The Nampula coast has been on the map of Indian Ocean trade routes for more than a thousand years. Long before the Europeans arrived, Arab and Swahili merchants settled on the islands and inlets of the coast, trading gold, ivory and cloth with the interior of the continent.
The Portuguese arrival, 1498
In 1498, Vasco da Gama's fleet passed the Island of Mozambique on its way to India. The island would become Mozambique's first capital and the main Portuguese trading post in the western Indian Ocean for almost four centuries.
From this overlapping of peoples came the architecture still seen today across its three square kilometres: Arab-Swahili mosques, Indian merchants' houses, Portuguese churches and fortresses — the Fortress of São Sebastião among them.
World Heritage since 1991
UNESCO listed the Island of Mozambique as a World Heritage Site in 1991, recognising the exceptional preservation of its urban fabric and the way four building traditions coexist side by side.
The culture that remained
The heritage is not only in stone. The Tufo dance, performed by women with goatskin drums and chants in Kiswahili and Emakhwa, was born on the Island more than 300 years ago under Arab and Swahili influence, and spread along the whole coast.
Inland, the Mapiko — the mask dance — keeps alive a ritual initiation tradition. And across the province, pottery, basketry and ebony carving are still made as they always have been.
Where to see it up close
The National Museum of Ethnology, in Nampula city, is the best gateway to the material culture of northern Mozambique. On the Island, the Fortress of São Sebastião and the Palace of São Paulo tell the colonial side of the story.
Visit the Island of Mozambique
Want to see this up close?
We organise visits to the Island and its museums with local guides.
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