Nampula

Nampula is the capital city of Nampula Province in Mozambique. It has a population of 471,717 (2007 census) making it the third largest city in Mozambique after Maputo and Beira. It is home to the Mozambique National Ethnographic Museum, several markets, cathedrals and mosques.

Nampula is the capital city of Nampula Province in Mozambique. It has a population of 471,717 (2007 census) making it the third largest city in Mozambique after Maputo and Beira. It is home to the Mozambique National Ethnographic Museum, several markets, cathedrals and mosques.

Nampula is surrounded by plains and rocky outcrops. The city is connected by plane (LAM) to Maputo; it hosts the regional market and is well supplied with shops, banks, hotels and restaurants. It is also the center of business in northern Mozambique.

Nampula has a few western style hotels, restaurants and shopping centres. It also has a small international airport connecting to Nairobi in Kenya and Johannesburg in South Africa, and is a transport hub for local transport in Northern Mozambique; however, it is not noted as a tourist destination.

The city is home to the Faculty of Health Science, Universidade Lurio. In 2009 a course in optometry was launched, the first of its kind in Mozambique. The course is supported through the Mozambique Eye care Project.

The other partners include Dublin Institute of Technology, University of Ulster and the Brien Holden Vision Institute.

Abel Xavier, a Portuguese football player, and Carlos Queiroz, a Portuguese football manager formerly in charge of Real Madrid, are also from Nampula, at that time a city of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique.

History of Nampula Mozambique

The construction of the great public works such as the fortress and the water cisterns implied the quarrying of many thousands of cubic meters of stone and the calcinations of many different types of shells for the production of lime.

The stone built town carries on its expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the first place due to the revenues generated by the slave trade and in the second place with the trade in oil-producing plants that forced the construction of major warehouses in the region.

Generally speaking the town consists of narrow streets flanked by 2 or 3 storey buildings many of them with terraces which reflect their strong Moorish influence. Some of the more stately buildings are examples of the Portuguese architecture of the 16th and17th centuries.

Many of these dwellings have small backyards where very often gardens are to be found together with water-wells, kitchen and toilet facilities and others on the other hand have miniscule backyard where pawpaw trees and some ricinus plants are to be found and where women cook their meals.

The entire island is a monument and as such recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1991. The province is also internationally renowned for the beauty of its beaches amongst which those of Chocas, Mozambique Island and Fernão Veloso (situated in the city of Nacala) stand out.

In the City of Nampula one can visit the Ethnographic Museum that houses mainly artifacts representative of the cultural heritage of Northern Mozambique and the Catholic Cathedral.

Things to do in Nampula

Nampula Cathedral de Nosa Senhora da Conceicao:

A popular attraction in Nampula is the large Cathedral that poses beautiful architecture.

Nampula Iselberg Mountains:

Fascinating volcanic rock formation create Iselberg Mountains which can easily be seen in the distance from Nampula. Follow the road from Nampula to Nacala along the base of these beautiful mountains.

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