Angola: Portuguese penetration of the interior (1836-1926)

Updated October 2005

In 1836 the slave trade was suppressed by the Portuguese government. To recoup the losses in revenue that resulted, the colonial government resorted to a range of new duties and taxes, with a heaver tax burden on the indigenous population (Ellsworth 1999). Since the institution of slavery itself had not yet been abolished, the government set about expanding the territory of the colony to increase the area in which slaves, which could no longer be shipped to the Americas, could be utilized (History World undated).

From 1838 onwards the trading posts that had hitherto constituted the area of direct Portuguese control were expanded, so that Angola as a colony can be said to date from this point onwards. Initially the expansion was eastwards up the Cuango River, into the territories occupied by the Matamba and Kasanje kingdoms. Land grants were made to settlers and sugar, coffee and cotton plantations were established (Library of Congress 1989d, History World undated).

In 1840 the town of Moçâmedes was founded to the south of Benguela, while forts were established north of Angola in an unsuccessful attempt to link Luanda with Cabinda (Library of Congress 1989d). Not surprisingly these new incursions were resisted by the occupiers of the annexed land, the Kongo to the north, the Mbundu opposite Luanda and the Ovimbundu and Ovambos (Kwanyamas) in the south (History World undated).

To finance the military operations involved a new hut tax was imposed on Africans in 1856 (Library of Congress 1989d). This in turn led to an exodus of Africans from Portuguese controlled areas by some and a flat refusal to pay by others. As a result of the failure of these financial measures Portuguese expansion virtually ceased by 1861, for no new military ventures could be financed (Library of Congress 1989d).

In 1878 the decree of 1858 abolishing slavery came into effect, but this had little practical significance since forced labour was imposed in its place and the former slaves were locked into a servitude that differed little from slavery (Ellsworth 1999, Library of Congress 1989c).

Renewed interest in African colonialism in Europe stimulated new interest in the African territories in Portugal in the late 1870's; the Portuguese government allocated funds for capital investment in the colonies and encouraged missionaries to settle in the interior. An exploratory expedition was sent out to investigate the possibility of linking the colonies of Angola and Mozambique overland, an extraordinary ambition, given that the Portuguese were unable to subdue the immediate hinterland of Angola (Library of Congress 1989d).

In the run-up to the Berlin conference the Portuguese occupied Cabinda to the north of the Congo River and annexed the territory of the Kongo Kingdom in 1883. These moves on the Congo River basin conflicted with similar French and Belgian ambitions and so led indirectly to the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. The Berlin Conference established the ground rules by which the boundaries of Angola were to be delimited. It also split the territory of the Kongo Kingdom between Belgium and Portugal (Meijer & Birmingham 2004, Library of Congress 1989d). Nevertheless, it was only after World War I that Portugal was actually able to take effective control of the territory (Accord 2004, Library of Congress 1989d).

To facilitate colonization of the fertile Benguela Plateau a railway line was begun from Luanda Malanje in 1885. A more ambitious line was begun in 1902 to link Benguela with the mines of Katanga and to further open the interior to white settlement. The line finally reached the Congo in 1928. As a consequence a string of new towns were founded and railway itself became a major employer of labour (History World undated).

During the course of the late half of the 19th century the tempo of white settlement gradually increased and by 1900 there were 10 000 whites in Angola, a third of whom were women. Mestiços, who had outnumbered whites by three to one, were now outnumbered by the same ratio (Library of Congress 1989e); whereas before they had occupied the lower rungs of commercial ventures and the colonial administration, they were increasingly displaced by immigrants from Portugal (Library of Congress 1989f).

The Ovimbundu were, however, finally subjugated after years of struggle, and their monarchs became Portuguese appointees (Library of Congress 1989b). In 1900 the Lunda kingdom was overthrown by the Chokwe invaders from central Africa who had settled in Angola in the mid-1800s (Library of Congress 1989a). The Kwanyama, who had set up a trading state in the south at the turn of the previous century, were conquered in the early twentieth century and their kingdom was partitioned between the Portuguese and the Germans (Library of Congress 1989b, 1989n).

The discovery of diamonds in 1912 eventually led to the founding of the Diamond Company of Angola. It became a major employer of African labour, and, in terms of the provision of services to its workers, virtually a mini state within the state (Library of Congress 1989f, Accord 2004).

All these economic developments notwithstanding, Portugal was simply too poor to raise the capital to adequately develop the territory and the finances of the colony were in serious disarray when the Portuguese government was overthrown in a military coup d'etat in 1926 (Library of Congress 1989f).

References

ACCORD 2004 "Chronology" Accord 15, [www] http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/angola/chronology.php [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

ELLSWORTH, KH 1999, "Racial and Ethnic Relations in the Modern World-System: A Comparative Analysis of Portuguese Influence in Angola And Brazil", Paper presented at the 1999 International Studies Assoc. Conference, February 19, 18-26 [www] http://www.public.asu.edu/~ellswork/isa1999.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

HISTORY WORLD UNDATED, "History of Angola", [www] http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad33 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989a, "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 10 Mar 2010).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989b, "Ovimbundu and Kwanhama Kingdoms" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0019) [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989c, "Abolition of the Slave Trade" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0024) [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989d, "Expansion and the Berlin Conference" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0025) [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989e, "The Demographic Situation" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0026) [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1989f, "Administration and Development" IN Country Study: Angola [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ao0028) [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

MEIJER, G & BIRMINGHAM, D 2004, "Angola from past to present" Accord 15 [www] http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/angola/past-present.php [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).