This paper examines the intertwined social and environmental histories of t
he Cahora Bassa dam constructed on the Lower Zambesi River in Mozambique. A
basic premise of this historical analysis is that social and ecological su
stainability are necessarily linked. We trace the transformations wrought b
y Cahora Bassa and the devastating effects on peasant communities inundated
by the dam's reservoir, on down-river communities and on the ecosystems of
the Lower Zambesi. The grandiose aims of the Portuguese colonial state to
'develop' the Lower Zambesi by regulating the river contrast sharply with t
he exploitation of African workers recruited to build the dam. The project
was also steeped in the discourse of national security, which provided a co
nvenient rationale for burying information regarding the dam's likely conse
quences. Oral testimonies from the labourers who constructed the dam and pe
asants whose livelihoods were disrupted reveal the harsh costs of Cahora Ba
ssa. Similarly, the regulation of the Lower Zambesi irrevocably altered the
region's ecosystems contributing to a general loss of ecological integrity
. The Cahora Bassa project demonstrates that questions of sustainability ar
e linked to relations of domination and struggles over meaning. The history
of Cahora Bassa is about an authoritarian colonial state willing to achiev
e a set of economic and strategic objectives using all the coercive power a
t its disposal without regard for the social and ecological consequences.