Sofala

Sofala, the name given to that portion of the south-east coast of Africa which extends from the Zambezi as far south as Delagoa Bay. The inland region at the back of the coast district, partly corresponding to Matabeleland, was anciently known as the Empire of Monomotapa (though the word is rather the name of the prince than of the state). Sofala was described by the old geographers as a very rich, gold-producing country, and was judged by some to be the Ophir of Solomon, an idea afterwards long discredited, but lately revived since Mauch discovered the disused mine-workings around Zimbabwe (q.v.), and interest was aroused in them through the British South Africa Company penetrating into that region. Sofala belongs to the Portuguese, who established themselves here in 1505. Their headquarters, the town of Sofala, once a large commercial town, is now a wretched place of 1000 inhabitants.