CHINDE  , a

town of Portuguese East Africa, chief port for the Zambezi valley and British Central Africa, at the mouth of the Chinde branch of the Zambezi, in 18° 4o' S., 36° 30' E . Pop . (1907) 2790, of whom 218 were Europeans . Large steamers are unable to cross the bar, over which the depth of water varies from so to 18 ft . Chinde owes its existence to the discovery in 1889 that the branch of the river on the banks of which it is built is navigable from the ocean (see ZAMBEZI) . The Portuguese in 1891 granted on lease for 99 years an area of 5 acres—subsequently increased to 25—to the British government, on which goods in transit to British possessions could be stored duty free . This block of land is known as the British Concession, or British Chinde . The prosperity of the town largely depends on the transit trade with Nyasaland and North East Rhodesia . There is also a considerable export from Portuguese districts, sugar, cotton and ground nuts being largely cultivated in the Zambezi valley, and gold and copper mines worked .