Secrets, Lies, Silences and Invisibilities: Unveiling the Participation of Africans on the Mozambique Front during World War I

In the context of the centennial anniversary of the beginning of World War I (WWI), little attention has been paid to the Portuguese battlefields in African war theatres, which include Angola and Mozambique. In a recent field trip in Northern Mozambique, while talking about war and violence, an old woman mentioned his father having been a carrier during the ‘big, old war’ in Northern Mozambique.2 Researching this episode, we came to know that a whole neighbourhood in Pemba, a city in the extreme North of Mozambique, had been named after these carriers — Carriers Corps, thus Cariaco — presumably because members of the corps were given housing in this place.3 This episode calls our attention to memories of African men and women who, directly or indirectly, participated in WWI and have been forgotten or silenced in contemporary academic studies.4