Lat: -16.229541999943000, Long: 39.904951999572000

Angoche [António Enes]

Nampula, Mozambique

Historical Background and Urbanism

Before the arrival of Vasco de Gama in 1498, and according to oral local tradition, the archipelago of Angoche, composed of several islands, was inhabited by a community that belonged to the Swahili people of the eastern coast of Africa. The dominant groups in the region, the Anhapakhos, were members of the Shirazi family, which supposedly arrived at the isles of Angoche and to the Isle of Kilwa (in present day Tanzania), whose sultans were also Shirazis, originally from the port of Shiraz on the Persian coast of the Red Sea. One of the founders of the ruling family in the sultanate of Angoche was Hasani, who died at sea and was buried on the island that would later bear his name, Kisiwa Sultani Hasani (known as the Mafamede Island by the Portuguese). According to Duarte Barbosa writing in 1508 the practices, customs and language of the inhabitants of the islands of Angoche were similar to those of the Island of Mozambique. The mainland section of the present day region of Angoche was controlled by the Macua Mulai, under the leadership of Maurruça-muno, who was defeated in the mid-nineteenth century by the new waves of immigrants from the inlands, the Macua Ampamella, headed by Guarnea-muno and Morla-muno. Both regions participated in the trade of gold from Sofala and Mwene-Motapa in Zimbabwe until its exhaustion in the 18th century – when (and until the mid-nineteenth century) they switched first to the ivory trade, and later, until 1910, to the slave trade. They served as agents between the Swahili and Arab world and the interior of the African mainland.
Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Portuguese did not succeed in controlling or settling on the islands or on mainland Angoche. This situation changed when one of the members of the royal family of Angoche islands, Musa Mohammad Sahib Quanto (d. 1879), decided to attack the prazos of Macanja da Costa belonging to the Silva brothers, due to the struggle over the control of the slave routes from the interior to the coast. The Portuguese went to support Silva and a small military dispatch of about 20 men occupied the island in 1861 along with João Bonifácio Silva, one of the Silva brothers. The prazeiros (rural estate holders) after taking revenge on the Anhapakhos, had no interest in settling on the islands and returned home. Consequently, Musa Quanto regained the island where he was acknowledged as sultan and the few Portuguese that lived there were expelled. Since the start of the “effective occupation” of Africa that was definitively undertaken in 1895, the islands of Angoche were subject to repeated attacks by the Portuguese. At the time, the other member of the royal family of Angoche, Omar bin Nacogo Farallahi (known as Farelay by the Portuguese), along with sultan Ibrahim and his allies, the Macua on the mainland, led the resistance that lasted until 1910, when Massano de Amorim and other Portuguese officials succeeded in conquering the region militarily. After the takeover of the island in 1861, the Portuguese created the modern settlement (decree of 05.07.1865), whose charter was approved in the mid-twentieth century (directive no. 11.585 of 04.08.1956, when the town was supplied with water). The evolution of the administrative process of Angoche then went through the following stages throughout the 20th century: seat of a circumscription on the 30th July, 1921, municipality on the 31st October, 1934; elevation to town status on the 19th December, 1934 and to city on the 26th September, 1970. Although the Portuguese continued to administer the region from one of the islands of Angoche (Kilwa), there was already a small cluster of Portuguese in Parapato on the mainland which later became the Vila António Enes (name that lasted until 1976), renamed Angoche after independence.
From the early 1930s onwards, during the Estado Novo (Portuguese political regime), the mainland region of Angoche became one of the hubs for production of cashew and rice, besides the traditional fishing, already practiced on the coast. The Portuguese identified the region of Puli where the African lived as the best mainland area of Parapato. Consequently, the Africans were relocated to the Inguri quarter, created at the time, and the brick and mortar European Vila António Enes was established in Puli.
The urbanistic evolution can be followed in the municipal issue Planta da Vila de António Enes (Plan of the Vila António Enes, scale 1:5,000), dating from 1958, in which the basic grid that structures the coastal settlement is outlined. The 20th century urbanization plans or sketches were drawn up in 1924, 1932 and 1965, (the later designed by architect Bernardino Ramalhete, and reviewed by the Hidrotécnica Portuguesa (Portuguese Hydro-technical Company), in 1972.
In 1968 and 1972, the colonial government, concerned with the spread of liberation movements across the north of Mozambique, undertook several measures in order to obtain the support of Muslims, although many of them were also connected to the policies of decentralization of the Portuguese government from 1971 onwards, which provided additional funds for the colonies. Hence the improvement in the lifestyle of the African population, including basic sanitation and the construction of brick and mortar quarters for Africans, among which was the Inguri Quarter in the city of Angoche. In this epoch, the Portuguese government undertook the restoration of some major historical mosques and built new ones, such as the Mosque of Catamoio, on one of the islands of Angoche, inaugurated by general Kaúlza de Arriaga in 1971. Monuments and Statuary The monument to António Enes, a simple bust over a pedestal, in front of the Town Hall (built before 1954), is worthy of note. It was built as “a homage from the population of the municipality” as can be read in the inscription at its base which is comprised of a prismatic block with two stone buttresses on each side.

Military Architecture

Portuguese Army Barracks

Religious Architecture

Equipment and Infrastructures

Housing

Housing