Namen und Macht in Mosambik

Abstract

While numerous toponyms from the colonial era which have actually (again) borne an African name since gaining statehood in 1975 can still be found on many virtually accessible maps of Mozambique the criticism in the country of the inauthentic spelling of autochthonous place names is getting louder. Behind this is the idea that only through a consistent 'desaportuguesamento' (act or effect of de-Portuguese, of removing or ceasing to have the Portuguese character) (Ngunga 2021) of Mozambique's name landscape in harmony with the respective local languages of the Bantu group the final liberation from (Portuguese) colonialism can be achieved and a separate national identity can be strengthened. However, an institution such as the Instituto Nacional de Nomes Geográficos Moçambicanos (INGEMO), established in 2009, is amongst other things also faced with the problem of the extent to which the desired harmonization of place names can in turn be more than symbolic in nature and can withstand historical-linguistic criteria in view of the fact that the original meaning of the names in the languages on which they are based can often hardly be reconstructed.