Mozambique Ethnic Groups

Barrio Mafalala

A few weeks ago I wrote about Barrio Mafalala, a Maputo neighborhood of “wooden, zinc houses and unpaved streets”. Mafalala emerged in the 20th century and has historical importance – both before and after Mozambique’s independence in 1975.

Mafalala population consists of immigrants from areas throughout Mozambique and is called a “hybrid culture“. Within the dense barrio, distinct “neighborhood” identities represent:

• Mozambique major ethnic groups
• Regional categories within each ethnic group

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In Mozambique, local languages are standard, meaning that “not everyone within the country can communicate with each other”.

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Bantu Ethnic Group

Mozambicans belong to Bantu ethnolinguistic families indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa. Mozambique “makes up the majority of South Saharan population,” with Bantus inhabiting a vast area across Southern and Central Africa.

Portuguese Influence

Historically, Mozambique experienced eras of Bantu, Swahili, and Portuguese rule. Portugal was the first European power to colonize the African continent. Portuguese colonists ruled Mozambique for almost 500 years (1498 to 1974), and their colonization didn’t unite the indigenous people.

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Mozambique’s fight for independence, followed by a long civil war, resulted in ethnic groups identifying within themselves, not as part of one united country.

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Portuguese is Mozambique’s official language. It’s spoken by a quarter of the population and considered a second language by many. Other languages spoken include Makhuwa, Changana, Nyanja, Ndau, Sena, Chuwabu, and Tswana (Setswana). Marginal transportation and regional language differences within Mozambique created a lack of national identity and poor communication among the people.

Ethnic Groups

Mozambique’s primary ethnic groups include:

• Makua / Lomwe
• Tsonga / Shangaan (Shangana)
• Makonde
• Shona
• Sena
• Ndau
• Yao
• Swahili
• Chopi
• Ngoni
• European / Mestiço
• South Asian – Indian and Chinese

Makua

Makua are the largest ethnic matriarchal tribe in Mozambique, and many speak Portuguese. They’re dominant in four northern provinces – Nampula, Cabo Delgado – scene of violent insurrections since 2021, Niassa, and Tete – as well as southern Tanzania and the Republic of Congo. There are “various dialects among the Makua, all traceable to a single language spoken thousands of years ago”.

Lomwe

Lomwe and Makua are related and comprise almost forty percent of Mozambique’s population. Lomwe practice a form of “body modification called scarification,” where “symbolic designs are scarred into their bodies”. This ancient practice is dying out.

Tsonga / Shangaan

Tsonga live mainly in southern Mozambique. They’re a “sister tribe to the Shangaan people who live in South Africa’s Northern Provinces”.

Tsonga are farmers with a culture and economy focusing on “pastoralism and mixed agriculture”. Cassava, their most important staple crop, is a major source of dietary energy and the highest producer of carbohydrates. Polygamy is prevalent in Tsonga culture, and Chieftaincy is followed, giving the ruling king absolute authority.

Shangaan developed from a mixture of Bantu-speaking people, including Nguni, Shona, and Chopi. Some came to Mozambique after fleeing Zulu massacres led by South Africa’s violent King Shaka Zulu.

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Swahili dealt mainly in African slaves, ivory, gold, and Asian fabric and beads.

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Makonde

Makonde living in Mozambique and Tanzania are related but physically separated by the Ruvuma River. Those living in the two countries are further split by language and cultural differences.

The Makonde are master carvers and sell their carvings throughout East Africa. Makonde have a matrilineal society where women control inheritances and children. Men move into women’s villages and homes.

Shona

Most Shona live in Zimbabwe, but some make their home in Mozambique’s Zambezi Valley, South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia. Over a thousand years ago, ancestors of the Shona built “great stone cities” in Africa.

The Zimbabwean “mbira” is a traditional Shona musical instrument played for over 1,000 years at religious rituals and social occasions. The mbira has 22 or more metal keys mounted on a hardwood soundboard. Musicians play the keys using two thumbs to pluck down and the right forefinger to pluck up. The mbira is associated with Chimurenga – “Zimbabwean music about the struggle for human rights, political dignity, and social justice”.

Sena

Almost two million Sena live in Mozambique Zambezi Valley. Some believe the Sena have Jewish ancestry and are thought to be descents of Ephraim, biblical Jacob’s half-African son.

Sena resisted Portuguese Colonialism during the independence movement. As farmers, they keep cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs and grow cotton, maize, mangoes, and sugar cane. Sena are skilled musicians, and practice “Kulowa Kufa, where women are obligated to marry the brother of a deceased husband or another man in the same family”.

Ndau

The Ndau of Mozambique live mainly in the Zambezi Valley but spread to the coast and Zimbabwe. The Ndau are excellent herbalists.

Storytelling plays a big role in Ndau life, including folktales and narratives often told through sculpture images. Zimbabwean Zachariah Njobo is a popular Ndau sculptor known for his carvings of animal-like birds, owls, and elephants.

Yao

Yao live in small villages between the Ruvuma and Lugenda Rivers. A “head man, chosen through matrilineal succession, leads each village”. They maintain an agricultural society and use “slash-and-burn techniques for growing their drought-tolerant staple crops – sorghum and maize”.

Yao have lived in the northwestern Mozambique Niassa Province for hundreds of years. When Arabs arrived in Africa, they traded with the Yao in exchange for clothes and guns. Successful involvement in trade made the Yao one of the richest and most influential ethnic groups in Southern Africa.

Swahili

Swahili live mostly in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar, with some residing in northern Mozambique. They speak Swahili, follow Islam, and wear traditional Islamic dress.

Unlike rural farmers with indigenous religions, affluent Swahili merchants are often urban dwellers living in elaborate houses within a well-educated Muslim civilization. Swahili farmers and fishermen often live in coastal areas, where towns and villages are built around a central mosque.

For centuries, the Swahili were merchants in the ancient commerce between the interior of Africa and Indian Ocean countries. Unique Swahili identity is not always the same, because the Swahili have “never formed a single polity“. There are clusters of groups, each with its own occupation, way of life, and ranked position”. Groups include descendants of original Swahili merchants:

• Oman Arab rulers of the 18th century Sultanate of Zanzibar
• Arab colonists from the 19th and 20th centuries
• Slaves

Chopi

The Chopi of Mozambique are related to Tsonga. Traditionally, Chopi lived in the southern Zavala district in Inhambane Province. The elephant is their symbol. Mozambique Civil War coupled with drought greatly reduced Chopi population, forcing many survivors to move far from their homelands.

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UNESCO describes Chopi music as a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity”.

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Chopi were part of the Sofala and Gaza Empire founded by the Nguni traditional ruler Chief Nzamba. Mbila and timbila instruments are like large xylophones. They’re part of traditional Chopi musical instruments that have flourished in Africa.

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The sound produced by Chopi mbila and timbila instruments is a combination of xylophone, horns, rattles, and flute. These musical instruments are an iconic symbol of Mozambique.

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In August, an annual Timbila festival takes place in Praia do Tofo, a beach town in the Zavala District and a UNESCO world heritage site. Featuring traditional music, it’s “supported by the One Ocean New Year’s Music Festival and Gil Vicente Café Bar“.

Ngoni / Nguni

The Ngoni trace back to South African Zulus, who moved from southern Africa further north after social reorganization in their home region. Superstitions, ancestor worship, and witchcraft are a deeply rooted part of Zulu identity and ethnic religion. IsiXhosa and IsiZulu are Nguni languages spoken in southern Africa by Nguni people. The two languages are closely related and even “mutually intelligible”. 

European, Mestiço, European-Descendant

Mozambique’s European and European-descendant population is a major “part of the country’s demographics“. Portugal left a strong colonial legacy, including Portuguese as Mozambique’s official language. After Mozambique independence in 1975, some Portuguese and British left the country. A few remained, along with a mestiço population of mixed Portuguese and African heritage.

South Asian and Portuguese 

India’s links with Mozambique go back “half a millennium”. Indian Muslim traders from Malabar “plied Indian Ocean trade routes”. Vasco da Gama found Hindu traders during his first Mozambican visit in 1499. Portuguese were the first to engage in 16th century transatlantic slave trade.

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By the 1800s, Indian merchants cooperating with Portuguese shippers became active in the slave trade.

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Chinese people settled in Mozambique in the 1870s. Portuguese colonists went to Macau China and “recruited Chinese carpenters and unskilled laborers to construct railways”. Many Asians started as carpenters but later moved into shop keeping. They established community associations and educated their children at Chinese-language schools. An outbreak of plague in 1899 was blamed on Indians, and thereafter, Asian migration halted.

Tribalism in Africa

Tribalism in Africa is a heady subject – at least to me. I’ve traveled throughout Africa for many years. During each trip I learn more about the countries, their people, history, culture, strengths, contributions, economic / social issues, and challenges. Tribalism (often confused with ethnicity) is something I’m still learning about. It’s a complex subject, especially in diverse, enthralling Mozambique!

Back to Cape Town

I’m happy to return to Cape Town tomorrow! In Africa, South Africa is the closest thing to home for me, and there are people to visit and interesting things to do!