Mozambique

Mozambique was a Swahili Muslim town on a coral island off the northern coast. Tradition traced its first settlers to Kilwa; the town was founded no later than the fourteenth century.

In the fifteenth century its rulers were related to those of Angoche and Quelimane. The Portuguese seized the island in 1507, making it their East African capital and building Fort São Sebastião. Under Estêvão de Ataíde, the island repelled Dutch attacks in 1607 and 1608.