senegal , the Congo, and the Zambezi—were all sourced from the same great internal lake. The Portuguese were also told that the Mozambican Espirito Santo "river" (actually an estuary formed by the Umbeluzi , Matola , and Tembe Rivers) was sourced from a lake (hence its outlet became known as Delagoa Bay ). As a result, several old maps depict the Zambezi and

9440-419: The history of the Yao people, in Mozambique as a whole, shows that their ethno-geographic center was located in a small village called Chiconono, in the northwestern province of Niassa . The majority of Yao were mainly subsistence farmers, but some were also active as ivory and slave traders. They faced social and political strife with Portugal’s arrival (in today's Niassa Province) and subsequent establishment of

9558-476: The illicit slave trade. In 1897, the Portuguese raised an armed force from its own chikunda to extend colonial rule in the Zambezi valley, and after this was done, Maganja da Costa was itself occupied by Portuguese forces in 1898, when its independence ended. A chieftaincy established by the Caetano Pereira family north of the Zambezi was occupied in 1902, and Barue, which had regained independence in 1891,

9676-575: The institution of slavery in Mozambique 1875 and of the prazo system in 1878 had little immediate effect on the Afro-Goan and Afro-Portuguese families. Just as the formal abolition of the slave trade in 1830 had simply promoted a clandestine trade that lasted into the 20th century, so the abolition of slavery made no immediate change to the unfree status and situation of the peasants in the minor states. As economical and environmental degradation coupled with upheaval and migration of peoples took its toll on

9794-410: The land, or later deserted it, although in practice the prazo grants were renewed and became hereditary. The prazo holder was responsible for administering justice in the land comprised in his grant and also collecting taxes from its inhabitants, out of which he was supposed to pay an annual rent to the crown, and to maintain sufficient armed retainers to keep the peace. The prazeiros only rarely removed

9912-601: The less prominent families included the Rosário Andrade, whose head was known as Kanyembe and who operated along the Upper Zambezi west of Zumbo , now the westernmost town in Mozambique, and the Arujo Lobo, whose head was called Matakenya and who operated in the Luangwa and Lower Shire valleys. The chikunda of these two families had a reputation for exceptional savagery, never trading with local peoples but taking slaves and ivory by force, disrupting local agriculture and causing famine. One economic reason behind their expansion

10030-460: The local chiefs resident on their estates, preferring to retain them as subordinates, and few attempted to start commercial agriculture, but expropriated the surplus products of their peasants and also profited from the trade in ivory and slaves. The prazos varied greatly in size and number, but in 1763 there were 22 in the captaincy of Sena and 54 in the captaincy of Tete , of which three extended over hundreds of square miles but others included only

10148-440: The lower Zambezi, thin strata of grey and yellow sandstones , with an occasional band of limestone , crop out on the bed of the river in the dry season, and these persist beyond Tete , where they are associated with extensive seams of coal. Coal is also found in the district just below Victoria Falls. Gold-bearing rocks occur in several places. The river flows to the southwest into Angola for about 240 km (150 mi), then

10266-420: The mid-18th century The great Mozambique drought of 1794 to 1802 and subsequent droughts and smallpox epidemics lasting into the 1830s destroyed the agricultural economy of the Zambezia prazos, as the cultivators could not feed themselves, let alone produce surpluses to maintain the chikunda and prazeiros . Many chikunda deserted their prazos and some formed armed bands seeking any means to survive, so worsening

10384-550: The mid-18th century, as the largely African prazo owners followed local customs of matrilineal inheritance, a number of women, known as the Zambezi donas, became owners of prazos and were succeeded by their daughters rather than their sons. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the term “chikunda” was not in general use for the armed retainers of a prazeiro , who could include chattel slaves. However, although many chattel slaves were acquired by capture or purchase to undertake agricultural work, mining or as house-servants or craftsmen on

10502-479: The more important sections of the town. One large aringa , Massangano , had fortifications 1,300 metres long and 150 to 180 metres wide. These mainly Afro-Goan families formed what were in effect small independent states, giving at best token allegiance to the Portuguese crown. From the 1840s, their leaders attempted to extend their influence, either by forcing neighbouring African chiefs to acknowledge their sovereignty or driving out those that resisted. Several of

10620-459: The native idea of this magnificent stream being the main drain of the country". Other historical records show that the river was called Kasambabezi by the Tonga people, which means “only those who know the river can bath in it.” a name which is still in use to this day. In Portuguese records, the "Cuama River" term disappeared and gave way to the term "Sena River" ( Rio de Sena ), a reference to

10738-473: The northern border of Botswana , then along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe to Mozambique , where it crosses the country to empty into the Indian Ocean. The Zambezi's most noted feature is Victoria Falls . Its other falls include the Chavuma Falls at the border between Zambia and Angola, and Ngonye Falls near Sioma in western Zambia. The two main sources of hydroelectric power on

10856-492: The northward bend of the Zambezi is checked, and the stream continues due east. At the confluence of the Luangwa (15°37' S), it enters Mozambique. The middle Zambezi ends where the river enters Lake Cahora Bassa , formerly the site of dangerous rapids known as Kebrabassa; the lake was created in 1974 by the construction of the Cahora Bassa Dam. The lower Zambezi's 650 kilometres (400 mi) from Cahora Bassa to

10974-576: The origins of the name; he was told it was named after a people. "The River Cuama is by them called Zambeze; the head whereof is so farre within Land that none of them know it, but by tradition of their Progenitors say it comes from a Lake in the midst of the continent which yeelds also other great Rivers, divers ways visiting the Sea. They call it Zambeze, of a Nation of Cafres dwelling neere that Lake which are so called." —J. Santos Ethiopia Oriental , 1609 Thus,

11092-455: The prazeros when the Zambezia agricultural system had collapsed, and they were now recruited through gifts of modern weapons, land or wives, and retained by being allowed to share of the profits of slave raiding. Some physically fit slaves were also selected, mostly from those areas north of the Zambezi that were the focus of raiding for slaves. Each of the Zambezia states had a significant force of chikunda divided into regiments, usually based near

11210-602: The prazos, it was normal from the mid-18th century for the retainers who became soldiers or administrators to offer themselves as voluntary unfree dependents in return for protection and a prospect of advancement and enrichment. By the mid-18th century, the term chikunda, which probably derives from the bantu word kunda means “to conquer”, was reserved for the armed clients of the prazo owners, and other designations were used for personal or household slaves. The chikunda of each prazo came from diverse backgrounds, because prazeiros preferred recruits without local ties, but they developed

11328-468: The rainy season and flows rapidly, with rapids ending in the Chavuma Falls , where the river flows through a rocky fissure. The river drops about 400 m (1,300 ft) in elevation from its source at 1,500 m (4,900 ft) to the Chavuma Falls at 1,100 m (3,600 ft), over a distance of about 400 km (250 mi). From this point to the Victoria Falls, the level of the basin

11446-549: The rainy season. For more than 200 km downstream, the annual flood cycle dominates the natural environment and human life, society, and culture. About 80 km further down, the Luanginga , which with its tributaries drains a large area to the west, joins the Zambezi. A short distance higher up on the east, the main stream is joined in the rainy season by overflow of the Luampa / Luena system. A short distance downstream of

11564-441: The ranks of the chikunda through a ritual under which they swore lifelong loyalty to the prazeiro . However prosperous or anarchic they might become, the chikunda could only rarely become completely free of their patron, who guaranteed their status as warriors and their security. Some chikunda did manage to break away from their masters, leave their prazo and hunt for ivory in the Shire valley, where they competed with Yao traders in

11682-766: The river are the Kariba Dam , which provides power to Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the Cahora Bassa Dam in Mozambique, which provides power to Mozambique and South Africa . Additionally, two smaller power stations are along the Zambezi River in Zambia, one at Victoria Falls and the other in Zengamina , near Kalene Hill in the Ikelenge District . The river rises in a black, marshy dambo in dense, undulating miombo woodland 50 km (31 mi) north of Mwinilunga and 20 km (12 mi) south of Ikelenge in

11800-577: The river bends almost due east. Here, the river is broad and shallow and flows slowly, but as it flows eastward towards the border of the great central plateau of Africa, it reaches a chasm into which the Victoria Falls plunge. The Victoria Falls are considered the boundary between the upper and middle Zambezi. Below them, the river continues to flow due east for about 200 km (120 mi), cutting through perpendicular walls of basalt 20 to 60 m (66 to 197 ft) apart in hills 200 to 250 m (660 to 820 ft) high. The river flows swiftly through

11918-489: The river course is the result of epeirogenic movements that lifted up the surface at the present-day water divide between both rivers. Meanwhile, 1,000 km (620 mi) east, a western tributary of the Shire River in the East African Rift 's southern extension through Malawi eroded a deep valley on its western escarpment. At a slow rate, the middle Zambezi started cutting back the bed of its river towards

12036-743: The river. Important species include cichlids , which are fished heavily for food, as well as catfish, tigerfish, yellowfish , and other large species. The bull shark is sometimes known as the Zambezi shark after the river, not to be mistaken with Glyphis freshwater shark genus that inhabit the river, as well. Upper Zambezi: 507,200 km , discharges 1044 m /s at Victoria Falls, comprising: Middle Zambezi cumulatively 1,050,000 km , 2442 m /s, measured at Cahora Bassa Gorge Lower Zambezi cumulatively, 1,378,000 km , 3424 m /s, measured at Marromeu Total Zambezi river basin : 1,390,000 km , 3424 m /s discharged into delta Source: Beilfuss & Dos Santos (2001) The Okavango Basin

12154-405: The situation created by drought. Other former chikunda returned, or attempted to return, to their homelands and resume their old lives, or merged into the local peoples as peasants. A few used their military skills to become elephant hunters and, in the time of Ndebele incursions, they used their guns against the invaders. Some bands of chikunda became elephant hunters, and travelled as far north as

12272-517: The south-west. The rain falls in a 4-to-6-month summer rainy season when the Intertropical Convergence Zone moves over the basin from the north between October and March. Evaporation rates are high (1600 mm-2300 mm), and much water is lost this way in swamps and floodplains, especially in the south-west of the basin. The river supports large populations of many animals. Hippopotamuses are abundant along most of

12390-604: The southern coast of Tanzania in 1888, when the German East Africa Company officials attempted to take control of the coastal areas previously under the Sultan of Zanzibar . The Yao continued to defend their lucrative trade route from the Makanjila domains in southern Nyasa to Kilwa Kivinje over the following years, leading to the execution of one of the more prominent raiders, Hassan bin Omari (an associate of

12508-427: The surrounding countryside. In the 1880s, this warlord was said to have 10000 chikunda at arms. Andrade died in the late nineteenth century, and by 1903 the Portuguese would defeat his state along with the rest of runaway chikunda forces. In the second half of the 19th century, several European powers had increasing interests in Africa that could challenge Portugal's territorial claims, as it had no effective presence in

12626-514: The term "Zambezi" is after a people who live by a great lake to the north. The most likely candidates are the "M'biza", or Bisa people (in older texts given as Muisa, Movisa, Abisa, Ambios, and other variations), a Bantu people who live in what is now central-eastern Zambia, between the Zambezi River and Lake Bangweolo (at the time, before the Lunda invasion, the Bisa would have likely stretched further north, possibly to Lake Tanganyika ). The Bisa had

12744-608: The territory of the da Cruz family, the existence of an unfriendly ruler in Barue, particularly one in alliance with the da Cruz, could block any Portuguese attempts to link Angola and Mozambique. The de Sousa family had been allied with the Portuguese forces attacking Massangano, and the Portuguese government approved of Manuel António's occupation of Barue, although de Sousa did not recognise Barue as part of Mozambique. De Sousa built around thirty aringas in Barue and manned them with his chikunda. In 1884, he again made himself valuable to

12862-508: The upper Zambezi in 1853, refers to it as "Zambesi", but also makes note of the local name "Leeambye" used by the Lozi people , which he says means "large river or river par excellence". Livingstone records other names for the Zambezi—Luambeji, Luambesi, Ambezi, Ojimbesi, and Zambesi—applied by different peoples along its course, and asserts they "all possess a similar signification and express

12980-399: The west, aided by grabens ( rift valleys ) forming along its course in an east–west axis. As it did so, it captured several south-flowing rivers such as the Luangwa and Kafue. Eventually, the large lake trapped at Makgadikgadi (or a tributary of it) was captured by the middle Zambezi cutting back towards it, and emptied eastwards. The upper Zambezi was captured, as well. The middle Zambezi

13098-644: The wetlands are still an important habitat. The shrinking of the wetlands, though, resulted in uncontrolled hunting of animals such as buffalo and waterbuck during the Mozambican Civil War . Although the region has had a reduction in the populations of the large mammals, it is still home to some, including the reedbuck and migrating eland . Carnivores found here include lion ( Panthera leo ), leopard ( Panthera pardus ), cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ), spotted hyena ( Crocuta crocuta ), and side-striped jackal ( Canis adustus ). The floodplains are

13216-414: The wild greater honeyguide birds to find honey. They will, ultimately, smoke the bees out from the beehive, collect the honey and leave behind the wax for the honeyguide birds, whom relish the treat along with any honeybee larvae they find. A 2016 study of the Yao honey-hunters in northern Mozambique showed that the honeyguides responded to the traditional brrrr-hmm call of the honey-hunters. Hunters learn

13334-487: Was about 300 m (980 ft) lower than the upper Zambezi, and a high waterfall formed at the edge of the basalt plateau across which the upper river flows. This was the first Victoria Falls, somewhere down the Batoka Gorge near where Lake Kariba is now. The first European to come across the Zambezi River was Vasco da Gama in January 1498, who anchored at what he called Rio dos Bons Sinais (River of Good Omens), now

13452-403: Was based on a combination of strong defensive fortifications and European firearms, including breech-loading rifles later in the 19th century. Their centres were fortified towns, called aringas , which were a development of the traditional stockaded village. Each aringa consisted of a wooden stockade, supported by earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank, often with inner walls protecting

13570-406: Was estimated at 50000. In a survey of 1766, the two largest prazos were said to have around 700 and 500 chikunda. In early times, the chikunda were usually armed with bows and spears but, by the mid-18th century, some were armed with muskets. The chikunda usually lived in small fortified villages, often near the margins of the larger prazos. Each chikunda village was headed by the owner's deputy called

13688-455: Was in direct competition with the hugely-influential Muslim political forces of Somali, Swahili, the Ottomans, Mughals and Yemeni Sufi orders (to a limited extent), plus the increasing Ibadi influences (from independent Southeastern Arabia). The spice route and Christian evangelization were the main driving forces behind Portuguese expansion in the region. However, later in the 19th century,

13806-535: Was occupied by Portuguese forces, also in 1902. Some of the displaced chikunda resorted to banditry, favouring the areas on either side of the Mozambican borders with the Rhodesias. Although Barue had returned to Portuguese rule in 1902, a succession dispute broke out in 1917, when as many as 15,000 former chikunda revolted against the Portuguese and created aringas in Barue and the Zambezi valley. However,

13924-568: Was the increasing demand for ivory, which had already led to the depletion of elephant herds in many areas nearer the coast and to the search for new ivory sources inland: in areas that could supply little ivory, slaves were taken instead In this period, the term chikunda (or achikunda with the collective prefix) was applied exclusively to the professional soldiers of the Afro-Goan or Afro-Portuguese families. These families maintained large numbers of chikunda, each having several thousand armed men at their disposal. The chikunda had ceased to be clients of

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