Lourenço Marques (explorer) facts for kids

Lourenço Marques was a 16th-century Portuguese trader and explorer.

Biography

Lourenço Marques explored the area that is now Maputo Bay in 1544 and settled permanently in present-day Mozambique, where he spent most of his life with his indigenous wife and their children.

By order of King John III, Maputo Bay was named Baía de Lourenço Marques in his honour, but this name was never in common use among the foreign community.

Other uses

Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique, was named after Marques before the Overseas Province of Mozambique became independent from Portugal in 1975; it got its present name on 3 February 1976. It was the seat of the governor-general of Portuguese East Africa and gave its name to one of the six districts into which the province was divided.