Pemba

The bay made the city. Pemba Bay, the inlet on which the city stands, is the third largest bay in Africa, and was used by Swahili and Arab traders for centuries before Europeans took an interest; Mwani-speaking coastal communities and Makhuwa and Makonde peoples inland long predate the town. In 1898 the chartered Niassa Company, which governed the far north on Portugal's behalf, founded a small trading port on the peninsula; it was soon renamed Porto Amélia, after Amélie of Orléans, the last queen of Portugal.

The company's rule ended in 1929 and the state took over. Porto Amélia grew slowly as the provincial capital and the outlet for cotton, sisal and cashews grown in the district, with a small settler and Indian trading population in the baixa and a much larger Mozambican town around it. From 1964 the north was the front of FRELIMO's independence war, fought hardest on the Makonde plateau inland; at independence in 1975 the city took the name Pemba.

The decades after independence brought the civil war, then peace, then the discovery of enormous offshore gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, which turned the city into a base for companies, contractors and officials; inland, Montepuez has been one of the world's largest producers of rubies since 2011. Since October 2017 the province has been the scene of an insurgency; attacks have struck towns and villages elsewhere in Cabo Delgado, the companies behind the onshore gas project declared force majeure in 2021 after an attack on Palma, and Pemba has absorbed very large numbers of people displaced from the north, becoming the humanitarian hub for the province as well as its capital.

Pemba is a coastal Swahili-influenced city where several of the north's peoples meet. Mwani speakers, whose language is close to Swahili, are long established on the bay and in Paquitequete; the Makhuwa are the largest group in the wider region; and the Makonde, from the plateau inland, brought the carving tradition for which the north is known — blackwood mapiko masks and tall linked-figure sculptures that are made and sold in the city and collected far beyond it.

Islam is the faith of much of the coast, and the rhythm of Friday prayers and of Ramadan is obvious in the older quarters, while Catholic and Pentecostal churches draw large congregations elsewhere in the city. Women on the coast wear the printed capulana and a pale face paste of ground bark, worn as protection from the sun and as a mark of beauty. Tufo, a dance with frame drums performed by women at Islamic celebrations, is part of festivals here.

The city's social life is outdoors: the beach in the evening, football on any open ground, markets and the seafront on Sundays. Since 2017 the population has changed sharply, with families from the northern districts living in camps and settlements around the city and with a large presence of aid workers, and much of everyday conversation turns on the conflict, displacement and the question of return. Greetings are unhurried, and modesty in dress and conduct is expected.

About 200,000 people lived in Pemba at the 2017 census, and the city has grown considerably since, mainly through the arrival of people displaced from elsewhere in Cabo Delgado. Most live in the inland bairros in houses of block, thatch and sheet metal along sandy roads, with the old town holding the offices and the seafront the hotels.

Work comes from fishing and the port, from provincial government, from the aid organisations that run the response to the displacement crisis, and from services attached to the gas industry — logistics, accommodation, security and transport — which raised prices in the city long before it produced anything. Trade, markets and small workshops absorb much of the rest, and unemployment, particularly among young people, is high.

The day begins before dawn with prayers and the first boats at Paquitequete, the markets fill by mid-morning, and the heat empties the streets in the early afternoon. The subjects people discuss are security in the province and whether families can go home, the cost of food and rent, water and electricity supply, and the offshore gas projects, whose development has been repeatedly interrupted and whose benefits have so far reached few households.

Pemba eats from the bay and the reef. Prawns, crab, calamari, octopus and line fish are grilled over charcoal or cooked in coconut milk with garlic and chilli, and coconut rice rather than maize porridge is the usual accompaniment on the coast, though xima with beans, leaves or dried fish is the everyday meal inland and in the bairros. Matapa, cassava leaves ground with peanuts and cooked with coconut, is eaten everywhere.

The Indian Ocean trade left its flavours. Chamuças, fried triangular pastries of Indian origin, are sold on the street; curries, spiced rice and flatbreads are common; and cashews, of which Nampula and Cabo Delgado grow a great deal, are eaten roasted and salted or ground into sauces. Mangoes, papaya, coconuts and citrus are cheap and abundant in season.

Portuguese habits survive in the old town in bread rolls, prego sandwiches, rissóis and custard tarts with strong coffee. To drink there are 2M and Laurentina lagers, sugarcane and fruit juices, tea and coconut water; alcohol is sold openly but plays little part in the life of the city's Muslim quarters.