Moçâmedes

Moçâmedes
	Moçâmedes
	Moçâmedes
Coordinates	15 ° 9 ′ S , 12 ° 12 ′ E Coordinates: 15 ° 9 ′ S , 12 ° 12 ′ E
Basic data
Country	Angola
province	Namibe
Município	Moçâmedes
ISO 3166-2	AO-NAM
Comuna	Moçâmedes
surface	8016 km²
Residents	282,000 (2014)
density	35.2 Ew. / km²
founding	1840
politics
mayor	João Guerra de Freitas

Moçâmedes is a city in southwestern Angola on the Atlantic a good 200 kilometers north of the border with Namibia with around 282,000 inhabitants. Between 1985 and 2016 it was called Namibe . Moçâmedes is the capital of the Namibe Province . The Welwitschien are worth seeing in the desert region .

Beach promenade "Praia das Miragens" in Moçâmedes

history

A multitude of rock paintings and other finds prove a prehistoric settlement.

On August 31, 1841, the Portuguese colonial rulers built a fort on the bay and founded a settlement. In 1849, Bernardino Freire de Figueiredo Abreu e Castro from the Portuguese region of Trás-os-Montes reached the place with a group of 166 Portuguese settlers from Pernambuco, Brazil . From 1850 further settlers came from the Algarve and Boers from South Africa. After this increase in population, it was elevated to a city in 1851. The construction of the Namibebahn from 1905 to 1923 brought the city an economic boom. In 1957, the commercial port of Porto do Namibe was opened and in 1968 the industrial port of Sacomar , from which iron ore was once shipped from Cassinga . The city prospered until the early 1980s when the iron ore mines and the port closed. The city was hardly affected by the civil war after Angola's independence; the chessboard-like city center has been preserved relatively well.

Until 1985 it had the Portuguese place name Moçâmedes (also written Mossamedes ), after which it was renamed to Namibe . It has been called Moçâmedes again since 2016 . It was named after the Portuguese governor of Angola (1784-1790), José de Almeida Vasconcelos de Oliveira Soveral de Carvalho Baron von Mossâmedes . As early as 1786 he tried, albeit in vain, to recruit settlers from Portugal to settle this place.

Seat of the provincial government of Namibe

administration

Moçâmedes is the seat of a district of the same name ( Município ) in the province of Namibe , of which Moçâmedes is also the capital.

The district is made up of three communities (Comunas):

Bentiaba
Lucira
Moçâmedes

The port of Namibe (2009)

traffic

Moçâmedes is the country's third largest port city after Luanda and Lobito .

Moçâmedes is the starting point for the Namibebahn.

The airport, inaugurated in 1978, was reopened in September 2013 after extensive renovations and renamed Aeroporto Internacional Welwitschia Mirabilis . It now has a runway of 2500 meters.

economy

The main branches of economy are fishing, agricultural products (grain, tubers, fruits and vegetables), metal and wood industries and services.

Moçamedes is Angola's third largest port in terms of handling volume, but so far it has not had any quays for container ships. In January 2019, the contract to build a container terminal was signed with Toyota Tsusho .

climate

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Moçâmedes

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C )	27.0	28.0	28.9	27.9	25.8	22.4	20.6	20.9	22.4	23.6	25.6	25.9	O	24.9
Min. Temperature (° C)	19.1	19.8	20.7	18.7	14.7	12.8	13.0	13.8	14.9	15.9	17.1	17.7	O	16.5

Precipitation ( mm )	7.2	10.0	17.1	9.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.1	2.1	2.9	Σ	50.1

Hours of sunshine ( h / d )	6.8	7.4	7.5	7.7	7.0	4.7	3.4	3.6	4.3	5.0	7.1	7.1	O	6th

Rainy days ( d )	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	Σ	7th

Humidity ( % )	80	79	78	79	82	84	84	85	84	83	80	79	O	81.4

T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r

27.0

19.1

28.0

19.8

28.9

20.7

27.9

18.7

25.8

14.7

22.4

12.8

20.6

13.0

20.9

13.8

22.4

14.9

23.6

15.9

25.6

17.1

25.9

17.7

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

N i e d e r s c h l a g	7.2	10.0	17.1	9.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.1	2.1	2.9
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

Source: wetterkontor.de

Moçâmedes in literature

In Edgar Wallace 's detective novel “ The Three Righteous ”, set in the period after the First World War, the action set in London and Gloucester builds on an accidental gold find a few years ago near what was then Moçâmedes, the exploitation of which was granted a concession by the Portuguese Colonial Ministry is necessary.

sons and daughters of the town

João Teixeira Pinto (1876–1917), Portuguese colonial officer
António Aniceto Monteiro (1907–1980), Portuguese mathematician
Herlander Peyroteo (1929–2002), Portuguese film and television director
Carlos Castro (1945–2011), journalist and writer, activist for gay rights
Maria da Piedade de Jesus (* 1963), archaeologist and anthropologist, Angolan minister of culture since 2019
Emanuel Fernandes (* 1967), Olympic beach volleyball player
Carlos Rocha (* 1974), Portuguese comic book author