other · Central and Southern Africa

Mozambique Company

1891 CE – 1942 CE · capital Beira

The chartered company that ruled central Mozambique from Beira, built around the railway to Rhodesia.

Origins

In 1891 Portugal granted a royal charter to the Companhia de Moçambique for the territories of Manica and Sofala in central Mozambique, a region also coveted by Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company. The company made the new port of Beira its capital, and the Anglo-Portuguese treaty of 1891 fixed the border with Rhodesia.

Rule and society

With sovereign rights to tax, grant land and issue its own stamps and currency, the company built Beira into the main port for the landlocked Rhodesias, linked by the Beira railway, which reached Umtali in 1898 and Salisbury in 1899. Sugar, cotton and sisal plantations relied on forced and contract labour, and hut tax provided much of its revenue.

Decline and legacy

The company's charter expired in 1942 and was not renewed. Manica and Sofala came under the direct rule of the colonial government of Portuguese Mozambique, and Beira remained the outlet for Zimbabwe's trade.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Mozambique Company. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mozambique-company
MLA
“Mozambique Company.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mozambique-company. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Mozambique Company.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mozambique-company.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Mozambique Company’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mozambique-company (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻