Gurúè

Gurúè, also spelt Gurué and known before independence as Vila Junqueiro, is a town in the northern part of Mozambique near the centre of Zambezia Province. It is the principal town of Gurué District and is Mozambique's largest tea estate. The 2007 census counted 145,466 people, up from 99,335 in 1997. Founded and named by the Portuguese in the 19th century, it developed as a major tea-producing town from the 1930s, when several tea companies had their headquarters there and most of the tea was exported to the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. It was renamed Vila Junqueiro in October 1959 after the tea tycoon Manuel Saraiva Junqueiro died in an air crash, and took back the name Gurúè after independence in 1975. Among its natural attractions is the Namuli mountain range, which rises to 2,419 metres.