Although effective occupation only had a relatively short duration and elements of pre-colonial continuity persisted, colonialism nevertheless brought major social changes in urbanisation, in formal education, in religious practice, in farming techniques and in commercial linkages.
These changes affected all sections of society and all parts of the country, albeit to an uneven and variable degree. There is a tendency noted above to view Angolan society, and indeed other African societies, as fundamentally split between a 'modern' sector, influenced by 'Western' or European values, and a 'traditional' one governed by pre-modern systems of unchanging norms and historic ritual practices.
Such views, expressed in political and public discourse, tend to over-simplify the socio-cultural base of both the MPLA and UNITA when in fact each had to manage its relations with appropriate 'traditional authorities'. Angola presents a rich variety of influences and mixtures all deeply marked by the colonial experience as well as by the so-called Afro-Stalinism of the post-independence years.
There is no part of Angola, however remote, and no sector of Angolan society, however 'traditional', which is not in some way linked to the 'modern' world of a globalised economy and its culture and communication systems.
While colonial rule never went unresisted, a more focused armed struggle for independence only started in , after the Portuguese had bloodily repressed a mass protest against colonial conditions in the north. Hundreds of white planters and traders estimates vary between and 1, and thousands of black farm workers were killed, and many more fled the country, forming a fertile recruiting ground for an emerging anti-colonial cause.
In Luanda and the coastal cities much older associations had long expressed the nationalist sentiment of Angola's African population. The s saw a major military and political confrontation between the Portuguese colonial regime and Angolan nationalism. The country also experienced the early manifestation of divisions within the nationalist movement that were to mark political life in Angola for many years.
The date of the prison attack was later officially celebrated as the beginning of the armed struggle. The anti-colonial struggle launched in was fought with guerrilla tactics, gradually increasing in scope to reach from the north to the east of the country.
On the diplomatic front nationalists worked from bases in Leopoldville now Kinshasa , Conakry and Brazzaville, as well as from Lisbon and Paris. Some African countries later transferred their allegiance to the MPLA which, though its military record was poor and its leadership continuously suffered from internal conflict, gradually outmanoeuvred its rivals politically and diplomatically to gain pre-eminence in He also denounced nepotism and the authoritarian leadership of Holden Roberto.
By exploiting the feelings of exclusion in Angola's largest ethnic group, the Ovimbundu, Savimbi built up his own constituency in the centre and south of the country. Initially he conducted small guerrilla operations inside Angola before establishing a network of supporters abroad. None of the armed movements succeeded in effectively threatening the colonial state in Angola.
The end of this 'first Angolan war' was brought about indirectly through domestic pressure in Portugal and the growing dissatisfaction of the Portuguese military fighting the colonial wars in Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau.
In , however, a frenzy of diplomatic and political activity at home and abroad mitigated against a negotiated independence. In January , under heavy international pressure, the colonial power and the three movements had signed an agreement in Alvor, Portugal, providing for a transitional government, a constitution, elections and independence. This Alvor Accord soon collapsed, however, and the transitional government scarcely functioned. On 11 November Angola became independent.
The FNLA and UNITA were excluded from the city and from government and a socialist one-party regime was established which eventually gained international recognition, though not from the United States. From until the late s Angolan society was moulded along 'classical' Marxist-Leninist lines.
A dominant, but increasingly corrupt state sector was controlled by the ruling party. Private business, with the exception of the activities of foreign oil companies, was restricted and organised religion, including the Catholic Church, which had held an official place under the colonial regime, was suppressed.
No freely organised 'civil society' emerged and the state controlled the media and mass organisations for youth, for women, for workers and for some of the professions. One event had a crucial impact on the political climate during Angola's socialist era: the failed coup attempt by Nito Alves and his followers on 27 May Alves was a minister in President Agostinho Neto's government but also had his own constituency of supporters in Luanda's musseques slums.
The nitista crisis was fuelled by personal ambitions but also by ideological battles within the ruling socialist camp. Some leaders were loyal to the 'bureaucratic' line practised in the USSR while others preferred a more 'revolutionary' Chinese approach. The coup itself was bloodily repressed and it is alleged that thousands of supposed sympathisers were jailed or killed in the following days, weeks and months. In war was raging between the Dutch and the Portueguese and both the Kingdoms of Kongo and Ndongo allied with the Dutch in an effort to drive out the Portuguese from Angola.
The alliance almost managed to drive the Portuguese completely out of Central Africa. The Dutch conquered Luanda and blocked most of the Portuguese outposts and colonies on the African coast. The Dutch capitulated and Queen Njinga fled to the state of Matamba and continued her resistance against the Portuguese from there. By Njinga had been in constant war and battles for more than 25 years.
Most of her life had been dedicated to fighting the Portuguese invaders. Italian illustrations from From to she negotiated a peace treaty with the Portuguese through a series of letter exchanges [lxxxviii].
Ndongo captives, including Njinga's sister, where returned from the Portuguese. In return Njinga returned to the Catholic Church, gave up her many male consorts, and got married in a Catholic ceremony [lxxxix]. It was during the life of Njinga that the Colony of Angola became a major hub for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It was in essence this expansion of the slave trade and against Portuguese slave raiders which she fought. Although after the war Queen Njinga also engaged in the slave trade and sold captured people to the Portuguese [xc].
Queen Njinga died of natural causes in In the Portuguese would again go to war against the Kingdom of Ndongo. On November 29, , the Portuguese forces captured the fortress of Pungu-a-Ndongo effectively ending the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Ndongo and beginning its integration into the Colony of Angola [xci].
In the late s and early s the Lunda people, also known as the Imbangala, came to Angola as refugees fleeing from the expanding Luba of Katanga [xcii]. Stories from Angola tells that the refugees was led by a man named Kinguri-kya-Bangela. The refugees organised the Lunda state, or what is also known as the Imbangala Kingdom, and then began to expand their influence [xciii]. Several expedition forces left the Lunda capital and went out to set up new villages and settlements in the north-eastern part of present-day-Angola.
In this sense the Lunda state was in actuality a series of smaller states and kingdoms with different leadership who occasionally worked together. These separate states and kingdoms were connected by a tribute and exchange sphere, and could be described as a commonwealth [xciv]. The most famous of the Lunda states was the Kingdom of Kasanje which was founded either in [xcv] or in [xcvi].
The Lunda chief, Kasanje-Ka-Kulashingo, and the group he led was first absorbed into a Jaga band and then they conquered land belonging to the Pende. After this the Kasanje engaged in several battles with the Ndongo Kingdom. As stated above the Ndongo Kingdom was the largest of the Mbundu polities.
After allying with several dissatisfied Mbundu chiefs, Kasanje defeated the Mbundu, and established the Kasanje Kingdom [xcvii]. He then met the Portuguese colonists who had settle on the island called Luanda [xcviii]. Kasanje treated with the Portuguese and in exchange for various gifts he invited them to settle on the mainland of Angola.
He rejected the Portuguese offer of becoming a subject to the Kingdom of Portugal however [xcix]. The Kasanje Kingdom reached its hight in the s. It was then a prosperous kingdom and a centre of trade [c].
The Kasanje Kingdom would remain strong until the s when it was slowly corroded by the increasing slave trade and a general decentralisation of power [ci]. Another powerful Lunda polity emerged in central Angola during the early s. After the Gando state, in the central highlands of Angola, was occupied by the Portuguese in , the original rulers of the state allied with Lunda forces [cii]. Together the new coalition swore to drive the Portuguese into the sea, and in they attacked the Portuguese fort in Caconda [ciii].
They never managed to take back the fortress, but the coalition halted all Portuguese advances in the area [civ]. The coalition then set up several states which remained independent in peaceful times, but who exchanged military support, weapons and tribute in times of war [cv].
The Lunda states began their decline in by the early s. The slave trade was decimating local populations and caused internal conflict. The states had also relied on much of their power as a dominant trading power in the area, and various Lunda states had often mediated trade between European and African states [cvi]. This dominant position of trade was by the s taken over by other more recently formed political formations in the area.
The abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the rise of trade in rubber and ivory would also reduce the power of more centralised and densely populated states. In addition to this the Lunda states experienced an influx of migrants from the north, called the Chokwe [cvii]. Using gunpowder based weapons, and by utilising internal conflicts in the Lunda states, the Chokwe subjugated most of the Lunda states in Angola.
By the Chokwe dominated all the areas in Angola which had previously been controlled by various Lunda states. By the s the Ovimbundu people had settled in the central highlands of Angola and formed about 22 different kingdoms who had various degrees of autonomy and cooperation with each other [cviii].
This was then, and remains now, one of the most densely populated areas Angola. The subjects of the Ovimbundu kingdoms shared a common language as they were all Umbundu speakers. Cingolo, an Ovimbundu kingdom. Illustration made in The Ovimbundu Kingdoms had, by , commercial ties with many of the other peoples living in Angola, as well as the Portuguese colony in the western part of the country [cix]. It was with the help of the Portuguese that many of the Ovimbundu kings had managed to seize power sometimes in the s.
This created a special bond between the Ovimbundu and the Portuguese. The Portuguese were reluctant to invade the Ovimbundu as they more of a commercial and political interest in keeping them independent [cx]. Several of the Ovimbundu kings were engaged in slave raids and provided much of the slaves who were sold to the Portuguese. This cooperation with the Portuguese aided the Ovimbundu in keeping political autonomy for much longer than most of their neighbouring peoples [cxi].
It should be mentioned as well that the Portuguese were also hesitant of conquering to far inland in Central Africa. So while northern neighbours such as the Ndongo were being incorporated into the Colony of Angola, the Ovimbundu retained a large degree of political autonomy. The end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the s and 40s would be disastrous for the Ovimbundu political elite [cxiii].
The elites had made themselves a necessity when the slave trade became such a dominant part of the economy. To capture slaves one needed large and organised raiding parties.
These larger armed forced could mostly be organised and maintained by more centralised state institutions. This meant that the kings and the nobility held a tight control of the most important commercial and economic activity in the Kingdoms. With the end of the slave trade their control and power waned. This was also the case in other Kingdoms in the area such as the Kingdom of Kongo. The Ovimbundu now also owned hundreds of thousands of slaves which were of non-Ovimbundu origins.
They would normally had been sold to the Portuguese, but now they had to be integrated into Ovimbundu society. This sudden influx of such a large amount of freed slaves caused a mass disruption of the existing social structures.
This erosion of the central authority of the kings and Portugal no longer needing the Ovimbundu for the slave trade, made them very vulnerable to colonial occupation [cxiv]. Between and the Portuguese conquered all of the Ovimbundu kingdoms and incorporated them into the Colony of Angola. It began with the missionaries in the Kingdom of Kongo in the s and the establishment of colony of Luanda in In the beginning the Portuguese were mostly interested in slave trade. They conquered the coastal areas which could serve as slave trading hubs.
Luanda was the biggest of these, but another large colonial hub was the city of Benguela which was established in [cxv]. The Portuguese would then either do slaving raids into the country from these coastal fortresses or rely on local inland rulers to sell them slaves who had been captured during local conflicts. At most Portuguese colonial settlements in inland Angola was limited to trade posts and missionary stations.
A European trade post in Angola. The slave trade was a source of enrichment for some of the local nobility, but it would eventually lead to the destabilisation and demise of some of the largest Kingdoms in pre-colonial Angola [cxvi].
For those kingdoms, like the Ovimbundu, who prospered from the slave trade the abolition of the trade in would create internal turmoil and make them vulnerable to conquest. From to the Portuguese was in almost constant conflict with one of the many peoples who inhabited Angola at the time. Some, like the Kingdom of Kongo or the Kingdom of Ndongo, resisted for centuries [cxvii]. The Ndongo was conquered and integrated into the colony in , and the Kingdom of Kongo would lose all remaining autonomy in the early s.
The Ovimbundu Kingdoms were all integrated into the Colony of Angola by The last people to be subjugated was Kwanyamo, a subset of the Ovambo peoples, in Southern Angola. In September the last king of the Kwanayamo, King Mandume, was defeated by the Portuguese [cxviii]. The defeat of the Kwanyamo marked the total domination by the Portuguese over Angola, and at this point the Colony reached the boundaries which had been stipulated in the Berlin Conference of — by the European colonial powers.
None of the people of Angola was present or had any say at the conference, and the boundaries which were set would cut through already existing social formations.
The Kingdom of Kongo, which had been one of the largest kingdoms in Africa, was split between Belgium and Portugal. In the British Empire halted any attempts by the Portuguese to expand Angola any further east [cxix]. By the mids the Angolan colony had about the same borders as the modern nation state. In the southern border shared with South West Africa which officially came under the control of South Africa in was negotiated with South Africa, settling the last of the border disputes with other European colonial powers [cxx].
It was the lure of commercial farming cocoa and sugar cane , diamonds, and rubber, which had made the Portuguese want to expand their colony from the coast to further inland.
Once the actual mineral resources were firmly under Portuguese control the colonial administration now needed workers to extract those minerals. This labour would come at a huge cost to the local Angolan people. Life was hard for the majority of African people living in the colony. While the trans-Atlantic slave trade was made illegal in it was still legal to own slaves in Angola until [cxxi] [cxxii]. In many places various forms of slavery would continue long into the s.
Various forms of slavery and forced labour was common into the mids. The colonial authorities would regularly round up Angolans and through violence and intimidation conscript them into work regiments for various colonial projects [cxxiv]. For the people recruited into forced labour life was hard and short. Plantations rarely paid any remunerations, and when they did it was inconsistent, minimal and sometimes only usable at the local plantation shop.
Angry at a worker for his suicide the bosses of the plantation denied him a dignified funeral and instead burnt the body on the local highway [cxxvii].
The similarities between the slavery of the previous centuries and the labour system of the late s and early s were uncanny. In a chocolate producer, William Cadbury, walked up a labour recruitment trail and found wooden shackles all over the sides of the road. People coerced into forced labour would have their shackles removed only the moment they signed their labour contracts and then they would be sent off to their designated place of work [cxxviii].
It was usual for colonial administrators to go to inland villages and recruit mostly young men to various work on plantations and colonial projects.
The young men would sign contracts which were meant to be for between two and five years, but in most places they were automatically renewed upon expiration. This meant that very few of the people recruited from the various inland villages would ever return home again [cxxix].
The British, who had for centuries had a special relationship with Portugal, made arrangements for Angolan and Mozambican people to be sent to work in their gold and diamond mines in the Transvaal or in the Cape Colony [cxxx].
This relationship between British and Portuguese colonies created the foundations for a migrant labour system which would encompass most of Southern Africa up until the after the s. Up until the s Angolan people was coerced into travelling to South Africa to work in the mines there [cxxxi].
For European settlers the Angolan colony was enticing place to move as it offered opportunities denied in Europe. In there was an attempt at establishing a Jewish homeland in Angola, and while it failed, Angola would draw a reasonable amount of Jewish settlers as an effect of the persecution of Jews in Portugal since the s. By there were about Jinga entered into an alliance with the Dutch, thereby strengthening her coalition and confining the Portuguese to Massangano, which they fortified strongly, sallying forth on occasion to capture slaves in the Kuata!
Slaves from Angola were essential to the development of the colony of Brazil, but the traffic had been interrupted by these events. The Kingdom of Ndongo likewise submitted to the Portuguese Crown in The Portuguese colony of Angola was founded in with the arrival of Novais with a hundred families of colonist and four hundred soldiers.
Luanda was granted the status of city in Trade was mostly with Brazil; Brazilian ships were the most numerous in the ports of Luanda and Benguela. Angola, a Portuguese colony, was in fact a colony of Brazil, paradoxically another Portuguese colony. A strong Brazilian influence was also exercised by the Jesuits in religion and education. The philosophy of war gradually gave way to the philosophy of trade. The great trade routes and the agreements that made them possible were the driving force for activities between the different areas; warlike states become states ready to produce and to sell.
However, the colonial power, becoming ever richer and more powerful, would not tolerate the development of these states and subjugated them one by one, so that by the beginning of this century the Portuguese had complete control over the area. From onwards, there was a gradual change from a slave-based society to one based on production for domestic consumption. By Luanda was a great city, full of trading companies, exporting together with Benguela palm and peanut oil, wax, copal, timber, ivory, cotton, coffee, and cocoa, among other products.
Maize, tobacco, dried meat and cassava flour also began to be produced locally. The Angolan bourgeoisie was born. In response, U. The U. De Jarnette presented his credentials to Angolan authorities. Menu Menu. Angola - Countries.
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