History

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 recognised 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 artefacts representative of the cultural heritage of Northern Mozambique and the Catholic Cathedral.