HISTORY AND TEXTUALIZATION: THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE NIASSA FRONT (MOZAMBIQUE) 1964-1974

Abstract

This article deals with the armed struggle for national independence of Mozambique in the Niassa Front, a military sector whose importance lies in its location in the border region with Tanzania and Malawi and in its geo-strategic performance in the development of the struggle. It also addresses the evolution of historiography on this front, analysed as a process of textualization and intrinsically dialogic between history, collective memory and politics. The chronology of armed struggle is supported by sources from the colonial archive and testimony of former guerrillas. Emphasizing the importance of the Niassa Front, led by Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) - a nationalist organization - it has also contributed to the decolonization of Southern Africa in the 1960s and 1970s.

Keywords:
Front of Niassa; Frelimo; Mozambique; armed struggle; road of Mataca