Eswatini–Mozambique border
About 66 miles along the summit of the Lebombo Mountains, the eastern wall of Eswatini (then Swaziland). A short stretch at its northern end was disputed for decades until British and Portuguese surveyors re-marked it in 1925.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Eswatini →Mozambique →
Along the Lebombo
A treaty of 29 July 1869 between Portugal and the South African Republic (Transvaal) ran the boundary of Portuguese Delagoa Bay north along the summit of the Lebombo Mountains. In 1888 a joint commission of Britain, Portugal, Swaziland and the South African Republic delimited the Mozambique–Swaziland line along that summit from the Great Usutu northward, through four main points: Ipoye, Buchanan, Nunes da Silva and Krogh.[1]
Swaziland’s own status changed several times: its independence was recognised in 1881 and 1884, it came under the South African Republic’s protection in 1894 and under the British high commissioner in 1907, and it became independent as the Kingdom of Swaziland on 6 September 1968.[1]
The Krogh–Mpundweni stretch
In 1894 a Portuguese–South African commission set up Mpundweni Beacon at the three-way meeting point, and in 1897 another commission beaconed the four main points and ran a straight line from Krogh to Mpundweni. The South African Republic, and later Britain, accepted everything except that last stretch.[1]
Commissions in 1899 and 1907 failed to settle it. In 1920 they agreed that only the Krogh–Mpundweni sector was in dispute, and an Anglo-Portuguese commission re-marked it in 1925, which the two governments accepted by an exchange of notes on 6 October 1927.[1]
Timeline
186929 July 1869
Transvaal–Portugal treaty
The Lebombo summit is named as the boundary.[1]
1888
Four-party commission
The Mozambique–Swaziland line is delimited.[1]
1894
Mpundweni Beacon
The northern tripoint is marked.[1]
1897
Beacons built
The four main points are marked; the northern stretch is disputed.[1]
19276 October 1927
Dispute settled
The 1925 re-marking is accepted.[1]
19686 September 1968
Swaziland independent
The border becomes an international one.[1]
More borders
Sources
- [1]International Boundary Study No. 135: Mozambique – Swaziland Boundary · US Department of State, Office of the Geographer · 4 June 1973
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.