A strait is a relatively narrow section of the ocean or sea that divides two land segments (islands or even continents) and at the same time connects adjacent water spaces. The Mozambique Channel is the longest in the whole world. These kind of natural crossings connecting the seas and oceans play an important role in trade relations between countries.
Strait of Mozambique on a world map
In the western waters of the Indian Ocean is the largest water crossing that divides Africa and the island of Madagascar. The Mozambique Channel reaches a length of 1760 km, a width of 422 km to 925 km, and its depth varies from 117 m to 3292 m.The greatest depth is recorded in the northern and southern parts, in the middle it is about 2.4 km.
If you look at the Mozambique Channel on the map, you can see the Comoros in the north. Along their shores are smaller islands and reefs. One of the characteristic features is a fairly constant flow with a northwest direction at a speed of about 1.5 knots. The height of the tides sometimes reaches 5 m.
Who was the first to discover the strait between Africa and Madagascar?
Long before the Europeans, the longest strait was actively used by Arabs who traded with the inhabitants of Madagascar, but the issue of the discoverer of European descent was controversial. Some experts call the name Vasco da Gama as the first to cross it. There is another point of view, according to which Marco Polo should be considered the discoverer, who two centuries before Vasco da Gama told the world about the find.
origin of name
Interesting facts are associated with the name "Mozambique." The ancient Arabs called him al Kumr, which means that the name did not come from them. When Vasco da Gama made his travels, the country of Mozambique was not yet, and in its place was the country of Monomotapa.
Some scholars associate the origin of the name of both the state and the strait itself with a funny case in history when the Portuguese distorted the name of the head of the port town, combining it with the name of the country - Musa ben Mbika. An unusual combination has taken root, and the Mozambique Channel that has appeared on the map is still called that.
The picturesque coast of the Mozambique Channel
Incredible beauty is the coast. Golden sandy beaches are surrounded by gentle hills that offer a gorgeous view of the longest strait in the world. The fauna and flora are also very diverse, the nature of these places is unique, very rare species of fish live here. The Mozambique Channel is strewn with underwater volcanoes, off the coast of Mozambique and Madagascar you can find a large number of islands of volcanic origin, under the water turning into picturesque coral reefs.
For example, in its waters in 1938 a unique species was discovered - bony coelacanth fish (Latimeria chalumnae), which lived on the planet 50-70 million years ago and is now considered to have long been extinct. This living fossil is found mainly in the direction of the coast of South Africa. According to rough estimates, it is much older than the dinosaurs themselves, and even here there is a stingrays - manta rays. These and other interesting inhabitants of the place called the Mozambique Channel are of great interest to diving enthusiasts.
Successful attempt to cross the Strait of Mozambique
Two athletes and excellent swimmers from South Africa, Thane Williams and Johnno Prudfoot, in the spring of 2014 made a colossal swim 450 km from Mozambique to Madagascar. This extravagant event had noble purposes: to raise funds for a special fund to help children. Thane and Johnno returned to their homeland as real heroes.
Crossing the spot where the Strait of Mozambique is located without anyone's help was not an easy task, but the mission was successfully completed. The water barrier, which is part of the Indian Ocean and sandwiched between Madagascar and Africa in the southeast, was conquered. A canal created by nature itself, which is approximately 460 km in the narrowest place between the city of Angoch in Mozambique and Tambohorano in Madagascar, was able to cross two seemingly ordinary people with ambitious goals and a noble mission.
Strait Marine Ecology
The depths of the Strait of Mozambique are fraught with a large number of tuna and other marine fish species, as well as lobsters, deep-sea shrimps, crayfish and crabs. Among the mammals, one can name the Pacific bottlenose dolphin, the striped dolphin, the humpback whale and the shorthaired grind. The largest concentration of cetaceans is observed in the vicinity of Mayotte.
Fishing is mainly done by local fishermen, and there has been a recent trend towards a decrease in fish stocks. There are other important environmental problems, among which are: the impact on the marine ecology of water contaminated as a result of the use of phosphate and nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture, the ingress of various pesticides and herbicides into water flows.
History of the Strait of Mozambique
Only a small part of the written sources surviving on the time of the Portuguese colonial era of the early 16th century in the coastal zones of the Mozambique Channel has been preserved. It is known that one side of the natural canal has been occupied by local African peoples for a long time, it is also a fact that Muslim merchants and seafarers arrived here from the north from 800 to 1000 AD.
The coastline of Mozambique was mastered earlier than from Madagascar, and the population density of the African coast was several times greater than the number of inhabitants of the island.