19th century – 20th century
Mozambique, Southeast Africa
The Mozambique Company was a concessionary company created in 1891 with sovereign rights over 160,000 square kilometres of territory. Its authority remained unusually extensive into the twentieth century: by 1930 it still exercised sovereign powers, controlled 6.5 percent of the colony’s territory, and accounted for 11.6 percent of total colonial trade between 1918 and 1927. The company also controlled the labour of part of the population.
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The Story
The Mozambique Company represented an especially archaic form of colonial economic administration in the Portuguese sphere. Created in 1891, it received fifty-year sovereign rights over 160,000 square kilometres. The concession therefore combined commercial activity with powers ordinarily associated with the state, making the company a territorial authority as well as an economic enterprise.
Its position remained exceptional during the interwar years. By 1930, the company was described as the only company in the world still exercising sovereign powers. Between 1918 and 1927, it accounted for 11.6 percent of the colony’s total trade, while controlling 6.5 percent of the territory and the labour of 4 percent of the population.
The company’s prominence illustrates the dependence of Portuguese colonial administration on delegated economic power. The passage places it within a wider system in which colonial authorities struggled to distribute seed, provide technical instruction, and organize efficient production. Commercial control, territorial authority, and labour management consequently remained closely intertwined.
19th century – 20th century
Mozambique, Southeast Africa
The Mozambique Company was a concessionary company created in 1891 with sovereign rights over 160,000 square kilometres of territory. Its authority remained unusually extensive into the twentieth century: by 1930 it still exercised sovereign powers, controlled 6.5 percent of the colony’s territory, and accounted for 11.6 percent of total colonial trade between 1918 and 1927. The company also controlled the labour of part of the population.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Mozambique Company represented an especially archaic form of colonial economic administration in the Portuguese sphere. Created in 1891, it received fifty-year sovereign rights over 160,000 square kilometres. The concession therefore combined commercial activity with powers ordinarily associated with the state, making the company a territorial authority as well as an economic enterprise.
Its position remained exceptional during the interwar years. By 1930, the company was described as the only company in the world still exercising sovereign powers. Between 1918 and 1927, it accounted for 11.6 percent of the colony’s total trade, while controlling 6.5 percent of the territory and the labour of 4 percent of the population.
The company’s prominence illustrates the dependence of Portuguese colonial administration on delegated economic power. The passage places it within a wider system in which colonial authorities struggled to distribute seed, provide technical instruction, and organize efficient production. Commercial control, territorial authority, and labour management consequently remained closely intertwined.