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Colonization in Mozambique

Mozambique, a relatively small country on the south eastern coast of the main African continent, has been colonized multiple times over the course of human history. Until the 1970's, Mozambique was still in control of the descendants of Portuguese settlers who had colonized the area back in the 15th century, but in 1975 they won their independence. The country has had only a little more than three decades of independence, and has been controlled by different nations and populations that were not native to Africa since the 10th century, when Arab traders settled in the area to establish trading posts. But as is the case with many other countries during the 13th to 17th centuries, Mozambique wasn't considered to be officially colonized until Europeans move in, in this case the Portuguese.

Though there were no "native" people in Mozambique in the 1st through 4th centuries, *Bantu-speaking travelers migrated into the country. These people were not only strong, skilled warriors, but they were also early farmers, ironworkers, and fishermen. In fact, their iron making technology was more advanced than the technology of any surrounding groups of people; the Bantus used this to their advantage by conquering neighboring tribes and small villages with ease. They established many villages in the coastal regions, and were completely self-sufficient. Oddly enough, during the Age of Mercantilism, every European nation was striving for self-sufficiency, and these "primitive" people had managed to achieve it all in a small section of land.
But that's not to say that the Bantus never had a lot of land. In the 11th through 15th centuries, they created and maintained a large system of kingdoms and empires in Southern Africa. Though this led to the Bantus holding more land, it also led to their own division. Several empires were established as the Bantus spread, and borders were defined between them. Among the most powerful of these empires was the Shona, who herded cattle, and mined gold which was later sent to coastal outposts and exported to Asia the Shona were globalizing long before any Europeans arrived!
Though the Empires were self-sufficient, they learned the value of trade in the early 11th century. Nations would trade not for what they needed, but what they believed they could expand upon for their own entertainment or extra profit. Other empires wanted gold to give themselves a symbol of power, so they would give cloth and tapestries with

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