Manica e Sofala: subsídios para a sua história e descrição de fontes existentes no Arquivo Histórico de Moçambique (1942-1974)

Abstract

The present work, in addition to being a guide to sources on Manica and Sofala, existing in the Historical Archives of Mozambique, covering the period 1942-1974, contains a small historical approach on the territory of Manica and Sofala, which constitutes the first part. We describe the genesis of the Companhia de Moçambique and its main activities. We found that the main reasons for handing over the territory of Manica and Sofala to the Mozambique Company were due to the need for an effective occupation of the territory, and to the fact that the Portuguese State, despite being a colonizing power, faced immense difficulties in carrying out the occupation. effective, due to the scarcity of financial, human and material resources, imposed by the Berlin Conference, which determined that the colonizing powers should effectively occupy and administer their colonies, so that their borders could be recognized internationally. We highlight the creation of the city of Beira, capital of Manica and Sofala, and its strategic geographic position, in the context of the occupation of the interior of central Mozambique. This occupation was carried out through actions of a political, administrative and military nature with a view to curbing the penetration of other powers. The city of Beira soon became a center for regional development, based on the port and rail services that the city provided, through its port and railways, which is why we highlighted these aspects in the opening chapter. In the second part we describe the archival sources, namely the Fund of the Government of Beira which contain the main documentation of Mania and Sofala from the period under study. We focus on the form of archival arrangement of documentation, its storage and access. We also highlight the main document series within each section Finally, we listed the bibliographic sources existing in the collection of the Historical Archive of Mozambique, referring to the period under study, through a bibliographic repertoire, organized into themes, summarizing the content of each work, in order to facilitate the identification of the subjects covered in the bibliography by part of those interested in the study of Manica and Sofala. In this way, we believe that we have covered, albeit modestly, the gap that existed in terms of sources, from 1942 onwards, if we consider that there is already a working instrument that covers the previous period designated, "Inventário do Fundo ''Company de Moçambique", 1892-1942: a functional approach to the description of permanent archives", which constituted the doctoral thesis presented by Prof. Doctor Maria Inês Nogueira da Costa. We then move on to the period after 1942, when the territories of Manica and Sofala returned to the direct administration of the Portuguese colonial state, emphasizing the way in which the main infrastructure built by international capital, in the period of the Companhia de Moçambique, the port and the railways, were later rescued and purchased by the Portuguese State. We characterized the main agricultural, industrial, commercial and tourist activities of Manica and Sofala in the period leading up to the end of colonialism in Mozambique, highlighting the role of sugar culture and the importance of the Gorongosa National Park(TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)