Chimoio
Chimoio | |
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UTC+2 (CAT) | |
Climate | Cwa |
Chimoio [ʃĩˈmoju] is the capital of Manica Province in Mozambique. It is the fifth-largest city in Mozambique.
Chimoio's name under Portuguese administration was Vila Pery. Vila Pery developed under Portuguese rule as an important agricultural and textiles centre.
The town lies on the
History and landmarks
Pre-colonial era
The city of Chimoio, capital of Manica Province, lies on the Beira Corridor at an altitude of 750 metres, linking the coast and the interior of the continent. The name Chimoio comes from one of the sons of Ganda, paramount chief of the totemic Moyo clan, who came from M´bire and settled in those lands. Oral history says Chimoio, who was a great hunter, once killed an elephant in the lands of another clan. Chaurumba, their chief, judged Chimoio's behaviour to be a crime and ordered his immediate execution. Paramount Chief Ganda then requested permission for his son to be buried in Chaurumba's land and for one of his relatives to settle close to the grave in order to tend and watch over it. From then on, all descendants of the guardians of Chimoio's tomb, together with the site of the tomb, came to be called Chimoio (which in the local dialect, Citewe, means “Great heart”). The strategic position of that region made it a privileged centre through which products passed from the hinterland to the coast.[citation needed]
Arab explorations
The
Portuguese colonization
The
In 1899 the Mozambique Company decided to transfer its District Headquarters from Vila Barreto to a settlement named Chimiala, which came to be called Mandigos. This was the name by which the embryo of the current city of Chimoio was known for some time. Mandigos soon began to gain a certain renown, mainly thanks to the abundance of its harvests, which attracted merchants and hotel and social services. Colonization of Manica received its main impetus in 1910 with the arrival of Portuguese Governor João Pery de Lind who set up a number of procedures to further the development of Chimoio. On 17 July 1916, Mandigos was renamed Vila Pery in recognition and honour of Governor João Pery de Lind, whose judicious measures had made Chimoio into one of the biggest and most visible agricultural centres in Mozambique. A few kilometres from the centre of the current city of Chimoio lies the neighbourhood of Soalpo, which bears witness to the agro-industrial development that made the Province of Manica one of the main targets for agriculture investment in the Portuguese colony. This “town close to the city of Chimoio” was built by SOALPO (Sociedade Algodoeira de Portugal, or Portuguese Cotton Company), in 1944. The object of the company was to encourage cotton and textile production.[citation needed]
Vila Pery was raised to the status of city by the Governor-General of Portugal's Overseas Province of Mozambique,
The Montalto Cinema, built in 1969 and abandoned after independence, was so-named because the “monte alto” or high mountain of Mozambique (
In 1974, during the
Independent Mozambique
The change in name from Vila Pery to Chimoio took place on 12 June 1975, during the public rally of the first President of independent Mozambique -
After achieving independence, the new country was plagued by several years of civil wars (Mozambican Civil War) and social, political and economic instability. During this period the city of Chimoio deteriorated and suffered heavily from the conflict and lack of development.[citation needed]
A trip to Chimoio city always takes place under the curious gaze of a rocky outcrop with a unique aspect. Nature has carved that rock into the shape of an old man's head. Mount Bêngo, commonly known as Cabeça do Velho (Old Man's Head), is one of the city's main tourist attractions nowadays. The climb to the top of the mountain is relatively simple, and a number of small antelopes or monkeys can sometimes be glimpsed in the forest. The view from the top is interesting, with the whole layout of the city of Chimoio below, together with the surrounding rural landscape. The value of the mountain is not limited to its scenic beauty. At certain times of the year it takes on a spiritual role of great importance to local traditionalistic communities. During the rainy season, the falling water looks like tears running down the face of the “old man”. Local beliefs say that the ancestors are angry and that is why they cry. For these reasons, Mount Bêngo is considered to be a sacred place, where ceremonies invoking the world of the spirit take place.[citation needed]
Climate
Chimoio has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cwa).
Climate data for Chimoio | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 28.4 (83.1) |
27.6 (81.7) |
27.5 (81.5) |
26.1 (79.0) |
24.7 (76.5) |
23.0 (73.4) |
22.8 (73.0) |
24.5 (76.1) |
27.2 (81.0) |
28.5 (83.3) |
28.6 (83.5) |
28.3 (82.9) |
26.4 (79.5) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 19.5 (67.1) |
19.3 (66.7) |
18.6 (65.5) |
16.8 (62.2) |
14.0 (57.2) |
12.0 (53.6) |
11.6 (52.9) |
12.8 (55.0) |
14.8 (58.6) |
16.6 (61.9) |
18.0 (64.4) |
19.0 (66.2) |
16.1 (61.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 202.5 (7.97) |
228.2 (8.98) |
163.4 (6.43) |
54.2 (2.13) |
26.4 (1.04) |
16.2 (0.64) |
18.0 (0.71) |
20.7 (0.81) |
15.2 (0.60) |
43.2 (1.70) |
97.3 (3.83) |
206.5 (8.13) |
1,091.8 (42.98) |
Average precipitation days | 11.1 | 11.9 | 9.5 | 5.3 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 4.3 | 7.6 | 11.1 | 73.9 |
Source: World Meteorological Organization[4] |
Demographics
Year (census) | Population[5] |
---|---|
1997 | 171,056 |
2007 | 237,497 |
2017 | 372,821 |
Infrastructure
The city has one of the most important railway stations on the Beira–Bulawayo railway.[6]
See also
References
- ^ VILA PERY-CHIMOIO, a film of Vila Pery, Portuguese Mozambique.
- ^ https://www.cd25a.uc.pt/media/pdf/Biblioteca%20digital/Cota%20MS/MS0266_Seminario%20Guerra%20de%20Africa_2012.pdf
- ^ Couto, Mia (2004-04-01). "Carnation revolution". Le Monde diplomatique. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
- ^ "World Weather Information Service–Chimoio". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
- ^ "Mozambique: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population". World Gazetteer. Retrieved 2008-06-18.[dead link]
- ^ Mozambique Logistics Infrastructure: Mozambique Railway Assessment Archived 2021-08-02 at the Wayback Machine. Atlassian Confluence. 10 de dezembro de 2018.
Further reading
19°07′S 33°27′E / 19.117°S 33.450°E