Map - Angoche District (Angoche District)

Angoche District is a district of Nampula Province in north-eastern Mozambique, with limits in the north with Mogincual District, in the south with Larde District, to the east with the Indian Ocean and to the west with Mogovolas District. The principal town is Angoche. It is located 185 km from the provincial capital, Nampula City.

Arab explorers

Before the arrival of Vasco de Gama in 1498, and according to local oral tradition, the Archipelago of Angoche, made up of several islands, was inhabited by a community that was part of the Swahili, on the East African coast. The dominant groups in the region, the Anhapakhos, were members of the Shiraz family, which allegedly reached the islands of Angoche and Quiloa Island (in present-day Tanzania) whose sultans were also Shirazis, originating from the port of Shiraz, located on the Persian coast of the Sea Red. One of the founders of the reigning family of the Sultanate of Angoche was Hasani, who died at sea and was buried on the island that was later named after him, Kisiwa Sultani Hasani (known as Ilha de Mafamede by the Portuguese). According to Duarte Barbosa, who wrote in 1508, the habits, customs and language of the inhabitants of the islands of Angoche were similar to those of the Ilha de Moçambique.

At the time of the arrival of the first Islamic explorers, whom the Portuguese called “Moors”, the Marundos peoples, descendants of the Amacúas, already inhabited the lands of Angoche. According to oral accounts, this people had already been constituted before the first Bantu incursion. The story goes that two important men with the names Mussa and Hassan, accompanied by their relatives and slaves, left Zanzibar following religious differences and headed for and settled in Ilha de Moçambique. One day, Hassan, intending to reach the mainland of Mozambique, in the Angoche Bay region, was surprised by a strong storm, ending up losing his life when he fell into the sea. Hassan was buried in the nearest place which was the Mafamede island. Notifying Mussa of Hassan's death, he went to the site to see Hassan's tomb, having boarded the village of Mialule, now Melule. Arrived at Mafamede where Hassan had been buried and, having Mussa liked the place, there he left his son Xosa who chose Muchelele, a place close to Hassan's tomb, to establish his residence and where he started to govern with the title of Sultan. They are some of Xosa's children who give rise to the population of Catamoio which, in turn, gives rise to the Village of Angoche.