Magnifique Mozambique Trivia Quiz

Answer: Portugal

The voyage of Vasco da Gama around the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 facilitated the Portuguese in establishing coastal settlements along the south-east coast of Africa, displacing small Arab trading centres. These new ports were stopping-off points for the new trade with India. Later, the Portuguese captured thousands of people from Mozambique and dispatched them to the New World as slaves. Gold and diamonds were also mined and sent back to Portugal. Portugal's dictator refused to give up his three mainland colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique and none of them achieved independence until after he died in 1975; most other African nations achieved independence in the 1960s.

This question was written into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1 who remains a Lusophile despite the subject content of this question.

Answer: Cuba

Cuba trained Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) fighters in Cuba and provided weapons, food, and uniforms. They also provided military advisers to Mozambique in the country along with the Soviet Union and East Germany. Chinese advisers trained FRELIMO fighters in Tanzania. The war would last for a decade with Cuba remaining closely involved during the whole period.

When FRELIMO took over the country in 1975, the Soviets and Cubans continued their advisory role with the new government. In 1981, there were still 200 military and 600 civilian Cuban advisers in the country. The FRELIMO government even sent students to Cuba to be educated.

This question was fomented into the quiz by the subversive writings of Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.

Answer: Two to the body, one to the head

Also known as the Failure Drill, the aim is to stop an assailant quickly. Two shots are first fired at the broader and easier target of the assailant's torso. In normal course this would be sufficient to stop an opponent or slow them down significantly. However, in these days of body armour and/or the effects that some drugs have in aiding an opponent to keep moving forward, a third and more difficult shot is required at the head of the enemy. The head shot should be aimed at the region between the upper lip and the eyebrows. Aiming any higher may see the skull's bony structure deflect the bullet and prevent it from entering the brain.

The technique is said to have originated during the Mozambican War of Independence (1964 - 1974) and was patented by the Gunsite Academy in Arizona. It was borrowed by the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT division in 1980 to train their officers. They renamed it the Failure Drill, for fear that "Mozambique" may have held racial overtones.

1-Reload-1 is a rifle drill, El Guapo is a pistol drill that enables a shooter to deal with six assailants and the Mirror Mount is a shotgun drill.

Despite his ability to write this question Phoenix Rising will not provide pollucci19 with a gun. He is definitely a troubleshooter.

Answer: Kalashnikov rifle with a bayonet attached

The flag is quite new (1983) as Mozambique did not achieve independence until 1975. There are three coloured bands. The top-most band is teal, denoting the riches of the land. The middle band is black, representing the African continent. The last band is yellow, which symbolises the country's minerals. Between the bands are white fimbriations that signify peace. A red triangle on the hoist represents the struggle for independence. There are four elements within this triangle. Three of them, a book signifying the value of education, a hoe representing agriculture, and the aforementioned rifle that stands for defence and vigilance, are superimposed on a large yellow star that symbolises international solidarity. This flag is one of four that depict a firearm. However, the other three (Guatemala, Haiti, and Bolivia) have flags dating back to the early 1800s when these countries had recently acquired a violent independence.

This question was written into the quiz by team member 1nn1, Phoenix Rising's amateur vexillologist.

Answer: David Livingstone

While on an expedition across the Kalahari Desert to Lake Ngami in present-day Botswana, Dr. Livingstone heard about a mighty river in the north, the Zambezi, that might open Africa to the outside world by providing a way into the interior of the continent. Together with fellow explorer William Cotton Oswell, he reached the Zambezi River in August 1851. In 1852, Dr. Livingstone began to explore the Zambezi in earnest. The expedition was undertaken in collaboration with a local chieftain and the goal was to establish a trade route to Luanda in Angola on the west coast of Africa. The journey was an arduous one and took two years to complete. Dissatisfied with the route he had travelled so far, Dr. Livingstone embarked on a quest to find a more accessible passage to the east coast. On the return trek to the east, local guides led Dr. Livingstone to the waterfall that he would come to name Victoria Falls. In May 1856, Dr. Livingstone reached the Mozambique coast in the east and became the first European to traverse the African continent from side to side.

In March 1858, funded by public subscription and the British government, Dr. Livingstone set off on a second expedition to the Zambezi to evaluate the possibility of British trade on the river. The plan to navigate the river upstream by boat was hampered by the presence of rapids and low waters along certain stretches of the river. His wife, Mary, joined him in 1862, but died shortly after of malaria, and was buried in then Shupanga, which is located on the right bank of the Zambezi. This expedition was recalled to Britain in 1863. Even though the expedition was deemed a failure, it still reaped scientific rewards. Many botanical and zoological specimens were harvested and brought back to be housed in Kew Gardens and the Natural History Museum.

Phoenix Rising team members tazman6619 and purelyqing explored this question on a boating trip. They had a row.

Answer: Comoros

Comoros, a volcanic archipelago containing three major islands and many smaller ones, is situated at the northern extremity of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Mozambique lies to the west and the island of Madagascar is south-east. A fourth larger island, Mayotte, is at the south-eastern end of the archipelago. Despite all of Comoros gaining independence from France in 1975, the inhabitants of Mayotte voted to remain an external department of France. This uncertainty, which was put before several international organizations, was not resolved until a referendum in 2009 where the inhabitants of Mayotte again voted to remain as part of France. That outcome came into force in 2011.

The islands were part of early Islamic trade routes along the eastern African coast and beyond when extensively traded products included gold (from Zimbabwe), ivory, tortoise shells and slaves. The Portuguese arrived in 1503 and enhanced trade between Comoros and their colony of Mozambique. However, the situation of the islanders deteriorated in the late 18th century when raiders attacked to take slaves. Many Comorans were killed or fled to the main land (Africa). France took control in the mid-19th century and stabilized the previously parlous situation.

This question was placed into the quiz, hopefully very diplomatically, by Phoenix Rising member MikeMaster99.

Answer: Eusebio da Silva Ferreira

Eusebio, born in 1942 in what is now called Maputo in Mozambique, started his professional career in 1957 with the Sporting de Lourenco Marques. He then played for Benfica for 14 years, scoring 317 goals. Moving to America he played for a short time for the Boston Minutemen, Monterrey, and Toronto Metros-Croatia before a very short stint with Beira-Mar, a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. He ended his career in 1980 with the Buffalo Stallions.

His mother, Elisa Anissabeni, was a Mozambican woman, while his father, Laurindo Antonio da Silva Ferreira, was a railroad worker from Angola. Laurindo died when Eusebio was eight, leaving the family, of which Eusebio was the youngest of four children, in dire circumstances. He often skipped school in order to play football barefoot, with an improvised ball. He and his friends gave themselves the nicknames of various famous football heroes. While relatively young, he was made an offer to join Juventus, which was rejected by his mother.

A devout Roman Catholic, he married Flora Claudina Burheim in 1965 and this was the first footballer's wedding to be televised. He died in Portugal in 2014 of a heart attack.

This question was headed into the quiz by Phoenix Rising's VegemiteKid.

Answer: Cuba

Mozambique, characterised by its rhythmic use of drums (particularly congo), bells and brass instruments, was developed in Cuba in the early 1960s to evoke the sounds and patterns of the Spanish and Latin American street carnivals known as comparsas. It is often accompanied by a dance derived from a combination of Cuban rumba and the twist. This style is also referred to as Cuban-style mozambique as a different version (which uses alternative rhythms and patterns) was later introduced in New York and is known as New York-style mozambique.

It is worth noting that while these musical genres take some of their roots from the traditional music of southern Africa, neither have any particular connection to the country of Mozambique.

This question was tapped out on the keyboard by Phoenix Rising's Fifiona81.

Answer: Desire

"Mozambique" is one of the breeziest tracks that Dylan has ever released, yet it resulted in a great deal of criticism being aimed at him. The song was released as a single in 1976 but less than a year earlier, the county that provides the title for the track had just completed a ten-year struggle for its independence. Consequently, many people expected the song to provide some recognition of this momentous event. Dylan doesn't mention this at all, instead, he provides us with an up-tempo love song that he and co-writer Jacques Levy used as a writing exercise to see how many words they could unearth to rhyme with Mozambique.

"Desire", the album, had followed hot on the heels of one of Dylan's finest works, the introspective and self-confessing "Blood on the Tracks" (1975), which came on the back of his estrangement to his then-wife, Sara. "Desire" seems to be a directionless creation with Dylan unsure of where he is going. The musical styles are so varied and, with a few exceptions, the lyrics lack the punch and verve of Dylan at his best. It is almost ironic then that Dylan followed the release of this album with his Rolling Thunder Revue, a tour more famous for its chaos than its performances. That said, the track "Hurricane", possibly the LP's best known number, is a masterpiece and the closing track, "Sara", reveals an emotionally naked songwriter pining at the breakdown of a relationship.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who hopes that your answer is not blowing in the wind.

Answer: Corn flour

Xima, pronounced shee-mah, is corn flour mixed with water and boiled until it reaches a thick consistency that is dry enough to be shaped into patties and eaten by hand. Xima is accompanied by side dishes such as stews, relishes and sauces. Making xima is labour-intensive work. Many Mozambican families grow their own corn, which they grind into meal themselves daily or take the corn some distance to the village mill to be ground. The flour used to prepare xima can be milled from hulled or unhulled corn. Hulled corn produces xima that is very white and this is the version that is more commonly eaten by Mozambicans. Rural folk believe that the whiter the xima, the more meticulous and virtuous the wife is. While very filling, xima is relatively devoid of nutrients, more so if hulled corn is used. This often leads to malnutrition in the people of Mozambique, especially when food is scarce and the side dishes normally eaten with xima are not available.

Phoenix Rising team member purelyqing served this question for a meal. It was corny.