ANGOLA, the general name of Portuguese possessions in West Africa south of the equator. The name (a Portuguese cor ruption of the Bantu Ngola) is sometimes confined to the Io5m. of coast, with its hinterland, between the rivers Dande and Kwanza; but is officially applied to a whole province situated south of the Congo save for the enclave of Kabinda (Portuguese Ca binda). It extends about I,000m. along the coast from the Congo (6° S., 12° E.) its northern frontier for 8om., to the mouth of the Kunene (Cunene) river (17° 18' S., I I° 5o' E.) . From the Congo the frontier goes due east to the Kwango river. The eastern boundary, dividing Angola from the Belgian Congo and Barotse land (North-west Rhodesia), is highly irregular. Angola's border towards South-west Africa, somewhat south of i7° S. lat., is being demarcated (1928) jointly by the Portuguese and Union of South Africa Governments, while a study is being made of the deviation of the Kunene waters towards Damaraland. By a recent con vention Portugal ceded a small area south of the Congo, near Matadi, for laying the Boma-Leopoldville railway; Belgium gave in exchange about 3,000sq.km. of the Bota de Dilolo, the Congo frontier passing behind and almost parallel to the river Luao. This helps construction of the Angola-Katanga railway. The area is given as I,256,000sq.km. The population (1934) is some thing over 3,000,000, among whom are 35,000-40,000 Europeans, mostly officials.
Thecoast is for the most part flat, with occasional low cliffs of red sandstone. Great Fish bay (or Bahia dos Tigres), a little north of the Portuguese South-west African frontier, is the one deep inlet. Farther north are Port Alexander, Little Fish bay and Lobito bay, while shallower bays are nu merous. Lobito bay allows large ships to unload close inshore. The sparsely watered, sterile coast plain extends 3o-I oom. inland. The great central plateau of Africa is approached by a series of irregular terraces, covered with luxuriant vegetation. Water is fairly abundant, though in the dry season obtainable only by digging in the sandy beds of the rivers. The plateau, of altitude 4,000 to 6,000ft., consists of well-watered, wide, rolling plains and low hills with scanty vegetation. In the east the tableland falls away to the basins of Congo and Zambezi ; to the south it merges into barren sandy desert. The numerous westward rivers, save the Kwanza and Kunene (q.v.), are unimportant. The mountain chains, edging or dominating the plateau run generally parallel to the coast, as Tala Mugongo (4,4noft.), Chella and Vissecua (5,25oft. to 6,5ooft.). In the district of Benguella are the high est points of the province, viz., Loviti (7, 78of t.) , in 12° 5' S., and Mt. Elonga (7,55oft.). South of the Kwanza is the volcanic mountain Caculo-Cabaza (3,3ooft.). From the tableland the Kwango and many other streams flow north to join the Kasai (one of the largest affluents of the Congo), which, in its upper course, forms for fully 3oom. the boundary between Angola and the Congo State. In the south-east the rivers flow to the Zambezi or, like the Okavango, drain to Lake Ngami.
Geology.—Thecentral plateau consists of ancient crystalline rocks with granites overlain by unfossiliferous sandstones and conglomerates considered to be of Palaeozoic age. The outcrops are largely hidden under laterite. The median zone of hills parallel with the coast is composed largely of crystalline rocks with gran ites and some Palaeozoic unfossiliferous rocks. The littoral zone contains the only fossiliferous strata; they are of Tertiary and Cretaceous ages, the latter rocks resting on a reddish sandstone of older date. The Cretaceous rocks of the Dombe Grande region (near Benguella) are of Albian age and belong to the Acantho ceras mamillari zone. The beds containing Schloenbachia inflata are referable to the Gault. Tertiaries are met with at Dombe Grande, Mossamedes and near Loanda. The sandstones with gypsum, copper and sulphur of Dombe may be Triassic. Recent eruptive rocks, mainly basalts, form a line of hills almost bare of vegetation between Benguella and Mossamedes. Nepheline basalts and liparites occur at Dombe Grande. Gum copal occurs in quan tity in some superficial rocks.
Minerals.—Thick beds of copper are found at Bembe, and deposits on the M'Brija and the Cuvo and in various places in the south. Iron is known in many parts, chiefly at Oeiras (on the Lucalla affluent of the Kwanza) and in Bailundo. It is worked by native blacksmiths, who are held in high repute. A foundry at Oeiras has undergone important development. Concessions for petroleum and asphalt have been granted to British syndicates and active prospecting is proceeding near the rivers Dande and Kwanza and Baixo Amboim. Mineral salt is worked by natives in several places, e.g., Quissama. Gold occurs in Lombije and Kas singa, lead at Caxibo and lignite in the valley of the Kwanza. Coal is found at Calucala, Quilungo, Dondo and Chapeu Armado. The output is absorbed by the railways. Diamonds are worked in Lunda under concession from the Government which shares in the profil.s. Fifty-five Europeans and 5,000 natives are employed (1927), the production being 101,509 carats in 1927. Other min erals known to occur in Angola are silver, manganese and sulphur.
With the exception of the district of Mossamedes, the coast plains are unsuited to Europeans. In the interior, above 3.3oof t., temperature and rainfall, together with malaria, decrease. The plateau climate is healthy and invigorating. The mean annual temperature at Sao Salvador do Congo is 7 2.5 ° ; at Loanda, 74•3 °, and at Caconda, 67.2°. The prevailing winds are west, south-west and south-south-west. The cool season lasts from June to Sep tember; and the rainy, from October to May; the heaviest rain fall occurs with storms in April.
As far south as Benguella the coast is rich in oil-palms and mangroves. In the north are dense forests, in the south, towards the Kunene, regions of dense thorn scrub. Rubber vines and trees are abundant, but have been reduced by the ruth lessness of native collectors; the commonest are various root rubbers, notably Carpodinus chylorrhiza; Landolphias are also found. Coffee, cotton and Guinea pepper are indigenous, and tobacco flourishes in several districts. Among timber trees are the tacula (Pterocarpus tinctorius), which grows to an immense size, its wood being blood-red in colour, and the Angola mahog any. The bark of the musuemba (Albizzia coriaria) is used in tanning leather. The mulundo bears a hard green-shelled fruit like a cricket ball, with scarlet pips like a pomegranate. The fauna includes lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, rhinoceros, hip popotamus, buffalo, zebra, kudu and many other kinds of ante lope, wild pig, ostrich and crocodile. Among fish are the barbel, bream and African yellow fish.
Inhabitants.—Portuguese predominate very greatly in the European population, but the Dutch in the interior at Humpata number over 2,000. Portuguese immigration at present averages a little over 200 per month. The great majority of the inhabitants are of Bantu-Negro stock mixed in the Congo district with the pure Negro. In the south-east are various tribes of Bushmen. Bantu-Negroes include the Ba-Kongo (Ba-Fiot) in the north, and the Abunda (with Portuguese admixture) (Mbunda, Ba Bundo), in the centre. The Ban gala, west of the upper Kwango, must not be confounded with the Bangala of the middle Congo.
The Ba-Lunda inhabit the Lunda district. The Mushi-Kongo and other divisions of the Ba-Kongo were Christian in the i6th and 17th centuries and possibly later, and they use crucifixes as fetish charms or as symbols of power, whilst every native has a "Santu" or Christian name and is dubbed dom or dona. Fetishism is the prevailing religion through out the province. The natives have usually small simple huts, used for sleeping ; the day is spent in an open space in front of the hut protected from the sun by a roof of palm or other leaves. Native languages reduced to writing are Kisi Kongo (in the north), Kimbundu (north central), Um bundu (highlands east of Lobito) and Luchazi (south). A con siderable mulatto population, growing in number and importance, is settled mainly in the coast areas.
A high commissioner, resident at present in Loanda, and appointed by the Lisbon Gov ernment, has powers wider than those of the former governor general, and similar to those of the colonial minister, granted expressly for the solution of stated questions of administration. Under the high commissioner are the district governors. The province is divided into the following districts : Loanda, Bengu ella, Bie, Congo, Cuanza-Norte, Cuanza-Sul, Huila, Cubango, Lunda, Malange, Mossamedes, Moxico, Luchazes, Zaire. (Lunda is part of the old Bantu kingdom of Muata Yanvo, divided by international agreement between Portugal and the Congo Free State.) Each district is divided into civil circumscriptions, each under an administrator, who is resident magistrate. In each cir cumscription, responsible to the administrator, are "chef es do posto," responsible for outlying posts. A local legislative council founded in 1922 has colonist representatives; it acts except in such matters as are reserved to the congress of the republic, or in gen eral measures affecting more than one colony. Gen. Norton de Mattos, high commissioner 1921-24, initiated a scheme with devel opment of communications, immigration of Portuguese settlers, supervision of foreign immigrants, introduction of Portuguese mu nicipal institutions, inclusion of the Congo customs service in that of Angola, thus unifying the province, progressive native policy, health services, improved military organization, education—espe cially technical education—scientific services, strict supervision of concessions, regulation of religious missions and the raising of loans. This policy was adversely criticized, and, since de Matos' resignation, only part has been carried out. The administrative personnel has been reduced; but recruiting and promotion have been improved.
There are plans for industrializing State railways, for a tariff system to benefit exporting producers, and for separating charges of first establishment from running costs. A commission has been appointed to assist the natives, mainly medically, and technical staffs are being improved. The public services are divided into 13 directorships and five departments, concentrated at Loanda, with delegations in the districts. Angola constitutes a judicial district, with nine subdivisions, each in charge of a judge of first instance. There is an appeal court at Loanda.
The province forms a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, in the province of Lisbon. This church began work at Sao Salvador in 1491, and controlled all educational activ ities till 1908. Since 1852 the Society of the Holy Ghost has carried on work in the Benguella district. The Society of the Sacred Heart has a station at Huila, in the Mossamedes district, and some mission schools. The Baptist Missionary Society has headquarters at Sao Salvador. The American Methodist Episco pal Foreign Missionary Society works in the Loanda district, and the Canadian and American Congregational Churches and the Plymouth, Brethren Mission in the highlands east of Lobito bay. In the Mossamedes district are stations of the South Africa Gen eral Mission and the Swiss Mission. The missions have schools, especially for agriculture.
The military force consists of one battery of artillery, two mixed companies of infantry and artil lery, one squadron of cavalry (on the plateau of Mossamedes), one company of European infantry, 16 companies of native in fantry, one police force (Loanda) and one disciplinary battalion.
are 52 Government schools, seven municipal and private schools, one seminary under an important mission at Huila, one principal secondary school and primary schools in all districts, a technical school for male natives in the circumscription of Cachingues, one for female natives at Malange and one for natives of both sexes in the circumscription of Alto Cuanza. Mixed primary schools for whites exist at Malange, Can goma, Monongue (in the Cubango district), Silva Porto and at Humpata, the last having been doubled in size. 3,50o children (1,30o whites, the rest mainly mulatto) attend official primary schools. Native education is almost entirely in the hands of mis sions. A decree of 1921 prohibits teaching of native languages and printing of books of religion or instruction in native languages. This has been so far relaxed as to allow of the printing of a few books bilingually—in Portuguese and a native language.
Sleeping-sickness appears especially in the north east and on the coast between Lobito and Benguella. Common diseases are malaria, hookworm, smallpox, leprosy, elephantiasis and goitre among the women of the uplands. There are hospitals at Loanda and other coast towns, and several mission hospitals. A "travelling health mission" in the Congo district began work in Sept. 1927 for Melange and Marimba; another is being prepared for Zaire, Congo and the Cabinda enclave. There is a special fund for medical assistance to natives.
Until 1927, Loanda (Sao Paulo de Loanda), an excellent port, was the capital of the province of Angola. It is 8° 48' S., 13° 7' E., on a bay between the rivers Bango and Kwanza. The bay, protected from the surf by a long narrow island of sand, is backed by a low sandy cliff which sweeps sharply southward to a bold point crowned by Ft. Sao Miguel. The bay has silted up con siderably, but there is a good anchorage about 1m. from the shore in 7 to 14 fathoms, and the depth at the entrance is 20 fathoms. Vessels discharge into lighters, and are rarely delayed by weather. Part of the town lies on the foreshore, but the offices, governor's residence, bishop's palace and hospital are on higher ground. Most European houses are large stone buildings of one storey with red tile roofs. Loanda possesses a meteorological observa tory.
Loanda was founded in 1576, and except between 1640 and 1648, when it was occupied by the Dutch, has always been in Portuguese possession. It was the chief centre of the slave trade between Portuguese West Africa and Brazil but suppression of that trade caused depression for a time. There is a regular service to Lisbon (16 days), Liverpool and Hamburg. The town's 16,000 inhabitants include a larger European element than any other place on the west coast of Africa. It is connected by submarine cables with Europe and South Africa. Fully half the import and export trade of Angola passes through Loanda. In Nov. 1927 it was announced that the capital was to be transferred to Huambo, a modern town created by the Benguella railway, 266m. from the coast. This is now an important administrative, trading and rail way centre, with wireless station and aerodrome. Lobito, tom. north of Benguella, was founded 1905, because its bay was chosen as the terminus of the Benguella railway. It has 429 hectares of anchorage, and a quay at which three steamers can lie and dis charge cargo direct. Lobito is connected with Benguella by a rail way through Katumbella, a town at the mouth of the river of the same name, and the sea terminus of an ancient route from the heart of Central Africa through Bie. Old Benguella is a town about 120m. north of Lobito bay. Other chief towns are, in the district of Congo : Cabinda, a good port and capital of the dis trict ; Landana, a port north of the Zaire ; Sao Salvador do Congo (4.000), an ancient town, capital of the old kingdom of Congo, and formerly called Bonza Congo, 1,84of t. above sea-level, and about 16om. inland, and loom. S.E. of Noki (q.v.) in 6° 15' S. Only scanty ruins remain of the cathedral of the 16th century. The stone of the city walls was used recently to build Govern ment offices; a fort was built about 1850. Ambrizete is a small port south of the Zaire river; Noki is at the head of navigation on the south bank of the Congo and takes large ships. In the dis trict of Loanda : Ambriz, at the mouth of the Loje river, in
50' S., 13° E., some Tom. N. of Loanda, lies within the free-trade area of the conventional Congo basin and exports rubber, gum, coffee and copper; its population is 2,500. Ambaca in the dis trict of Cuanza Norte, east of Loanda, and connected with it by railway, in a fertile agricultural district; Cazungo, capital of the best coffee district; Dondo (4,000), a commercial town on the right bank of the Kwanza, communicating with Loanda by steamer; Novo Redondo, a small port south of Loanda. In the district of Benguella : Benguella (Sao Felipe de Benguella) capi tal of the district, on a bay of the same name, in 12° 33' S., 13° 25' E., was founded in 1617 by the Portuguese under Manoel Cerveira Pereira. It was long the centre of the slave trade to Brazil and Cuba, but has now greatly declined. The anchorage, about a mile from the town, in four to six fathoms, is nothing but an open roadstead. The white population numbers about 4,000. A short way beyond Benguella is Bahia Tarta, where salt is manufactured and sulphur excavated. Caconda, south-west of Benguella, on a plateau, is a commercial centre; Bie, east of Benguella, is capital of the fertile and healthy district of the same name, and a large caravan centre ; Kangomba, the residence of the former kings of Bie, is a large town; Catumbela is a port north of, and near, Benguella. In the district of Mossamedes: Mossamedes, capital of the district, on the south side of Little Fish bay (Bay of Mossamedes or Angra do Negro) is a healthy port, with a harbour affording excellent anchorage (pop. 5,000) . A railway (248km. in use) starts from the harbour and crosses the semi-desert coast-region to the fertile Chela plateau. Mos samedes is the headquarters of an important fishing industry. Porto Alexandre is south of Mossamedes. In the district of Huila, capital of an elevated, very healthy and fertile district, recently created out of the territories of Mossamedes, capable of growing European plants, Humpata, about 95m. N.E. of Mossamedes, with Dutch settlers, produces cereals and tobacco. In the district of Malange is Malange, provisional capital of the district, i 2okm. from Ambaca. Capenda-Camalembe is to be the future capital of the Loanda district.
Credit was badly damaged in 1924-26 but the situation is improving. Revenue, chiefly from customs, excise duties and direct taxation, is generally less than expenditure, which is, however, partly on railways and other productive works. The natives pay, throughout the territory, a single tax of 8o escudos. State debts, partly capital for develop ment, amount to 140,260 contos (Angolese), costing in service 14,815 contos per annum. The cost of civil administration is
contos. The Bank of Angola is being strengthened, a Land Bank has been founded and a new stable currency is to be de creed.
The Lisbon Government has assumed responsibility for deficits for four years after 1928, hoping that intensified production and restriction of imports will make budgets balance. An issue of short-period Treasury notes payable on demand has been well received.
Returns of general commerce in 1926 showed (in Lisbon cur rency) a decrease of 27,577 contos in imports and of 45,170 in exports, the totals being imports 225,569 contos, and exports 188, 459 contos. The chief goods imported were, in order of value, common wines, railway material, cement, iron and steel, flour and cotton cloths. The chief exports were maize, sugar, coffee, dried fish, coconuts, palm oil and wax. Diamonds valued at £346,251 were exported. Exports to S. Thome and Principe were valued at 9,931 contos.
The balance of trade in 1926 showed an excess of imports over exports of 37,110 contos (Lisbon currency). Excluding material for the Benguella railway and the port of Lobito the excess of imports over exports in 1926 was 622 contos. Three-quarters of the exports go to Portugal. In 1925, 23% was exported under foreign flags. In the last seven years, the value of imports of national origin has almost always exceeded that of those of foreign origin. The tonnage of goods imported in foreign ships has tended to decrease since 1923, but the total value of goods imported and exported in German ships has risen from 645 contos in 1920, to 42,002 contos in 1926, beer being an important item. Maize exported in 1926 was valued at 22,589 contos. The returns of the Bank of Angola showed, in March 1927, a balance of about 50,000 contos (Portuguese) against the colony. Gold is beginning to enter the province in important amounts.
There is regular steamship communi cation between Portugal, England, Germany and Loanda. There is also a regular service between Cape Town, Lobito and Lisbon and Southampton. The Portuguese line is subsidized by the Gov ernment. Coastwise traffic and river navigation need development. Only in the port of Lobito is there a quay to which ships can moor. Plans are being made for new quays at Novo Redondo, Ben guella and Loanda, the last being for big ships.
In 1926, S48 ships, of 1,663,706 tonnage, entered the Angolan ports of Benguella, Cabinda, Lobito, Loanda, Noki, Novo Redondo and Amboim. (No figures are available for the 'ports of Mossa medes, S. Antonio do Zaire, Ambriz and Ambrizete.) The highest figures were : Loanda 94, Lobito 72, Novo Redondo 72, Amboim 67. Of these ships, 386 were Portuguese, 119 German, 8 American, 15 English and 20 of various other nations.
In 1927 24,413km. of road were good enough for cars and lorries travelling at 40-50km. per hour, but both they and the rivers are little used. The following railways are open (192 7) to traffic : Loanda-Ambaca-Malange (Trans African railway), of Im. gauge, begun in 1887, has now S92km. working. It was intended to carry the line across Africa to Mozambique, but when the line reached Ambaca (225m.) in 1894 that scheme was abandoned. The railway, the most expen sive in tropical Africa, costing £8,942 per mile, was bought by the Government in 1918. Golungo-Alto railway (gauge .6om.), has 31km. of line in use, the Amboim railway (.6om. gauge), 8o kilometres. The Benguella railway, from Lobito bay, 25m. north of Benguella, begun in 1904, has reached the Belgian frontier, and is to be prolonged 104km. in consequence of the cession of 3,00o sq.km. (Bota de Dilolo) in exchange for 3 sq.km. at the mouth of the Congo river. It is of standard South African gauge (aft. 6in.), is worked by an English company and has 1,156km. open to traffic; it serves the Katanga copper mines. In consequence of the recent alteration of frontier, a further Io4km. of line is to be constructed, bringing the final length up to 1,364km. The Mossamedes railway, running up to the Chela mountains, of .60m. gauge, has 248km. open. Thus the total extent of lines open to traffic is 2,107 kilometres. Lines now under con struction are : Loanda-Malange, 5okm. ; Amboim, 28km. ; Ben guella, 475km. (which is shortly to be extended) ; Mossamedes, 67km.
Angola is connected by cable with east, west and south African telegraph systems. Land telegraph lines in use extend to 8,528km. including 869 in reconstruction, with 92 stations. Wireless stations are in operation at the chief centres. There are 414 km. of telephone wires, with eight stations, of which only that at Loanda is in good condition.
The most important industries at present are palm oil, whale oil, fish oil, resin and derivatives, milling of cereals, preserving fruits, preserving and salting fish, preserving meat. The sugar industry employs 200 Europeans and 9,000 natives, in seven factories near the Dande river, at Catumbela, Bom Jesus, Novo Redondo, Dombe Grande and Quissol; the output is 12,000-15,000 tons per annum. Fishing occupies 2,000 whites and 6,000 natives. There are 120 establishments for catch ing and preserving fish, employing 500 boats. There is a whaling station at Mossamedes (Porto Amelia). Soap is made in Loanda and Benguella for local use and for export to Belgian Congo and S. Thome. More than io,000 tons of salt, mainly to preserve fish, are produced annually. Several factories produce vegetable fibre. Other industries are ceramics, brick and tile-making; carpentry and joinery, practised on a large scale, especially wagon-building; saw-mills; tobacco, with two modern factories in Loanda, local growths being mixed with imported ; foundries, the best being that of the State railways.
There is probably a good future before such industries as tanning, production of milk products, lime, paper pulp, rubber products, iron-working, etc. There are several deposits of guano. Ochres, chalks, marbles and lime-stones are known, and would repay working. Ivory and gums are exported.
There is a Government agricultural mu seum and experimental station at Loanda, and others in the interi or. Hitherto their activities have been limited. The organization of a forestry department has been officially approved, and the woods of Moxico are being exploited. The chief agricultural prod ucts are coffee, the principal export, of which four types are grown, the best being that of Novo Redondo (Amboim) ; maize, the second most important export, grown almost entirely by natives, and chiefly in Benguella and the hinterland of Loanda; palm oil and coconut, grown without much method in the north, a crop with great possibilities on scientific lines; fibre-plants, agaves and furcroias, some plantations having modern machinery; the castor oil plant grows almost everywhere and there are plantations in Benguella, Libolo, Amboim, etc. ; ground-nuts are grown by natives in many parts of the province; cotton is grown in Mossamedes on a large scale; wheat has done well on the Benguella plateau and in Malange ; potatoes, rice, peas, beans and other vegetables are commonly grown on the high lands; the agricultural station at Bie has proved that rye, oats and barley can do well on the high lands, cocoa does well in Cabinda and parts of Amboim; manico is cultivated almost everywhere by natives ; bananas thrive everywhere, except in the highest parts of the south ; tropical fruits, such as pineapples, guavas and pawpaws, do well almost everywhere ; almost all the fruits of Portugal are success fully grown on the high lands ; tobacco, of rather inferior quality, is grown a good deal, and could be improved. Sugar-cane is one of the most important products of the province. Some factories have modern machinery. Rubber is found in the interior of Benguella, and is the basis of the present trade with the natives. There are possibilities of the cultivation of flax, especially on the southern plateaux.
There is much pasture, and it could be im proved ; forage can be grown well. The veterinary station at Humpata has achieved good results in the acclimatization of stock, and the improvement of pasture. There is a veterinary mission at Huila. Good cattle, horses and donkeys have been introduced. Sheep and goats do very well, and parts of the highlands have great possibilities. Pigs are second only to cattle in Angola. Crossing of the native pig with foreign strains has given good results. Domestic birds can be acclimatized but native breeds are poor. Ostrich farming has begun. The trade in wax and honey is almost entirely in native hands ; but some Europeans are en gaging in it successfully. Silk worms have been bred in Huila. The growing of wool is certainly possible on some of the plateaux.
Recent legislation has improved conditions of recruiting and service. A census of males between 18 and 45 years of age, in 1926, gave, in round numbers, a total of 588,300. The hut-tax list gave the number of men between 16, and 6o as
The total estimated male population is 1,633,400. Esti mates of labour required, probably exaggerated, gave a total of 378,800 as follows: Public Works, 77,200; European agriculture, 101,300; native industries, 24,800; native agriculture, 129,100; various, 46,400. There were available, of men between 18 and 45, 209,500; and between 16 and 6o, 365,600, there being a deficit, in native labour available, in the districts of Loanda, Cuanza Norte and Mossamedes. It is thought that, allowing for evidently exaggerated demands, there is a surplus of 300,00o men fit for work, counting 130,000 for native agriculture. The problem is one of distribution and rational use, made the more difficult by the undesirability of employing men far from their homes. For general necessities there is only one man (of between 16 and 6o) to every 12sq.km. It is necessary, not only to intensify European coloniza tion, but to foster the native population.
da Agencia Geral das Colonias (Lisbon)
Bibliography.-Boletim da Agencia Geral das Colonias (Lisbon)
monthly ; Gen. Norton de Matos, Angola; Anuario de Angola;
Admiral Vasconcellos, As colonial Portuguesas (1921) ; Monografias
das Colonias Portuguesas (Agencia Geral das Colonias) ; British
consular reports; Por Terras de Angola (Lima Vida, 1916) ; Ferreire
Diniz, Populacoes Indigenas de Angola (1918) ; Education in Africa,
Phelps-Stokes fund. (H. Bp.)
ANGOLA - HISTORY The Portuguese established themselves on the west coast of Africa towards the close of the i 5th century, the river Congo and the whole coastline of Angola being discovered by Diogo Cam or Cao in 1482, and the three following years. He erected a stone pillar at the mouth of the river, which accordingly took the title of Rio de Padrao, and established friendly relations with the na tives, who reported that the country was subject to a great mon arch, Mwani Congo or lord of Congo, resident at Bonza Congo. The Portuguese were not long in making themselves influential in the country. Goncalo de Sousa was despatched on a formal embassy in 149o; and the first missionaries entered the country in his train. The king was soon after baptized and Christianity was nominally established as the national religion. In 1534 a cathedral was founded at Bonza Congo (renamed Sao Salvador), and in i56o the Jesuits arrived with Paulo Diaz de Novaes. Of the prosperity of the country the Portuguese have left the most glowing and indeed incredible accounts. It was, however, about this time ravaged by canni bal invaders (Bangala) from the interior, and Portuguese influence gradually de clined. The attention of the Portuguese, moreover, was now turned more particu larly to the southern districts of Angola.
In 1627 the bishop's seat was removed to Sao Paulo de Loanda and Sao Salvador declined in importance: but in the i8th century, in spite of hindrances from Hol land and France, steps were taken towards re-establishing Portuguese authority in the northern regions. Until the "scramble for Africa" began in 1884, however, they possessed no settlement on the coast to the north of Ambriz, which was first oc cupied in 1855; but in 1884-85 they suc ceeded in securing the southern shores of the estuary of the Congo (see CONGO FREE
