Mozambique Bay

Mozambique Island lies in a sheltered bay off the northern Mozambican coast. Long before Portuguese ships arrived, merchants used the island as a trading place on the routes linking eastern Africa to the Indian Ocean. Vasco da Gama landed here in 1498, and the Portuguese founded a trading station in 1502. A fort followed in 1507–1508; later the much larger fortress of São Sebastião guarded the island and its anchorage.