A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues to dominate the west-central part of the country and region, and is the largest city on the Zambezi.

On the east coast of Africa the Portuguese were drawn to Mozambique and the Zambezi river by news of a local ruler, the Munhumutapa, who was said to have had fabulous wealth in gold.

In their efforts to reach the Munhumutapa, the Portuguese established in 1531 two settlements far up the Zambezi – one of them, at Tete, some 420 kilometres (260 mi) from the sea.

[citation needed] Chingozi Airport (IATA: TET, ICAO: FQTT) on the northeastern side of the city has a 2.4 km paved runway.

A second bridge south of the city was opened in late 2014 to allow traffic to Zambia or Malawi to bypass the provincial capital.