Angola: Expansion of the slave trade and its impact (1700-1836)

Updated October 2005

The rapid expansion of European economies in the 18th century led to a rise in the demand for primary commodities for manufacturing and consumption, which in turn stimulated the development of labour intensive cotton and sugar plantations. This in turn stimulated the demand for slaves leading to a rise in prices. Consequently the Portuguese attempted to increase the volumes of slaves traded in (Ellsworth 1999).

The increased slave trading volumes were catastrophic for the peoples of what was to become Angola. Arms and ammunition became a chief means of payment for slaves. Warfare become a constant feature of life as each and every group raided its neighbour for captives to sell to the Portuguese, leading to heavy loss of human life, great stress on social structures and economic collapse as entire regions were denuded of their people (Ellsworth 1999).

At this point the Kongo Kingdom had ceased to exist in all but name. While acknowledging the nominal overlordship of the King, the component parts had become wholly autonomous. While all worked to restrict Portuguese penetration, the lack of central coordination of effort, and the ability of the Portuguese to play rival groups off against one another, limited their success (Library of Congress 1989d, 1989f).

The Mbundu states, Kasanje and Matamba, prospered as middlemen between the slave taking Lunda and the slave buying Portuguese. For the time being they were able to fend off attempts by the Portuguese and Lunda alike to eliminate them as go-betweens; in the 1760s they repelled several concerted efforts by the Lunda to conquer them (Library of Congress 1989f).

The Portuguese, finding penetration into the interior blocked by Matamba and the Kasanje, attempted to source cheaper and more supplies of slaves further south. It was for this reason that Benguela had been established in 1587. With the higher demand and prices paid for slaves, Benguela now became the base from which the intensified search was conducted, and by the close of the century it rivaled Luanda for the volumes of slaves trafficked. They soon found their way blocked by a set of kingdoms on the Benguela Plateau, those of the Ovimbundu (Library of Congress 1989g, 1989h).

Not much is known of the Ovimbundu prior to contact with the Portuguese; they seem to have migrated to the plateau from the east and north some time before 1700. By comparison with the other groups discussed hitherto, political power amongst the Ovimbundu was defused. So, when the Portuguese made contact with the Ovimbundu, there were no less than 22 kingdoms. In the period that followed they were consolidated into 13 more powerful entities. As trader they proved to be formidable rivals to the Portuguese (Ellsworth 1999, Library of Congress 1989g).

For the amount of damage that it was able to inflict, the Portuguese colony was a tiny affair. The rapidly expanding colony in Brazil attracted both the bulk and the best of immigrants from Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries. According to the Library of Congress (1989i):

[T]he white population of Angola in 1777 was less than 1 600. Of this number, very few whites were females; one account states that in 1846 the ratio of Portuguese men to Portuguese women in the colony was eleven to one. A product of this gender imbalance was miscegenation; for example, the mestiço population in 1777 was estimated at a little more than 4 000.

This was bolstered by slaves held to perform unpleasant functions such as labourers, porters and soldiers, but by comparison with the numbers shipped to Brazil and elsewhere the numbers involved were insignificant (Library of Congress 1989i).

The impact of the slave trade on Angola is indicated by the estimates of the population lost to the trade. Some four million people were shipped out between the beginning of the trade and its abolition in 1836; as many as half may have died in transit (Library of Congress 1989h). The Human Rights & Documentation Centre (undated) claims that as many as twelve million people died as a result of the trade and the wars that went with it.

References

ACCORD 2004 "Chronology" Accord 15, [www] http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/angola/chronology.php [opens new window] (accessed 15 May 2008).

HUMAN RIGHTS & DOCUMENTATION CENTRE UNDATED "Historical Background" IN Angola, [www] http://www.hrdc.unam.na/an_history.htm (site off-line 19 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1993, "Rulers and Ruled" IN Country Study: Zaire [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+zr0018) [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989b "Kongo Kingdom" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0014) [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989c "Ndongo Kingdom" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0015) [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989d "The Defeat of Kongo and Ndongo" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0016) [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989e "Matamba and Kasanje Kingdoms" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0017) [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989f "Lunda and Chokwe Kingdoms" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0018) [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).

WIKIPEDIA 2005 "Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba", [www] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nzinga_of_Ndongo_and_Matamba [opens new window] (accessed 16 Oct 2007).