View source for Maputo Bay

{{Short description|Bay in Mozambique}}
{{Infobox body of water
| name= Maputo Bay
| native_name ={{native name|pt|'Baía de Maputo}}
| image = delagoa bay.jpg
| caption = Maputo Bay from space, January 1990
| pushpin_map = Mozambique
| pushpin_map_caption =  Location in Mozambique
| coords= {{coord|25|59|S|32|42|E|type:waterbody_scale:2000000|display=inline,title}}
| rivers= 
| oceans=[[Indian Ocean]]
| countries= [[Mozambique]]
| length ={{convert|24|km|abbr=on}}
| width ={{convert|36|km|abbr=on}}
| area= 
| frozen= 
| islands= 
| cities= [[Maputo]]
| reference=
}}
'''Maputo Bay''' ({{langx|pt|Baía de Maputo}}), formerly also known as '''Delagoa Bay''' from ''Baía da Lagoa'' in Portuguese, is an [[inlet]] of the [[Indian Ocean]] on the coast of [[Mozambique]], between 25° 40' and 26° 20' S, with a length from north to south of over 90&nbsp;km long and 32&nbsp;km wide.<ref name="mapcartaA">{{cite web|url=http://mapcarta.com/14426980|title=Baía de Maputo|work=Mapcarta|access-date=9 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/EFS/photoinfo.pl?PHOTO=STS032-74-24 Maputo and Delagoa Bay] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080126194244/http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/EFS/photoinfo.pl?PHOTO=STS032-74-24 |date=2008-01-26 }}</ref>

==Geography==

The bay is the northern termination of the series of lagoons which line the coast from [[Saint Lucia Bay]]. The opening is toward the northeast. The northwestern end of the bay is defined by the Ponta da Macaneta, a [[spit (landform)|spit]] with beaches facing westwards towards the [[Mozambique Channel]], and mangroves behind. The eastern side of the bay is defined by the [[Machangulo]] peninsula, which on its inner or western side affords safe anchorage. North of the peninsula is [[Inhaca Island]], and beyond it a smaller island, "Ilha dos Portugueses" (Portuguese Island), formerly known as Elephant's Island.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Delagoa Bay|inline=1 |volume=7 |page=942}}</ref>

In spite of a bar at the entrance and a number of shallows within, Maputo Bay forms a valuable harbour, accessible to large vessels at all seasons of the year. The surrounding country is low and very unhealthy, but Inhaca island has a height of 73&nbsp;m, and was used as a sanatorium.

The [[Komati River]], also known as the Inkomati or Manhissa, enters the bay at its northern end. Three rivers, the [[Matola River|Matola]] from the north, the [[Mbuluzi River|Mbuluzi]] or Umbeluzi from the west, and the [[Tembe River|Tembe]] from the south, meet in the [[Estuário do Espírito Santo]] on the west side of the bay. The city of [[Maputo]] lies north of the estuary, and the [[Maputo–Katembe bridge]], completed in 2018, spans the estuary. The [[Maputo River]], which has its headwaters in the [[Drakensberg]], enters in the south.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Ecology==
Maputo Bay is part of the [[Delagoa]] marine ecoregion. Habitats in the bay include [[East African mangroves|mangrove wetlands]], seagrass beds, and fringing coral reefs around [[Inhaca Island|Inhaca]] and Portuguese islands.

[[Humpback whale]]s and several species of [[dolphin]]s live in the water while [[southern right whale]]s<ref name=RSSRM>{{cite journal |url=http://dolphincare.org/Research_files/Banks%20S11-RW17.pdf |author=Banks A. |author2=Best P. |author3=Gullan A. |author4=Guissamulos A. |author5=Cockcroft V. |author6=Findlay K. |title=Recent Sightings of Southern Right Whales in Mozambique |access-date=18 December 2014 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305021026/http://dolphincare.org/Research_files/Banks%20S11-RW17.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Richards R.. 2009. [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03014223.2009.9651477 Past and present distributions of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis)]. New Zealand Journal of Zoology. Vol. 36: 447–459. 1175–8821 (Online); 0301–4223 (Print)/09/3604–0447. [[The Royal Society of New Zealand]]. Retrieved on December 18. 2014</ref> and [[dugong]]s<ref>WWW.DUGONGS.ORG. [http://www.dugongs.org/cons.htm SAVING ENDANGERED DUGONGS OF THE WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215101802/http://dugongs.org/cons.htm |date=2015-02-15 }}. Retrieved on December 18. 2014</ref><ref>Bandeira O.S.. Silva E.P.R.. Paula J.. Macia A.. Hernroth L.. Guissamulo T.A.. Gove Z.D.. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10912543_Marine_biological_research_in_Mozambique_past_present_and_future Marine biological research in Mozambique: past, present and future.]. [[Eduardo Mondlane University|University of Eduardo Mondlane]] on [[ResearchGate]]. Retrieved on December 18. 2014</ref> were once numerous in the bay and are rare today.
[[File:Portuguese Islands.jpg|thumb|440px|none|An aerial view of Portuguese Island, a small uninhabited island, located 10 km from Maputo. The island is a popular tourist location in the area.]]

==History==
{{Further|History of Maputo}}
The first European to reach the bay was [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] navigator [[António de Campo]], one of [[Vasco da Gama]]'s captains, in 1502. In 1544 the merchant trader [[Lourenço Marques (explorer)|Lourenço Marques]] explored the upper reaches of the estuaries leading into the bay.<ref name="EB1911"/> Subsequently, [[João III of Portugal|King João III]] ordered the Bay to be named '''Baia de Lourenço Marques'''. Lourenço Marques is reputed to have named the bay '''Baía da Lagoa''' (Portuguese: "Bay of the Lagoon"). In English the Portuguese "Baia da Lagoa" then was translated and slightly transformed to "Delagoa Bay".

In 1720, the [[Dutch East India Company]] built a fort and factory called Lijdzaamheid (Lydsaamheid) on the spot of Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), since April 1721 governed by an ''[[Opperhoofd]]'' (chief factor), under authority of the Dutch Cape Colony, interrupted by [[John Taylor (pirate)|Taylor's pirate occupation]] from April 1722 to 28 August 1722; in December 1730 the settlement was abandoned. Thereafter the Portuguese had—intermittently—trading stations in the Espírito Santo estuary. These stations were protected by small forts, usually incapable, however, of withstanding attacks by the natives.<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1779 the [[Austrian colonial policy|Austrian]] ship "Joseph und Theresia" of the [[Austrian East India Company]] lands at the bay and the Austrians erect the St. Joseph and St. Maria forts. In 1778, an Austrian expedition led by English adventurer [[William Bolts]] established a trading factory at Delagoa Bay. The factory, composed of 155 men and a number of women, traded in ivory, reaching as high as 75,000 pounds per year until the factory was expelled by the Portuguese in 1781.<ref name="Newitt1995">{{cite book|author=M. D. D. Newitt|title=A History of Mozambique|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmozambi00newi|url-access=registration|year=1995|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-34006-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmozambi00newi/page/159 159]–}}</ref><ref>Carl Wadström, ''An Essay on Colonization,'' vol. 1, London, 1794, pp.187–195; B. Struck, “Österreichs Kolonialversuche im 18. Jahrhundert”, ''Völkerkunde: Beiträge zur Erkenntnis von Mensch und Kultur,'' Bd.III, 1 Jahrgang, 1927, S.184–193; Franz von Pollack-Parnau, "Eine österreich-ostindische Handelskompanie, 1775–1785: Beitrag zur österreichische Wirtschaftsgeschichte unter Maria Theresia und Joseph II", ''Vierteljahrsschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgesichte,'' Beiheft 12, Stuttgart, 1927, S.81–82; Alexandre Lobato, ''Os Austriácos em Lourenço Marques,'' Maputo, Imprensa de Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 2000; Walter Markov, “L'expansion autrichienne outre-mer et les intérêts portugaises 1777–81”, in Congresso Internacional de História dos Descobrimentos, ''Actas,'' Volume V, II parte, Lisboa, 1961, pp.281–291.</ref>

In 1823, Captain (afterwards Vice-Admiral) [[W. F. W. Owen]], of the [[Royal Navy]], finding that the Portuguese exercised no jurisdiction south of the settlement of Lourenço Marques, concluded treaties of cession with native chiefs, hoisted the British flag, and appropriated the country from the English river southwards; but when he visited the bay again in 1824 he found that the Portuguese, disregarding the British treaties, had concluded others with the natives, and had endeavoured (unsuccessfully) to take military possession of the country.

Captain Owen re-hoisted the British flag, but the sovereignty of either power was left undecided till the claims of the [[Transvaal Republic]] rendered a solution of the question urgent. In the meantime the United Kingdom had taken no steps to exercise authority on the spot, while the ravages of [[Zulus]] confined Portuguese authority to the limits of their fort. In 1835 [[Boer]]s, under a leader named [[Orich (Boer)|Orich]], had attempted to form a settlement on the bay and in 1868 the Transvaal president, [[Marthinus Pretorius]], claimed the country on each side of the [[Maputo River|Maputo]] down to the sea. In the following year, however, the Transvaal acknowledged Portugal's sovereignty over the bay.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1861, Royal Navy Captain Bickford declared [[Inhaca]] and Elephant islands to be British territory; an act protested by the authorities in Lisbon. In 1872, the dispute between the United Kingdom and Portugal was submitted to the arbitration of [[Adolphe Thiers]], the French president; and on 19 April 1875 his successor, [[Marshal MacMahon]], ruled in favor of the Portuguese.<ref>
[https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XXVIII/157-162.pdf Award on the claims of Great Britain and Portugal to certain territories formerly belonging to the Kings of Tembe and Mapoota, on the eastern coast of Africa, including the islands of Inyack and Elephant (Delagoa Bay or Lorenzo Marques)]. Accessed 12 August 2022.</ref>

Previously, the United Kingdom and Portugal had agreed a right of pre-emption would be granted to the unsuccessful claimant in case of sale or cession of the bay. Portuguese authority over the Mozambican interior was not established until some time after the MacMahon decision; nominally, the country south of the Manhissa river was ceded to them by the [[Matshangana]] chief [[Umzila]] in 1861.<ref name="EB1911"/> In honor of the French president's decision, a beer brewed in Maputo is still today called "MacMahon" or "2M" (Portuguese: "Dois M"). Similarly, the Maputo railway station sat at "Praça MacMahon" (MacMahon Square).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prof2000.pt/users/avcultur/postais/LourencoMarquesPost03.htm |title=Arquivo digital: Lourenço Marques em postais ilustrados |access-date=2013-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130107161112/http://www.prof2000.pt/users/avcultur/postais/LourencoMarquesPost03.htm |archive-date=2013-01-07 }}</ref> After Mozambique's independence from Portugal, it was renamed "Praça dos Trabalhadores" (Workers' Square).

In 1889, another dispute arose between Portugal and the United Kingdom over the Portuguese seizure of the railway running from the bay to the Transvaal. This dispute was also referred to arbitration: in 1900, Portugal was found liable and ordered to pay nearly £1,000,000 in compensation to the railway company's shareholders.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* [[Edward Hertslet|Sir E. Hertslet]], ''The Map of Africa by Treaty'', iii. 991–998 (London, 1909). An account of the Delagoa Bay arbitration proceedings.
* The British blue-book, ''Delagoa Bay, Correspondence respecting the Claims of Her Majesty's Government'' (London, 1875)
* L. van Deventer, ''La Hollande et la Baie Delagoa'' (The Hague, 1883)
* {{cite book 
|title=Narrative of Voyages to Explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar, Performed in His Majesty's ship Leven and Barracouta under the direction of Captain W. F. W. Owen
|last=Owen
|first=W. F. W.
|year=1833
|url=https://archive.org/details/narrativevoyage00owengoog
|others=Volume 1
|publisher=J. & J. Harper}}
* G. McC. Theal, ''The Portuguese in South Africa'' (London, 1896), and ''History of South Africa since September 179,f'', vol. v. (London, 1908). ''The Narrative of Voyages to explore the shores of Africa, performed under direction of Captain W. F. W. Owen, RN.'' (London, 1833) contains much interesting information concerning the district in the early part of the 19th century.
* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Mozambique.htm#Delagoa WorldStatesmen- Mozambique]
{{List of African seas}}
{{Dutch colonies}}
{{Former Austrian colonies}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Bays of Mozambique]]
[[Category:Former Dutch colonies]]
[[Category:Maputo River]]
[[Category:Geography of Maputo]]
[[Category:1720 establishments in the Dutch Empire]]
[[Category:Former Austrian colonies]]