Sofala

By the time the Portuguese came, the gold that made Sofala's name was already running thin. Pêro da Covilhã, who reached the town in 1489 disguised as an Arab merchant, still reported a gold market to Lisbon, and in 1505 the aged Sheikh Isuf, at odds with a usurper in Kilwa, let Pêro de Anaia build a fortress beside the town. It proved a poor prize. The site was unhealthy, 76 of the garrison died in the first months of 1506, and the Muslim merchants kept the fort short of food. Meanwhile the shifting sandbar at the river mouth and the worn-out goldfields were drawing the trade north to the Zambezi, and once Portugal took Mozambique Island in 1507, the fort at Sofala was left a minor outpost.

The later city of Beira lies here.