Colonial Angola: Power And Control

Angola, a country in southwestern Africa, was colonised by Portugal and is considered to be under colonial rule from 1482 (Congo) or 1484 (Angolan coast) until it gained independence in November 1975. The Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão first arrived in the Kongo kingdom in 1482 and established a colony in Luanda in 1575.

The Kongo kingdom was the most powerful state in the region, emerging in the 14th century as the Kongo people moved southward from the Congo River into northern Angola. The Portuguese navigators entered into diplomatic relations with the kingdom, with the Kongo king and his son converting to Christianity.

The Portuguese colonial period in Angola lasted almost 500 years, with the Portuguese developing the country's economy through the slave trade, and later through the production and exportation of natural resources such as rubber, diamonds, coffee, and oil. The last 20 years of colonial rule, from 1955 to 1975, saw a major influx of Portuguese people, totalling 340,000 by the time of Angola's independence.

Portuguese colonial rule in Angola lasted almost 500 years

Portuguese colonial rule in Angola lasted from 1482 or 1484 until November 1975—almost 500 years.

The colonial history of Angola is considered to have begun with the arrival of Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão in 1482 (in the Congo) or 1484 (on the Angolan coast).

In 1575, Portuguese colonist Paulo Dias de Novais established the colony of Luanda with 100 families of settlers and 400 soldiers.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Portugal ruled along the coast and engaged in military conflicts with the Kingdom of Kongo. In the 18th century, Portugal gradually colonised the interior highlands.

In the 19th century, Portugal made further attempts to conquer the interior. However, full Portuguese administrative control of the entire territory was not achieved until the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1951, the Portuguese Colony of Angola became an overseas province of Portugal.

In 1975, Angola became an independent nation.

The Portuguese were heavily involved in the slave trade

The colonial power that controlled Angola was Portugal. The Portuguese Empire colonised the various local people and created the colony of Angola, a process that unfolded in various stages over almost 400 years.

The Portuguese played a significant role in the enslavement and trade of Africans. In the early 16th century, the Portuguese began exploring Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing back African slaves to compensate for the expenses of their voyages. The enslavement of Africans was seen as a military campaign, as the people they encountered were identified as Moorish and thus associated with Islam. The slaves were also viewed as a way to spread Christianity, as they were baptised before shipment.

The Portuguese established colonies on previously uninhabited Atlantic islands that served as collection points for captives and commodities to be shipped to Iberia and eventually to the Americas. The Portuguese colonisation of the Cape Verde Islands, located about 350 miles west of the Upper Guinean mainland, began in the 1460s. The slave trade out of West Africa made Ribeira Grande (present-day Cidade Velha) in Santiago one of the wealthiest cities in the Portuguese empire.

The Portuguese also established trading posts or "factories" with the goal of tapping into pre-existing local commercial networks. They procured not only captives for export but also various West African commodities such as ivory, peppers, textiles, wax, grain, and copper. The feitoria São Jorge da Mina, erected in 1482 in what is now present-day Ghana, became one of the most heavily trafficked trading centres in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The Portuguese slave trade had a devastating impact on the Kingdom of Congo. As early as 1526, King Afonso I of Congo wrote to King João III of Portugal, complaining that slave trading had devastated his kingdom and calling for the Portuguese to cease the practice. However, the transatlantic slave trade only intensified, and by the 19th century, Congo was destabilised, depopulated, and unable to mount a strong resistance to colonisation.

The Portuguese developed Angola's economy but did little to include Angolans

The Portuguese colonial power controlled Angola from 1482 or 1484 until the country gained independence in 1975. During this time, the Portuguese developed Angola's economy, but did little to include Angolans in the benefits of this progress.

From the 16th century onwards, the Portuguese used Angola as a source for the slave trade, with the port of Luanda becoming the greatest slaving port in Africa. After the Portuguese Empire abolished the slave trade in 1858, the Portuguese began to emigrate to Angola to establish farms and plantations. However, the profits from these ventures were concentrated in the hands of a small settler class, with the majority of Angolans being relegated to forced-labour projects.

In the 20th century, the Portuguese developed Angola's infrastructure, including building dams, roads, schools, railways, and ports. They also established mining operations and successfully drilled the first oil wells in 1955. By 1960, Angola's economy had been transformed, with a successful commercial agricultural sector, a promising mineral and petroleum production enterprise, and an incipient manufacturing industry. However, this progress was not accompanied by social development for the majority of native Angolans. The Portuguese regime encouraged white immigration, particularly after 1950, which intensified racial antagonism.

When Angola gained independence in 1975, there was a large exodus of skilled Portuguese workers, and the colonial state had failed to adequately develop local educational systems and job opportunities for Angolans. As a result, the loss of capital and skills had an immediate negative impact on Angola's economic development. The new government struggled to maintain economic growth, and the country was further crippled by a post-independence civil war that lasted until 2002.

Socially, the Portuguese reorganised villages and established transport routes

The Portuguese colonial presence in Angola lasted from the arrival of explorer Diogo Cão in 1484 until decolonisation in November 1975. During this time, the Portuguese reorganised villages and established transport routes.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Portugal ruled along the coast and engaged in military conflicts with the Kingdom of Kongo. However, in the 18th century, Portugal gradually managed to colonise the interior highlands. The Portuguese established cities, towns, and trading posts, and built railways and ports. They also reorganised villages and established transport routes, which facilitated exports.

The Portuguese reorganised native villages to facilitate the export of slaves. From 1580 to the 1820s, over a million people from Angola were exported as slaves to the New World, mainly to Brazil. Portuguese sailors, explorers, soldiers, and merchants had a long-standing policy of conquest and establishment of military and trading outposts in Africa. The Portuguese expeditions included the conversion of foreign peoples to Catholicism from the very beginning.

In the 17th century, conflicting economic interests led to a military confrontation with the Kingdom of Kongo. Portugal defeated the Kongo Kingdom in the Battle of Mbwila in 1665 but suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Kitombo when they tried to invade Kongo in 1670.

In the 18th century, the Portuguese gained control of most of the central highlands. Further attempts at conquering the interior were undertaken in the 19th century. However, full Portuguese administrative control of the entire territory was not achieved until the beginning of the 20th century.

In the 20th century, the Portuguese colonial rule in Angola was characterised by a rigid dictatorship and exploitation of African labour. The Portuguese encouraged white immigration, especially after 1950, which intensified racial antagonism.

The Portuguese encouraged interracial marriage but maintained a distinct separation of population groups

The colonial power that controlled Angola was Portugal.

In reality, there was a social prejudice towards interracial marriage. This was particularly the case in the African colonies, where there was a clear distinction between "civilized" and "uncivilized" inhabitants. People of European origin and literate natives working for the Portuguese administration or in the modern sector of the economy were considered "civilized", while illiterate natives were considered "uncivilized".

In the African colonies, most marriages occurred between people of the same group. Interracial marriages did occur, but in smaller numbers. In Cape Verde, the territory with the largest amount of miscegenation, most marriages were between couples of mixed background. In Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, and Mozambique, most marriages were between black couples.

The Portuguese colony of Angola was founded in 1575 and ended with Angola's independence in November 1975. During this time, the Portuguese encouraged interracial marriage, but the reality was that there was a social prejudice towards it.

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