Back when the European powers were Scrambling for Africa in earnest, many of the political boundaries (such as they were) were pretty loosey goosey - which is why, for instance, within Portuguese Mozambique (what would later become the Republic of Mozambique), two of the provinces were under the direct governance of the Mozambique Company, a royal company with a truly nauseating list of concessions and “rights” within the provinces of Manica and Sofala. These concessions included: the ability to tax (with a 25-year exemption on being taxed), the power to use “conscripted labor” on its land holdings, and the right to “lease” that labor to adjacent estates. The Company, in turn, did not fulfill any of its obligations (such as they were), variously had to call for Portuguese military intervention when the “conscripted labor” caused violent uprisings, and when its 50-year lease ran out in 1941 and was not renewed (despite the fact that the Portuguese did not leave the area until 1975), the governor of Manica and Sofala provinces stated, “They did nothing to develop the potential wealth of this entire region, preferring to plunder it and alienate the natives.” Ugh.
