| Abstract: | When in recent years communal villages were formed in the People's Republic of Mozambique, it was attempted to use the large villages of the 19th century as an historical justification or precedent. In this paper it is argued that the 19th-century villages were not permanent features like the 'agro-towns' of the Mediterranean or Asiatic cereal-growing zones and also not dependent on the secondary and tertiary sectors. Many of them were in positions of difficult access or protected by fortifications. Defence against predatory surprise attacks was the principal factor influencing the settlement pattern. In most of them there was no equilibrium between exploitation and reconstitution of the natural resources. Any new step in the direction of settlement concentration will have to be accompanied by a number of technical innovations in agriculture and forestry. Notes. |
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