1200 years of history of a 2-mile-long island in 12 photographs.

mozambique island was a huge arab port from the 10th century to around the 15th century, right about when vasco da gama landed in 1498.

mr. da gama and his portuguese friends made sure to use the island to its fullest extent and built the ridiculously colossal fort of saint sebastian. No photo can show you how huge this thing is. it is also not terribly pretty, so you're not missing much. here's an arch at the top.

the entire fort has this network of flat, gently sloped roofs and aqueducts feeding into a giant underground cistern. it is really the coolest water catchment system i've ever seen and it'd make portland kids froth at the mouth with eco-envy. even though the system is over 500 years old, it is still how most of the island gets their drinking water. here's the aqueduct...

and here's the cistern. that puppy is 6 meters deep!

there are a gazillion cannons strewn about looking for the dutch.

this is the chapel of our lady of the bulwarks. it's the oldest european building in the southern hemisphere. you gotta watch out for those bulwarks.

the island quickly grew to be a huge center of commerce, since there were lots of gold and spices and slaves to go around. mozambique island was the last safe spot to stop before setting sail for india, so there was a lot of money coming into this place. you can tell, too - there are ridiculously ornate cornices and lintels on every street and palaces for the king of portuguese east africa. this building is a museum, now - you can walk around on 16th century carpets barefoot. i was surprised and happy to see that they prohibited cameras inside to protect their treasures.

no need to do anything half-assed when you've got excess gold lying around.

traffic to island slowed when the suez canal opened. the capital moved to maputo, the business dwindled, and now the island is slowly crumbling.

and palaces are being used for everyday uses, like hospitals...

and homes.

and so now there is this strange architectural mishmash of the arches and repetative geometry of arabian construction with romanesque naves and gothic elaborations from the portuguese... all just a 10 minute walk from a whole village of mud huts with palm roofs.