STATE). The last of the native princes of Congo who had real authority was a poten tate known as Dom Pedro V. He was placed on the throne in with the help of a Portuguese force, and reigned over 3o years. In 1888 a Portuguese resident was stationed at Salvador, and the kings of Congo became pensioners of the government.
The first governor sent to Angola was Paulo Diaz, a grandson of Bartholomew Diaz, who reduced to submission the region south of the Kwanza nearly as far as Benguella. The city of Loanda was founded in 1576, Benguella in 1617. From that date the sov ereignty of Portugal over the coastline, from its present southern limit as far north as Ambriz (7 ° 5o' S.) has been undisputed save between 164o and 1648, during which time the Dutch at tempted to expel the Portuguese and held possession of the ports. Whilst the economic development of the country was not en tirely neglected and many useful food products were introduced, the prosperity of the province was very largely dependent on the slave trade with Brazil, which was not legally abolished until 183o and in fact continued for many years subsequently.
Agreements concluded with the Congo Free State, Germany and France in 1885-86 (modified in details by subsequent arrange ments) fixed the limits of the province, except in the south-east, where the frontier between Barotseland (north-west Rhodesia) and Angola was determined by an Anglo-Portuguese agreement of 1891 and the arbitration award of the king of Italy in 1905 (see AFRICA: History). Up to the end of the 19th century the hold of Portugal over the interior of the province was slight, though its influence extended to the Congo and Zambezi basins. The abolition of the external slave trade proved very injurious to the trade of the seaports, but from 186o onward the agricultural resources of the country were developed with increasing energy, a work in which Brazilian merchants took the lead. After the definite par tition of Africa among the European powers, Portugal applied herself with some seriousness to exploit Angola and her other African possessions. Nevertheless, in comparison with its natural wealth the development of the country has been slow. Slavery and the slave trade continued to flourish in the interior in the early years of the loth century, despite the prohibitions of the Portuguese Government. The extension of authority over the in land tribes proceeded very slowly and was not accomplished without occasional reverses.
A measure granting Angola a degree of autonomy was passed by the Portuguese parliament in 1914, followed in 19 20 by a more liberal measure. In 192o, also, Gen. Norton de Mattos, a former governor, returned to Angola as High Commissioner with an am bitious programme of development and colonization. Chief atten tion was to be paid to harbour improvements and railways, the deficiency of means of communication being a leading cause of the backward state of the country. For two years there was much activity, but then a crisis arose, due in part to the lack of sufficient produce for export to pay for the imports of the Gov ernment and the trading community, and in part to the inability of Angola to raise more than about a sixth of the authorised loan of 6o,000 gold contos (about £13,300,000). The crisis was acute throughout 1924. In 1925 the Portuguese Government voted 9,00o gold contos (f 2,000,000) to enable the colony to carry out the most needed public works. These included the re construction of the Loanda railway, which had been bought by the state in 1918 and serves valuable coffee areas. Apart from the cost of development works, public expenditure frequently ex ceeded revenue. Between 1910 and 1925 the revenue increased from about f 5oo,000 a year to over £ 1,000,000.
A Native Affairs Department was created in 1913 and it ef fected various reforms, but the principle of compulsory labour was maintained. From 1918 to 1921 the authorities took an ac tive part in the recruitment of labour for private enterprise. The system led to abuses and was abolished in 1921. Continued com plaints that labour was not procurable resulted, however, in 1925, in a partial return to the old system, chiefs being required to produce the men and both chiefs and officials receiving payment per head for the labour obtained.
The Benguella railway, a British enterprise, which starts at Lobito Bay, was intended primarily to serve the copper fields of Katanga, Belgian Congo, but in crossing the plateau of southern Angola it opened up the territory best suited to European settle ment. (See above "Communications.") By an agreement made with Belgium in 1927, a small part of the Belgian Congo on the Upper Kasai basin was transferred to Angola, the effect being to lengthen the Benguella railway by 4o miles. The junction with the Congo line was fixed at the Luao river. In 1928 the Portuguese determined to make Huambo, a town on the Benguella railway and finely situated on the plateau, the capital of the province.
Germany had for many years looked upon Angola as a field of economic and ultimately political penetration, and a treaty with Great Britain negotiated in 1913-14 recognized German eco nomic interests as supreme in the greater part of Angola. The outbreak of the World War prevented the signature of this treaty, while the loss of South-west Africa, conquered by General Botha in 1915, deprived Germany of a base for penetration. Neverthe less after the war German influence and trade within the colony steadily grew, so that by 1925 Germans exceeded in number all other European residents combined, with the exception of the Portuguese.