Beira (Mozambique)
| Beira | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Coordinates | 19 ° 50 ′ S , 34 ° 51 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Mozambique | ||
| Sofala | |||
| District | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | MZ-S | ||
| height | 9 m | ||
| Residents | 533.825 | ||
| politics | |||
| mayor | Daviz Simango | ||
 In the city center of Beira (2000)
|
|||
Beira ( Portuguese for shore ) is a large city in Mozambique and the capital of the Sofala Province .
geography
Beira is located in central Mozambique in the Sofala Province, on the coast of the Mozambique Strait . The marshes of the Pungwe River that used to surround the port city have now been drained. The climate is hot and humid, especially during the summer monsoon from October to February.
population
Beira has 533,825 inhabitants (2017). After the end of the Mozambican civil war , numerous refugees streamed into the city, so that the population rose sharply.
religion
Beira is the seat of the Archdiocese of Beira . Archbishop has been Claudio Dalla Zuanna since June 29, 2012 . The cathedral was built at the beginning of the 20th century using stones from the São Caetano de Sofala fortress .
history
On the opposite bank of the bay, the Portuguese built the fortress São Caetano de Sofala (for short: Fortaleza de Sofala ) from stones that were imported from Portugal between 1505 and 1512. It was one of the first major European structures in sub- Saharan Africa . Today the location of the fortress is under water.
In 1887 the Portuguese established a military post in the area of today's Beiras, which was named after Crown Prince Luís Filipe . This bore the title of Prince of Beira. In 1891 the city was founded by the Portuguese Companhia de Moçambique ( Mozambique Society ), which established its headquarters here. It was not until 1942 that the state took control of the city.
During the civil war, Beira was the center of the rebel movement RENAMO , which today has its main focus as a political party in this city.
In March 2019, the city suffered severe destruction from cyclone Idai , up to 90 percent of the urban structure are said to have been damaged or destroyed. It is believed that rebuilding the city will take years.
politics
Mayor of the city is Daviz Simango . In 2003, as a member of Mozambique's largest opposition party, the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO), elected to this office for the first time, RENAMO boss Afonso Dhlakama refused him a further candidacy out of fear of a possible rival within the party. Simango then founded the Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (MDM) party, which ran both in the parliamentary elections in Mozambique in 2009 and - with Simango as a candidate - in the presidential election in Mozambique in 2009 . In the presidential election, Simango's number of votes in the Beira constituency not only exceeded that of the RENAMO candidate Dhlakama, but also the number of votes of the candidate from the FRELIMO party, which is the most dominant party in other parts of the country . In both 2009 elections, Beira was the only urban district that was not won by FRELIMO or a FRELIMO candidate.
climate
| Beira | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate diagram | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Beira
Source: wetterkontor.de
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The RSMC La Réunion on the island of La Réunion monitors the weather situation in the southwestern Indic, especially in the Mozambique Channel. Its weather warning in relation to cyclone Idai said for March 14, 2019 in Beira a sea level rise of up to 4 meters and a storm surge with waves of 5 to 6 meters in the Pungwe estuary .
Economy and Infrastructure
tourism
Beira used to be the popular seaside resort of white farmers from the British colony of Rhodesia (today: Zimbabwe ). Makuti Beach is still the tourist center. Much of this infrastructure is being rebuilt and restored today, as are the shopping streets in the city center.
port
Beira lives from trade and sea transport, which here is primarily geared towards general cargo. The port of Beira, along with those of Maputo and Nacala, is one of the country's three major seaports for international shipping. The European ports are about the same distance from here via the Suez route as well as the Cape route. There is a container terminal. However, the fairway is only 6.20 to 7.40 m deep even during floods, so that its use as a long-distance port is restricted. The port of Beira is of central economic importance for the region as well as for the landlocked states of Zimbabwe , Zambia and Malawi .
Rail connection
A railway line and a road lead from Beira through the "Beira Corridor" to Harare in Zimbabwe and on to the Zambian capital Lusaka . For these landlocked countries this is the shortest route to the sea. This route can be used to reach the Copperbelt mining region (extraction of copper and cobalt ) in Zambia and the Shaba Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .
A second railway line leads to Malawi , for which Beira offers the closest port loading facility, but whose port is technically less suitable than Nacala , as the port basin of Nacala, with a natural depth of more than 15 meters, allows the handling of the largest container ships. Behind the bridge over the Zambezi just before the Malawi border, a route branches off to the coal mines of Moatize near Tete . All of these railway lines have Cape gauge and have an axle load of 16 t, in Zimbabwe 17 t.
Air traffic
The Beira International Airport is the second largest airport in the country. It is designed for medium-haul aircraft and is located about 7 kilometers northeast of the city center.
education
The city is home to the Universidade Católica de Moçambique (UCM), a private university that was founded in 1996 by the Roman Catholic Church and is operated by it. Your degrees are recognized by the state. The university consists of several faculties spread across the cities of Beira, Nampula , Cuamba and Pemba .
Sports
The football club Clube Ferroviário da Beira (German: Beira Railway Association) plays in the first Mozambican league Moçambola . He plays his home games in the 7,000-seat stadium Estádio do Ferroviário .
sons and daughters of the town
- João Garizo do Carmo (1917–1974), Portuguese architect
- Carlos Cardoso (1951-2000), Mozambican journalist
- Mia Couto (* 1955), Mozambican writer
- José Rodrigues dos Santos (* 1964), Portuguese journalist and author, well-known news anchor for the RTP
- Chiquinho Conde (* 1965), Mozambican football player
- Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque (* 1966) Portuguese lawyer, judge at the European Court of Human Rights since 2011
- João Carlos Hatoa Nunes (* 1968), Roman Catholic clergyman, Bishop of Chimoio
- Maria Rueff (* 1972), Portuguese actress
- Pedro Boese (* 1972), German-Portuguese painter
- Reinildo Mandava (* 1994), Mozambican soccer player
Web links
- Official website of the city of Beira (Portuguese)
Individual evidence
- ^ Mozambique: Provinces, Cities, Urban Localities & Agglomeration - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved April 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Fears of more than 1,000 deaths in Mozambique. In: tagesschau.de . ARD , March 18, 2019, accessed on March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ SABCNewsOnline: 19 killed, Beira city shut off as tropical cyclone slams Mozambique . SABC announcement of March 16, 2019 on www.sabcnews.com (English)
- ↑ Mozambique rescue efforts intensify as full scale of Idai tragedy unfolds. In: Zitamar. March 20, 2019, Retrieved March 20, 2019 (UK English).
- ↑ Official Provincial Results , accessed November 6, 2013.
- ↑ enca: Tropical Cyclone Idai's eye weakens since making landfall . News from eNews Channel Africa from March 15, 2019 on www.enca.com (English)