Nova Lusitânia, Mozambique

Nova Lusitânia (also known as Búzi or Nova Luzitânia) is a town on the banks of the Buzi River, in Buzi District, Sofala Province, Mozambique, situated just downstream from Vila Arriaga.

Economy

Sugar production by the Buzi Company was disrupted during the civil war when Renamo forces sabotaged their operations. Since 1994 its 9,000 workers were without work due to the state of disrepair of the machinery.^[1] The Buzi Company announced in 2011 that they would restart their sugar production and sugar milling.^[2] In 2013 Chinese investors applied to start sugar production by working 600 hectares of irrigation land, and by building a new sugar mill, the fourth in Mozambique.^[1]

Evangelism

The Mission of St. António de Baradas and its chapel are situated here. In the 1920s, at nearby Chitikinya, local men who were converted by the South African Compounds and Interior Mission (SACIM), endeavored to organize evangelical communities, but were arrested due to their possession of Zulu and English books.^[3] The Portuguese drafted them into the army and they spent four years at Lorenzo Marques, where they received instruction from the Swiss mission, learned Portuguese and received teaching licenses. On their return their evangelical work was renewed, but their school and worship services were closed when the authorities suspected foreign connections. In 1927 they were displaced by the expansion of the Buzi Sugar Company, and joined the Machemeje scheme of the Fairfield Association.^[3]

References

1. "Mozambique government in contact with China for sugar factory". coastweek.com. Xinhua. January 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
2. "Mozambique: Sugar Production to Resume at Buzi". allafrica.com. Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique.
3. Spencer, Leon P. (2013). Toward an African church in Mozambique: Kamba Simango and the Protestant community in Manica and Sofala, 1892-1945. Mzuzu, Malawi: Mzuni Press. pp. 91–92. ISBN 9996027066.

Coordinates: 19°53′03″S 34°35′40″E / 19.88417°S 34.59444°E