Zambezi km from the sea the Zambezi receives the drainage of Lake Malawi through the Shire River. On approaching the Indian Ocean, the river splits up into a delta. Each of the four primary distributaries, Kongone, Luabo and Timbwe, is obstructed by a sand bar. A more northerly branch, called the Chinde mouth, has a minimum depth at low water of 2 m at the entrance and 4 m further in, and is the branch used for navigation. 100 km further north is a river called the Quelimane, after the town at its mouth. This stream, which is silting up, receives
Zambezi Zambezi river proper as the "Cuama River". Nonetheless, already in 1552, Portuguese chronicler João de Barros notes that the same Cuama river was called "Zembere" by the inland people of Monomatapa. The Portuguese Dominican friar João dos Santos, visiting Monomatapa in 1597, reported it as "Zambeze" (Bantu languages frequently shifts between z and r) and inquired into the origins of the name; he was told it was named after a people. Thus the term "Zambezi" is after a people who live by a great lake to the north. The most likely candidates are the "M'biza", or Bisa people (in older