The geopolitics of the movement of goods in Mozambique: a history of extraversion

Abstract

Mozambique is historically known for being a drain region for the inner production of Southern Africa, especially Mozambique's neighbors South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Malawi. The country's long process of extraversion started in the colonial period, when the Portuguese government negotiated with neighboring colonies the construction of the three railway networks in Mozambique. It was also directly influenced by the regional geopolitics in the 1980s, marked by a dispute between Mozambican socialism and the South African apartheid regime. Nowadays, with the post-war economic reopening, new (or not so new) economic partners are investing in transport infrastructure in Mozambique, and South Africa, China and Brazil continue to reinforce the historically extraverted character of the circulation of goods in the country