Chikowa

Chikowa, known to the Portuguese as Chicova, lay on the southern bank of the Zambezi near the Cabora Bassa rapids. The name was also given to the neighbouring hills and their surrounding country. A Tawara chief, a subordinate of the Mutapa, ruled the area from Inhacasse. Silver deposits made this stretch of the river especially attractive to Portuguese visitors.

From the 1570s the Portuguese Crown sought direct access to Chikowa's silver, but local chiefs resisted attempts that threatened their authority. A fort was built in 1576; unable to secure supplies from the inhabitants, its garrison left and suffered heavy losses. Another fort, São Miguel, was abandoned in 1616. In the eighteenth century, Chikowa became a staging place on the route between Tete and Zumbo: caravans bypassed the rapids by land before continuing upriver by canoe.