Maputo

Why it's the capital

The city grew around a Portuguese fort built in 1781 and became an important port. In 1898 the colony of Portuguese Mozambique moved its capital here from the Island of Mozambique, and the city stayed the capital when Mozambique became independent in 1975.

Fun facts

1. Until 1976 the city was called Lourenço Marques, after a Portuguese navigator who explored the area in the 1540s.
2. The name Maputo is said to come from the Maputo River on the southern border. Freedom fighters called for a Mozambique united from the Rovuma, the northern border river, to the Maputo.
3. The Central Train Station, built between 1913 and 1916, is often wrongly said to be the work of Gustave Eiffel, the engineer of the Eiffel Tower.