PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA Portuguese East Africa, which extends along the coast from Natal to German East Africa, and inland to the borders of the Transvaal, Rhodesia, and Nyasaland, and the eastern shores of Lake Nyasa, has an area of about 300,000 square miles and a population which is estimated at over 3,000,000, of whom less than 10,000 are Europeans. The country consists, in the main, of the East African coastal plain and the slopes of the plateau. South of the Zambesi, it extends on to the plateau itself only in a few places, but, to the north of that river, it includes the part of the plateau which lies east of Lake Nyasa and south of the Rovuma. Comparatively little is known about the climate, especially in the interior. On the coast, Lourenco Marques, in the south, has a mean annual temperature of 75° F., with a range from 68° F. in July to 83° F. in February ; while at Mozambique, towards the north, the figures for the year are 79° F., for July 74° F., and for January 82° F. The rainfall is generally over 30 inches, though in some parts of the interior it is less, while along the coast, north of the mouth of the Zambesi, it is over 40 inches.
Economic progress has been very slow. Except in some of the drier regions of the interior, the country is generally covered with forest, and along the coast it is often swampy and unhealthy. Moreover, with the exception of the efforts made by two chartered companies—the Nyasa Company which administers the region east of Lake Nyasa, and the Mozambique Company, whose pos sessions lie between the Sabi and the Zambesi—comparatively little has been done to develop the resources of the country. The
districts round the Zambesi are agriculturally the most important at the present time. They produce the greater part of the sugar which is exported from the country, though some is also grown in the valleys of the Buzi and the Sabi further to the south. Round Quelimane, to the north of the delta, there are plantations of Ceara rubber, coconut palms, and sisal fibre. In the country round Beira and Mozambique the products are of a somewhat similar character. Mangrove bark, and rubber collected from various species of Landolphia, are also exported to some extent. In the interior of Gazaland, in the south, there are considerable areas of good pasture land, of which, however, but little use has as yet been made. The principal mineral district yet known lies in the valley of the Zambesi, about 300 miles from its mouth. There, gold is worked, and copper and coal are known to exist.
A considerable transit trade passes through Portuguese East Africa. From Lourenco Marques is despatched no small part of the exports and imports of the Transvaal. Beira is the port for Rhodesia, and Chinde serves Nyasaland.