Independence movements in Mozambique Independence movements in Mozambique Groups interested in freeing Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule and making it an independent nation emerged in the early 1900s, shortly after Portugal had defeated the last of the native chieftaincies and established effective control over the territory. In 1920 or 1923, a government sponsored organisation, the Liga Africana was established in Lisbon for ""assimilados"" -- members of the tiny minority of Africans in the colonies who had been given citizenship status. Gibson states that "although it gathered together only some twenty African and mulatto intellectuals, [it] had significant repercussions in the colonies." Later, in Mozambique,
Chimoio Colonial War. After a military coup in Lisbon, the Carnation Revolution of 1974, the Portuguese authorities offered independence to its African territories, and Mozambique became an independent country. The change in name from Vila Pery to Chimoio took place on 12 June 1975, during the public rally of the first President of independent Mozambique - Samora Moisés Machel - on his journey from the Rovuma to the Maputo. One of the most visible marks of this period of fighting for independence is the Praça dos Heróis (Heroes’ Square). An impressive mural was painted depicting the various episodes in Mozambican history,