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Accepted Paper:
Rainfall variability over Mozambique during the nineteenth century
David Nash
(University of Brighton)
Bárbara Direito
(Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, NOVA FCT, Portugal)
Matthew Hannaford
(University of Lincoln)
This paper presents a reconstruction of nineteenth century rainfall variability over present-day Mozambique derived from historical sources.
Paper long abstract:
Rainfall variability posed significant challenges for agrarian communities across the area occupied by present-day Mozambique during the nineteenth century. As a result, accounts of weather conditions and their impacts upon livelihoods, infrastructure and social/cultural activities are widely recorded in historical sources. This paper draws on diaries, memoirs and reports from the region, written by mainly British and Portuguese observers, to present a semi-quantitative reconstruction of rainfall variability spanning the full nineteenth century. It highlights episodes of drought and above-average rainfall, and then draws comparisons with annually-resolved rainfall reconstructions for other parts of southern Africa, to explore subcontinental patterns of nineteenth century rainfall variability.