Niassa Company

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The Niassa Company, in Portuguese the Companhia do Niassa, was a royal company in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, then known as Portuguese East Africa, that had the concession of the lands that include the present provinces of Cabo Delgado and Niassa between 1891 and 1929.[1]

In the late 19th century Portugal’s dominance of Mozambique was threatened by Great Britain and Germany, who planned to divide Mozambique between them.

Portugal lacked the capital to colonize Mozambique properly, so it leased the country and its people to others. By 1891 one third of the country was handed over to three British companies, the Mozambique Company, the Zambezi Company and the Niassa Company.

The territory of the Niassa Company covered the north of Mozambique, north of the river Lurio.

The company, granted a charter by the Portuguese government to establish economic development and maintain Portuguese control in Niassa Province and Cabo Delgado, was only officially incorporated in March 1893, and lost its purpose when its territory was transferred to the control of the Portuguese colonial government (the government had refused to grant an extension of the concession).[2]

Although founded by Bernard Daupais, a merchant from Lisbon, the company was owned by British and French interests.

The power of the Niassa Company was based on the chibalo system, a forced labor policy, which forced the Mozambicans to work on plantations, cotton fields and on public works projects. Additionally Mozambicans were forced to pay hut taxes that kept them in debt. The chibalo system enabled the Niassa Company to establish plantations and to force peasants to work for them and prevent them from growing their own crops for sale.

In 1904 the Niassa Company founded the town Porto Amélia, which is presently known as Pemba. Porto Amélia became the headquarters of the Niassa Company.

On October 27, 1929 the Niassa Company handed its territory back to the Portuguese Government.

Although one of its main obligations was to create light houses along the Mozambican Coast, the Niassa Company fell short of this goal.[1] It also issued its own stamps.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Silva Pais, Antonia da; translated from French by Michel Forand. Lighthouse Development in Mozambique, 1908-1931. Web Page of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
  2. ^ Neil-Tomlinson, Barry (1999). "The Nyassa Chartered Company: 1891-1929". The Journal of African History 18 (1). 
  3. ^ Law, Gwillim. Provinces of Mozambique. Statoids. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.