A Brief Modern History of Mozambique
			Mozambique was a colony of Portugal until 1975, when an 11-year war of independence ended with the establishment of an independent, Marxist government. But a 17-year civil war started soon after independence, with an internal military uprising that some foreign governments supported. The civil war affected Mozambicans severely, especially in rural areas. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Over a million people fled the country, especially to Malawi, and more than a million others were displaced within Mozambique. Many rural people migrated to the cities, especially along the coast where the government maintained control. The country went into severe economic depression. Agriculture was disrupted, so the country could not feed itself. By the late 1980s, Mozambique had one of the lowest per-capita caloric intakes in the world. Even when relief food eventually flowed in after the El Niño-induced 1992 famine, Mozambique's war-ravaged transportation system prevented efficient distribution of the food, and internal politics interfered with relief work.--Betty Gabrielli