Mozambique lies largely within the tropics, and much of the coastline is subject to the regular seasonal influence of the Indian Ocean monsoon rains. The monsoon influence is strongest in the northeast but is modified somewhat in the south by the island barriers of Madagascar, the Comoros, and the Seychelles. With the exception of highland areas on the northern and western borders and around Gurue (east of the Malawi protrusion into Mozambique), where elevation modifies both temperature and humidity, the climate is seasonal and tropical. Daily temperatures throughout the country average in the mid- to upper 70s °F (lower to mid-20s °C), with the highest temperatures occurring between October and February and the lowest in June and July. Uncomfortably warm average daily temperatures in the upper 80s °F (low 30s °C) are normal only in the upper Zambezi valley and along the northeastern coast, while cool temperatures in the 60s °F (10s °C) occur year-round only in the mountainous areas on the western borders.

Humidity and precipitation vary widely throughout the country. Again, the sharpest contrast is between north and south. The entire region north of the Zambezi and east of the Shire River valley is humid and warm, as is the coastal plain in the south, while the southern interior and most of the Zambezi valley west of the Shire are quite dry; the south-central area is even considered semiarid. Precipitation is greatest throughout the north and in the central region east of the Shire River, where it ranges between 40 and 70 inches (1,010 and 1,780 mm); the highest precipitation, averaging more than 70 inches, is in the highlands and in coastal pockets around Beira and Quelimane. In the Zambezi valley west of the Shire, however, average precipitation declines to between 24 and 32 inches (610 and 810 mm), whereas in the south, to the west of the coastal plain, average annual precipitation is only about 24 inches. The semiarid southern regions receive only about 3 inches (75 mm) of precipitation per month in the wet season from November to February and almost none in the dry season between April and October. As the annual precipitation figures suggest, west-central and southern Mozambique are subject to periodic drought.

Plant and animal life

Although Mozambique retains some dense forests in the north-central interior and on the Chimoio Plateau, most of the northern and east-central areas are open forest. In the south the open forest of the east becomes brush and, to the west, savanna grassland. The largest forest reserves are on the Chimoio Plateau west and southwest of Beira and in the northern interior south of the Lúrio River. Mozambique maintains four national parks in the central and southern areas—Gorongosa, Zinave, Bazaruto, and Banhine. A transnational park combines Kruger National Park in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and Limpopo National Park in Mozambique to form the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

The country’s diverse wildlife populations include water buffalo, elephants, warthogs, leopards, baboons, giraffes, zebras, antelopes, lions, and numerous other species of ungulates and cats. Crocodiles and hippopotamuses are found in slow-moving waterways. Snakes—including pythons and venomous puff adders, cobras, and vipers—live throughout the country. Flamingos, cranes, storks, herons, pelicans, ibis, and other tropical waterbirds exist throughout Mozambique but are more numerous in the moister areas of the northeast. Scavengers include crows, vultures, and buzzards, and game birds include guinea fowl, partridge, quail, and a range of geese and ducks. Game reservations and national hunting areas are located largely in the central and southern areas, with the exception of the important Niassa reserve on the Tanzanian border and the Gilé reserve southwest of Nampula. The largest game areas are just south of the Zambezi bordering the Chimoio highlands. The country’s other game reservations are the Marromeu, Pomene, and Maputo reserves.

Ethnic groups

The people of Mozambique are ethnically diverse, but ethnic categories are fluid and reflect the country’s colonial history. All inhabitants of the country were designated Portuguese in 1961, and some ethnic classifications such as Makua-Lomwe were created by colonial Portuguese officials themselves. Within the country, in addition to the Makua-Lomwe, live the Tsonga, Sena, Ndau (see Shona), Chopi, Chewa, Yao, Makonde, and Ngoni.

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In terms of cultural organization, the Zambezi valley again provides Mozambique’s key marker, roughly dividing groups that trace their heritage according to principles of matrilineality to the north and groups that order themselves along patrilineal lines to the south. In matrilineal groups, authority rests in the senior male of the extended family traced through the female line, whereas in patrilineal groups the senior male is identified through the male line. Throughout the 20th century, however, many matrilineal groups adopted patrilineality and virilocal settlement, with new families settling in a household of the husband’s lineage rather than the wife’s.

Languages

Although Portuguese, the official language, is the main language of only a tiny fraction of the population, it is spoken as a lingua franca by some two-fifths of the country’s inhabitants. Portuguese speakers are strongly concentrated in the capital of Maputo and other urban areas.

The vast majority of Mozambicans speak languages from the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo language group. Within the Bantu group, Makua, Lomwe, Tsonga, Sena, Shona, and Chuabo are the most widespread languages, but the country has great linguistic and cultural variety because it shares languages with surrounding countries: Swahili with many East African countries, Yao with Malawi and Tanzania, Makonde with Tanzania, the Ngoni and Chewa dialects of Nyanja with Malawi and Tanzania, Shona with Zimbabwe, and Shangaan (a dialect of Tsonga) with South Africa and Swaziland. Similarly, small groups in the far south and throughout the country share Nguni languages (Zulu and Swati) with South African and Zimbabwean peoples as a result of major population movements of the early 19th century. Groups speaking European and Asian languages are largely limited to the port cities of Maputo, Beira, Quelimane, Nacala, and Pemba.

Makua and Lomwe are spoken by almost half of the population and dominate northeastern Mozambique except in two areas: the coastal strip north of the Lúrio River, where Swahili is typically spoken, and a large pocket on the Tanzanian border that is inhabited predominantly by Makonde speakers. Most of the population speaks Yao in the region that extends westward from the confluence of the Rovuma and Lugenda rivers to the border with Malawi, while Nyanja is commonly spoken in the rough triangle from the juncture of the Shire and Zambezi rivers northwest to the border with Zambia. Shona speakers, more than one-tenth of the population, dominate the region between the Save River and the Zambezi valley. South of the Save, Tsonga is spoken by almost one-seventh of the population.