Island of Mozambique

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UNESCO World Heritage Site
The island of Mozambique seen from Fort São Sebastião (the bridge to the mainland in the background)
Location	Nampula Province, Mozambique
Reference	599
Inscription	1991 (15th Session)
Coordinates	15°02′12″S 40°43′58″E / 15.03667°S 40.73278°E / -15.03667; 40.73278
Location of Island of Mozambique in Mozambique

The Island of Mozambique (

Pottery found on Mozambique Island indicates that the town was founded no later than the fourteenth century. According to tradition, the original

The name of the island (Portuguese: Moçambique, pronounced [musɐ̃ˈbiki]) is derived from Ali Musa Mbiki (Mussa Bin Bique), sultan of the island in the times of Vasco da Gama. This name was subsequently taken to the mainland country which is modern-day Mozambique, and the island was renamed Ilha de Moçambique (Island of Mozambique). The Portuguese established a port and naval base in 1507 and built the Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte in 1522, now considered the oldest European building in the Southern Hemisphere.

During the 16th century, the

Apart from the ancient fortifications, only half of the town is stone-built. The hospital, a majestic neo-classical building constructed in 1877 by the Portuguese, with a garden decorated with ponds and fountains, was repainted white after the Mozambican Civil War. For many years, it was the biggest hospital south of the Sahara.^[4]

With the opening of the Suez Canal, the island's fortunes waned. In 1898, the capital was moved to Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) on the mainland. By the middle of the 20th century, the new harbour of Nacala took most of the remaining business.

Attractions

Other notable buildings on the island include the Palace and Chapel of São Paulo, built in 1640 as a Jesuit College and subsequently used as the Governor's Residence, now a museum; the Museum of Sacred Art, housed in the Church of the Misericórdia run by the House of Mercy, displaying an excellent

• 
  A map engraved by Pieter van den Keere in 1598
• 
  Chart of the Harbour in 1810
• 
  The 3.8-kilometre-long (2.4 mi) Mozambique Island Bridge
• 
  Old Hospital
• 
  Church of Santo António
• 
  Beach cleaning
• 
  Makuti Town

The island is also close to two tourist highlights: Chocas Mar, a long beach about 40 km north of Ilha de Moçambique across the Mossuril Bay and Cabaceiras.

See also

• List of Jesuit sites
• Goa Island (nearby)

References

• O.J.O. Ferreira, Ilha de Moçambique byna Hollands: Portuguese inbesitname, Nederlandse veroweringspogings en die opbloei en verval van Mosambiek-eiland. Gordonsbaai & Jeffreysbaai: Adamastor: 2010
• Malyn Newitt, Mozambique Island: The Rise and Decline of an East African Coastal City, 1500–1700. An article from Portuguese Studies.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ilha de Moçambique.

• Ilha de Mozambique travel guide from Wikivoyage
• World Heritage Site
• Website managed by the Community Multimedia Center of the Ilha de Mozambique