Zambezia Company

[3] To explore this vast swath of land, the Society of Founders of the Companhia Geral da Zambézia was created in 1879.

[3] Though the company was primarily dedicated to agriculture, livestock, and salt, there were also company-operated palm, sisal, and maize plantations.

It was also the largest company at the time dedicated to transportation, developing navigability on the Zambezi River and constructing a railway that would run from Quelimane to Manquival.

[2] The company was a machine for conquering unruly land in the district of Tete and then Quelimane, where they extracted the capitation tax (mussoco) and the workers for agricultural work.

[2] With the progress of the “pacification” of the highlands of Quelimane and Angónia, they quickly revealed themselves as reservoirs of labor imported to South Africa and later to São Tomé.