The Growth of Lourenço Marques at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century

By the end of the nineteenth century Lourenço Marques had expanded, benefiting both from the works of improvement to the harbour and from the railway connection Lourenço Marques–Pretoria inaugurated in 1892, as well as from its demographic growth associated with the increasing local and regional job opportunities. This growth accelerated the development and the implementation of urbanization and sanitation plans to respond to the new needs of a growing population and of its services inherent to the development of the city and the port, which had a deep impact on people’s daily lives. Combining data from archival documents produced by the Serviço de Obras Públicas (Department of Public Works) and the Serviços de Saúde (Health Services) this chapter aims to draw attention to a number of factors that interfered with the way the city of Lourenço Marques grew in the turning of the nineteenth century.