Person

Samora Machel

1933–1986 · 20th century

Samora Machel was a Mozambican revolutionary who commanded FRELIMO's guerrilla army and became its leader after Eduardo Mondlane's assassination in 1969. He was the first President of independent Mozambique from 1975, building a one-party socialist state while supporting liberation movements in Rhodesia and South Africa. He died in 1986 when his aircraft crashed inside South Africa.

Samora Machel
Image: Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual Information Center. 1994 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Portuguese Mozambique

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Samora Machel. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/samora-machel
MLA
“Samora Machel.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/samora-machel. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Samora Machel.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/samora-machel.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Samora Machel’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/samora-machel (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻