Mozambique's economy depends partly on payments by neighboring countries for the use of railroads and port facilities. Maputo and Beira are the chief seaports. Coal is mined in central Mozambique. The Cahora Bassa Dam in the northwest produces electric power, much of which is transmitted to South Africa. Most of Mozambique's roads are unpaved.
Several railroads link Mozambican ports with other African countries.
The chief airport is at Maputo. B.C. Bantu-speaking people settled there before A.D. 100. Arabs lived in the area by the 800's. Portuguese explorers first visited Mozambique in 1497. They established a trading post there in 1505, and the country became a slave-trading center.