Caminhos de Ferro e o desenvolvimento de Moçambique: linha Marracuene- Manhiça 1914-1960

Abstract

This work focuses on the construction of the Railways in Mozambique and its relationship with the socioeconomic development of Mozambique. The work focuses specifically on the Marracuene-Manhiça line that left from Lourenço Marques (current Maputo) to Vila Luiza (Marracuene), and which after many years was connected to Manhiça. The railways in Mozambique, built by the Portuguese colonial government, had as their main purpose the transport of raw materials, and were a means of strengthening economic relations with neighboring landlocked countries, such as Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia), Zambia (Northern Rhodesia), Malawi (Niassaland) and Swaziland. The main purpose of the railways was to connect with neighboring countries and to extract resources from the colonies. There were few lines whose main purpose was to develop the region or facilitate connections between the metropolis and areas that were difficult to access. The Marracuene line, a secondary line that connected the district of Lourenço Marques and the constituency of Marracuene, since difficulties were faced in the construction of a road, a railway was built to connect these two regions, this railway that later allowed the construction of other infrastructures, the agricultural development of the region which benefited farmers in the transportation of their goods and years after its inauguration a road was built that connected Lourenço Marques to Marracuene. Around 1958, the connection between the Marracuene line and the Manhiça region was made, this connection boosted the development of the region and the growth of the population, as well as the growth of interest in that region by the colonial government, the fertile areas that the Marracuene-Manhiça line crossed that were on the banks of the Incomáti River allowed the development of farmers in the region and allowed the safe flow of agricultural products. The line that previously had internal importance proved to be very beneficial to the plans of the Portuguese colonial government with the connection of the Marracuene-Manhiça line with Southern Rhodesia.