Inhambane

Inhambane was a trading settlement on a deep bay of southern Mozambique. Its Tonga inhabitants wove cotton, while merchants from Arabia and Persia traded along the coast and the port recognized Kilwa's overlordship.

Before the Portuguese arrived, Karanga rulers established chiefdoms over the Tonga and took over the Muslim trade. The Portuguese founded a factory in 1534 and a Jesuit mission in 1560. In the eighteenth century Indian merchants dominated its ivory and slave trade, until Soshangane sacked the port in 1834.