Quelimane, city in central Mozambique, capital of Zambézia province. Quelimane is located 25 km (16 mi) from the Indian Ocean along the Rio dos Bons Sinais, 110 km (70 mi) northeast of the mouth of the Zambezi River. It is a minor port and home to a fleet of shrimp-fishing boats. It has an airport with regular domestic flights, a 146-km (91-mi) long rail line to Mocuba, and road connections to Nampula, the Zambezi valley, and southern Malawi. Quelimane contains many buildings and monuments that reflect its Portuguese colonial past.
Quelimane was founded in the 15th century as a Swahili trading city, linking gold and ivory producing states in the African interior, especially Great Zimbabwe of the Karanga people, to the Indian Ocean trade network. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed in Quelimane on his way to India in 1498. More than 400 years of continuous, although often tenuous, Portuguese occupation began in 1544. Quelimane was Portugal's favored staging point for trade and conquest along the Zambezi valley. Starting in the 16th century, Portugal leased large tracts of the area surrounding Quelimane to prazeros, expatriate settlers who exercised virtually unrestrained control over local populations and resources.
