Lourenço Marques was a 16th-century Portuguese trader and coloniser.

Biography

Lourenço Marques explored the area that is now

Maputo Bay Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

in 1544 and settled permanently in present-day

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, where he spent most of his life with his indigenous wife and their children. By order of King John III, Maputo Bay was named Baía de Lourenço Marques in his honour, but this name was never in common use among the foreign community.

Other uses

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

, the capital city of

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...

since 1898, was founded as Lourenço Marques before this Overseas Province of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, the so-called Portuguese East Africa where was the seat of the

governor-general Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

, became independent from the colonial power in 1975: the city got its present name on 3 February 1976, giving its name to one of the six districts into which the province was divided.Lourenco Marques
a film of Lourenço Marques, the city in Portuguese Mozambique.

References and sources

;References ;Sources *Harm J. De Blij, ''The Functional Structure and Central Business District of Lourenço Marques, Mocambique'', ''Economic Geography'', Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 56–77.

History of Mozambique Marques Maputo 16th-century Portuguese explorers Portuguese explorers of Africa 16th-century Portuguese businesspeople {{Portugal-explorer-stub