refugees had left the once-great city of Kilwa practically deserted, save for roving gangs of partisans fighting each other in the streets. The Portuguese garrison was hunkered down in the fort, and had hardly any supplies of their own. Cide Barbudo hurried on to India, reaching Cochin in August 1506, delivering his report on the disastrous conditions of both Sofala and Kilwa to the vice-roy D. Francisco de Almeida. Almeida dispatched Nuno Vaz Pereira to assume the capitaincy of Sofala and do what he could to restore its conditions. Pereira left India in October, stopping in Kilwa first. Miraculously, he manages to restore some semblance of order in Kilwa (although it quickly fell apart again after he left). Arriving in Sofala in December 1506, Nuno Vaz Pereira invoked his credentials as the new captain of Sofala and relieved the factor Manuel Fernandes (much to the latter's annoyance - seemingly Fernandes had hoped Barbudo would secure Almeida appointed him.) Move to Mozambique Nuno Vaz Pereira's tenure did not last long. Vasco Gomes de Abreu, who had been sent directly from Lisbon to relieve Anaia, arrived in Sofala in September 1507. Abreu was quick to realize that Sofala's location would not do – its harbor was clogged with dangerous shoals, its location in a swamp made it too susceptible to disease. Moreover, the gold bounty that first drove the Portuguese to Sofala had been a mirage. The internal goldfields of the Monomatapa, after centuries of operation, were now exhausted to a trickle. Gold mining in the interior had gravitated north, near the Zambezi, and delivery was being directed to better-situated emerging new coastal towns like Quelimane and Angoche. The Portuguese presence in Sofala was not only hazardous, it was unnecessary. Abreu immediately directed operations to capture nearby Mozambique Island, which had a much more suitable harbor and was disease-free. The Captaincy of Sofala was thus enlarged to include Mozambique Island. Much of the European garrison and administration was subsequently transferred to healthier Mozambique. Abreu erected Fort São Gabriel on Mozambique Island in late 1507, that would henceforth serve as the main garrison and capital of the capitaincy. Fort São Caetano of Sofala was effectively reduced to an outpost. Nonetheless, colonial governors of Portuguese Mozambique would continue to bear 'Captain of Sofala' as their primary formal title. See also 7th Portuguese India Armada (Almeida, 1505) Portuguese India Armadas Portuguese East Africa Notes Sources