Tete

Tete stands on the Zambezi River in the southeastern African interior. Portuguese traders settled here during the sixteenth century, attracted by routes to the gold-producing lands of the Monomotapa. In the seventeenth century goods moved upriver from Sena to Tete and onward to inland trading fairs. Merchants at Tete also developed connections with Undi's kingdom and the wider Maravi world. These exchanges depended on African rulers, traders and carriers as well as the river and overland routes. From around 1590 lands in the surrounding region were granted to Portuguese subjects under arrangements later known as prazos; the estates became influential centres of power in the Zambezi valley. In 1767 the Portuguese governor moved the seat of the Rivers of Sena administration to Tete amid military pressure from Karanga groups on the estates and the caravans to Zumbo. Its history reflects a meeting of African inland networks and Portuguese commercial ambitions, shaped by negotiation and conflict.