Mozambique

Mozambique is a country in Africa.

It is long and has a very long beach. The Indian Ocean is next to it. The capital city is Maputo.

Mozambique is a country in southeastern Africa with a long coastline on the Indian Ocean. Across the water, called the Mozambique Channel, lies the big island of Madagascar. The land is low near the coast and rises toward high plateaus and mountains in the west.

The Zambezi River flows across the middle of the country. Mozambique is about the size of the U.S. states of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah put together. About 35.6 million people lived there in 2025. The capital, Maputo, is a port in the far south.

Mozambique is bordered by Tanzania to the north, the Mozambique Channel to the east, South Africa and Eswatini to the south and southwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Lake Niassa (Lake Malawi) to the northwest. Lowlands dominate the south, narrowing to a coastal plain north of the Zambezi; inland the land rises steadily to high plains and mountains. Britannica notes that its coastline offers some of Africa's best natural harbors.

After independence in 1975, Mozambique endured a long civil war that formally ended in 1992. The World Bank counted 35,631,653 people in 2025. The economy rests on agriculture, the Zambezi's hydroelectric power, Indian Ocean shipping, and coal and natural gas, though Britannica notes that more than half the population has remained in poverty. Daniel Chapo has been president since January 2025.

Maputo is the capital, by a big bay.

It has tall buildings and busy cafés. Far to the north is a small island with an old stone town. It is a special World Heritage Site.

Maputo, the capital, sits beside the deep harbor of Maputo Bay. Until independence it was called Lourenço Marques. It is known for its colonial buildings and lively cafés. Other big cities include Beira, Quelimane, Nampula and Nacala, and most of the country's big towns are on or near the coast.

In the north, the Island of Mozambique is a small coral island joined to the mainland by a bridge. Its stone town and its palm-leaf-roofed town show how African, Swahili, Arab, Indian and Portuguese people mixed here. It was the first capital of Portuguese Mozambique and became a World Heritage Site in 1991.

Maputo, known until independence as Lourenço Marques, has fine colonial-era architecture beside the deepwater harbor of Maputo Bay and is the country's commercial and cultural center. Other major cities, mostly on or near the coast, include Beira, Quelimane, Chimoio, Tete, Nampula and Nacala.

UNESCO inscribed the Island of Mozambique in 1991. This coral island, 4 km off the coast of Nampula Province and linked by a bridge built in the 1960s, played a role in Indian Ocean trade from the 10th century and was the seat of Portuguese colonial government from 1507 to 1898, when the capital moved to Lourenço Marques. Its northern stone-and-lime town shows Swahili, Arab and European influences, its southern macuti town has traditional palm-leaf roofs, and the Fortress of St. Sebastian dates from 1558–1620. In the far south, Maputo National Park forms part of the transboundary iSimangaliso Wetland Park – Maputo National Park World Heritage property with South Africa.

Mozambique is warm most of the year.

The north gets lots of rain. The south is drier. Big rivers like the Zambezi and the Limpopo flow to the sea.

Mozambique is mostly tropical and warm, with average temperatures in the low to mid-20s °C. The north gets much more rain than the south, and some parts of the south are so dry that droughts happen. Big storms called cyclones sometimes strike, like Cyclone Idai in 2019.

The Zambezi River cuts through the middle of the country in a deep valley that is part of the Great Rift Valley, and the Limpopo flows through the south. Mount Binga, on the border with Zimbabwe, is the highest point at 2,436 meters.

The land rises gently from east to west. Four of five highland regions lie along the western and northwestern borders: the Chimoio Plateau with Mount Binga (2,436 m), the country's highest point, the Marávia highlands, the Angónia highlands and the Lichinga Plateau; Mount Namúli (2,419 m) dominates the northern interior. The lower Zambezi valley is part of the Eastern (Great) Rift Valley.

Much of the coast feels the Indian Ocean monsoon, strongest in the northeast. Daily temperatures average in the low to mid-20s °C. The north and the central region east of the Shire get 1,010–1,780 mm of rain a year, more around Beira and Quelimane, while the south-central interior is semiarid and subject to drought. In March 2019 Cyclone Idai devastated the Beira area, and Cyclone Kenneth struck the north weeks later. Forests survive in the north-central interior and on the Chimoio Plateau; the south turns to brush and savanna.

Elephants and lions live in Gorongosa park.

Hippos and crocodiles live in slow rivers. Flamingos wade in the water. Sharks and turtles swim along the coast.

Mozambique's wildlife includes elephants, lions, leopards, zebras, buffalo and many antelope. Crocodiles and hippopotamuses live in slow-moving rivers, and flamingos, storks, herons and pelicans are common, especially in the wetter northeast.

Gorongosa National Park has been bringing wildlife back. In 2018 and 2019 African wild dogs were returned to the park, and by 2019 it had 146 known lions and about 800 elephants. Along the coast, sea turtles nest on beaches and whale sharks swim offshore in the far south.

Britannica lists elephants, warthogs, leopards, baboons, zebras, antelopes, lions and buffalo, crocodiles and hippos in slow waterways, pythons, puff adders and cobras, and abundant waterbirds, especially in the moister northeast. Parks include Gorongosa, Zinave, Bazaruto and Banhine, the Niassa reserve on the Tanzanian border, and Limpopo National Park within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park with South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Gorongosa National Park reports a strong recovery: 14 African wild dogs were reintroduced in 2018 and 15 more in October 2019, the lion population reached 146 known individuals and the elephant population about 800 by 2019, and the park has supplied sable, waterbuck, oribi and reedbuck to rewild Zinave and the Maputo reserve. UNESCO describes the iSimangaliso–Maputo property as rich in nesting turtles, dolphins, migrating whales and whale sharks, and large waterbird colonies.

About 35.6 million people live in Mozambique.

People speak many languages, like Makua and Tsonga. Many meals have cassava or corn porridge with a sauce. Music and dancing are popular.

Mozambique has many peoples, such as the Makua-Lomwe, Tsonga, Sena, Ndau, Chopi, Chewa, Yao, Makonde and Ngoni. Most people speak Bantu languages; Makua and Lomwe are spoken by almost half the population. Portuguese is the official language, and about two out of five people use it to talk across groups.

For many families, the daily food is cassava or a cornmeal porridge called massa, eaten with a sauce such as matapa, made from cassava leaves and peanuts or coconut. Chicken piri-piri and grilled prawns are famous dishes. Chopi xylophone orchestras and a lively music called marrabenta are well known.

Britannica stresses that ethnic categories are fluid and shaped by colonial history; some, such as Makua-Lomwe, were created by Portuguese officials. The Zambezi roughly divides matrilineal groups to the north from patrilineal groups to the south. Makua and Lomwe are spoken by almost half the population, Shona by more than one-tenth and Tsonga by almost one-seventh; Swahili, Yao, Makonde, Nyanja and Shangaan are shared with neighbors. Portuguese, official but the first language of only a tiny fraction, is a lingua franca for about two-fifths, concentrated in cities.

Staples are cassava or massa (cornmeal porridge) with sauces such as matapa; Indian influence shows in pilau and caril (curry), and piri-piri flavors chicken and Mozambique Channel prawns. Marrabenta, first played in the 1950s on guitars made from oil cans and fishing line, carried subtly political lyrics, and the Chopi xylophone ensemble is among the best-known traditions; the National Song and Dance Company is based in Maputo.