Matemo Island forms part of the pristine Quirimbas Islands and is located northeast of Ibo island, in northern Mozambique, about 100 km from the city of Pemba. It is approximately 24 square kilometres in area, with palm groves and beaches.
It contains two villages, inhabited by native Mozambicans, as well as the Matemo Island Resort, falling within the Rani Resorts group.
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Portuguese: Moçambique orRepública de Moçambique, pronounced: [ʁɛˈpublikɐ di musɐ̃ˈbiki]), is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north,Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. The capital city is Maputo, formerly known as Lourenço Marques.
Between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from farther north and west. Swahili, and later also Arab, commercial ports existed along the coasts until the arrival of Europeans. The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonized by Portugal in 1505. Mozambique became independent in 1975, and became the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. It was the scene of an intensecivil war lasting from 1977 to 1992.
