Lat: -12.964288995099000, Long: 40.492527987374000

Pemba [Porto Amélia]

Cabo Delgado, Mozambique

Historical Background and Urbanism

At Pemba area on the northern coast of the Mozambican territory, the first attempt of occupation for defensive purposes (within the context of the 8 de Dezembro Colony of Cabo Delgado) took place in 1857, following the royal charter of the 22nd November 1855. The corresponding stronghold was built in 1863 (Fort Saint Louis), but abandoned shortly afterwards, in 1865. The Military District of Cabo Delgado, with a base in Pampira on the edge of the Pemba bay, was ended in 1891, and the vast northern territory of Mozambique, between the Rovuma River and the Lúrio (about 200,000 square km), was leased to the Niassa Company in 1894, invested with full powers to perform all the activities of colonial exploration for 35 years, under the condition of the construction of a railway. Only Ibo, on the coastal island, was not included in this lease although it was the headquarters of the company until it moved to Pemba. In 1897, with the company still provisionally settled in Ibo, captain José Augusto de Costa Cabral was appointed to establish a settlement in Pemba where the new seat of the company should be transferred. A fiscal post was built there on October 1899, and the emerging settlement of Pampira was named Porto Amélia. It was elevated to town status by decree of the 30th December 1899, but the place would only consolidate itself as an urban area during its reestablishment by the Niassa Company in 1902-1904. In 1929, the Central Government took again direct rule of the region; Porto Amélia then replaced Ibo as the capital of the district of Cabo Delgado, and was elevated to town on the 19th December 1934. It obtained city status on the 18th October 1958. In 1975, the government of Mozambique gave it back the former name of Pemba. There is notice of a very basic plan for this urban area dating from 1921. An important avenue from the 1900s was that of Conselheiro Vilaça, Jerónimo Romero Street. There is also mention of a Plano de Ampliação de Porto Amélia (Enlargement Plan) by architect Januário de Moura dating from 1936 as well as a Plano Geral (General Plan) of 1950-1956 by João António de Aguiar, in addition to the most recent plan by Paulo Sampaio (of 1963, approved in 1967). The buildings of the town mirrored its small scale in the early 20th century. We can highlight the Finances and Municipality, located in a corner building, with two long roofed veranda-like structures, closing a turret with slight traces of the neo-Gothic style; the former house of Clotilde Lecercle (later Pensão Moderna), characteristic of the 1920s (recently restored), opposite the Public Garden; the Central Market at the intersection of Oliveira Salazar Street and the market ramp, along modernist lines; and the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, of revivalist character, with rare inspiration from Coptic churches. The central coastal area of modest Pemba was also distinguished in the 1960s by a series of ground-level pavilions near the pier (Loureiro, 1997, postcard from c. 1958, p. 177). The bridge/pier, initially made of wood, from 1899, was replaced in 1957 by one in reinforced concrete. Between 1950 and 1970 several facilities were built, inspired by Modern Architecture, such as schools, cinema, banking agencies, commercial buildings.

José Manuel Fernandes

Military Architecture

Fort Saint Louis

Religious Architecture

Cathedral of Saint Paul

Equipment and Infrastructures

Housing

Episcopal Residence