Editing Portuguese Mozambique (section)

==Society==
{{main|Cultural assimilation|Civilizing mission|Lusotropicalism}}
[[File:Narrative of an expedition to the Zambesi and its tributaries; and of the discovery of the lakes Shirwa and Nyassa. 1858-1864 (1893) (14793169003).jpg|thumb|Wedding procession at [[Tete, Mozambique|Tete]], from [[David Livingstone]]'s ''Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries'']]

Starting in 1926, Portugal's colonial authorities abandoned conceptions of an innate inferiority of Africans, and set as their goal the development of a [[multiethnic]] society in its African colonies. The establishment of a dual, [[racialised]] civil society was formally recognised in {{lang|pt|Estatuto do Indigenato}} (The Statute of Indigenous Populations) adopted in 1929, which was based on the subjective concept of [[civilization]] versus [[tribalism]]. In the administration's view, the goal of [[civilising mission]] would only be achieved after a period of [[Europeanisation]] or [[enculturation]] of African communities.

The {{lang|pt|Estatuto}} established a distinction between the colonial citizens, subject to the [[Portuguese law]]s and entitled to all citizenship rights and duties effective in the [[metropole]], and the {{lang|pt|indígenas}} (natives), subjected to colonial legislation and customary African laws. Between the two groups there was a third small group, the {{lang|pt|assimilados}}, comprising native blacks, mulatos, Asians, and mixed-race people, who had at least some formal education and not subjected to paid forced labour. They were entitled to some citizenship rights, and held a special identification card, used to control the movements of forced labour.<ref>CEA 1998</ref> The {{lang|pt|indígenas}} were subject to the traditional authorities, who were gradually integrated into the colonial administration and charged with solving disputes, managing the access to land, and guaranteeing the flows of workforce and the payment of taxes. As several authors have pointed out,<ref>Mamdani 1996; Gentili 1999; O'Laughlin 2000.</ref> the {{lang|pt|Indigenato}} regime was the political system that subordinated the immense majority of Africans to local authorities entrusted with governing, in collaboration with the lowest echelon of the colonial administration, the native communities described as tribes and assumed to have a common ancestry, language, and culture. The colonial use of traditional law and structures of power was thus an integral part of the process of colonial domination.<ref>Young 1994; Penvenne 1995; O'Laughlin 2000.</ref>

In the 1940s, the integration of traditional authorities into the colonial administration was deepened. The Portuguese colony was divided into {{lang|pt|[[concelho]]s}} (municipalities), in urban areas, governed by colonial and metropolitan legislation, and {{lang|pt|circunscrições}} (localities), in rural areas. The {{lang|pt|circunscrições}} were led by a colonial administrator and divided into {{lang|pt|regedorias}} (subdivisions of circunscrições), headed by {{lang|pt|régules}} (tribal chieftains), the embodiment of traditional authorities. Provincial Portuguese Decree No. 5.639, of July 29, 1944, attributed to {{lang|pt|régulos}} and their assistants, the {{lang|pt|cabos de terra}}, the status of {{lang|pt|auxiliares da administração}} (administrative assistants). Gradually, these traditional titles lost some of their content, and the {{lang|pt|régulos}} and {{lang|pt|cabos de terra}} came to be viewed as an effective part of the colonial state, remunerated for their participation in the collection of taxes, recruitment of the labour force, and agricultural production in the area under their control. Within the areas of their jurisdiction, the {{lang|pt|régulos}} and the {{lang|pt|cabos de terra}} also controlled the distribution of land and settled conflicts according to customary norms.<ref>Geffray 1990; Alexander 1994; Dinerman 1999.</ref> To exercise their power, the {{lang|pt|régulos}} and {{lang|pt|cabos de terra}} had their own police force.

The ''indigenato'' regime was abolished in 1960. From then on, all Africans were considered Portuguese citizens, and racial discrimination became a sociological rather than a legal feature of colonial society. In fact, the rule of traditional authorities became even more integrated than before in the colonial administration. Legally speaking, by the 1960s and 1970s segregation in Mozambique was minimal compared to that in neighbouring South Africa.<ref>{{Citation |title=Do outro lado do tempo: Moçambique antes de 1975 VERSÂO COMPLETA |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igQEvBShfu0 |access-date=2023-04-08 |language=en}}</ref>