1 Introduction
Throughout the 17th century, as the bulk of Portugalâs overseas interests shifted from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, the territorialisation of the Portuguese Empire became an essential issue for its overseas political communications. The control of maritime spaces, as well as political and trade networks based on alliances with local populations, had become, by then, unsatisfactory. The non-contiguous empire once described by LuÃs Felipe Thomaz was giving way to a new territorial paradigm. Land occupation and the delimitation of territories were becoming crucial elements of Portuguese colonisation.1
The area under Portuguese influence in part of the lands of the ancient Ndongo Kingdom, known then as the Kingdom of Angola, was not an exception to this process. In the 16th and 17th centuries, military campaigns and missionary incursions, as well as colonial and private agents acting as traders or country dwellers, made it possible to learn more about the countryside of Luanda.2 But it was above all in the second half of the 18th century that this colonyâs territory was reassessed under the reformist plans of the Marquis of Pombal. The population and the construction of new villages aimed at structuring and controlling its spaces under a reforms programme to expand royal authority in the Portuguese colonies by harnessing âto the maximum extent the potentialities of hitherto unexploredâ as well as poorly explored territories.3
A general attempt was made at unifying the spaces in terms of asserting Portuguese sovereignty by means of a political occupation that also set out to disseminate the (assumedly superior) European values among the Crownâs subjectsâthe ânatives of the landâ (naturais da terra). In the hinterland of the Kingdom of Angola, Pombaline policies sought to reorganise space, for example, by creating towns and civil settlements. The construction of the Royal Iron Foundry of Nova Oeiras is another example of the enterprise to create manufacturers and rethink the organisation of the hinterland. These efforts to dominate countryside areas and populations were countered by many forms of resistance. In the Kingdom of Angola, likewise, the Portuguese programmes to restructure the region had to face the previous local logics of territorial occupation. As this case study will show, lineage land-tenure relations underwent fundamental changes in the 18th century through the Portuguese effort to strengthen their presence in Angola, and through the exploitation of local natural resources.
From the initial contacts intermediated by the Kingdom of Kongo, the supplying of ships for transatlantic slave trade, as well as the very permanence of foreigners on lands of the ancient Ndongo Kingdom, hinged on alliances with the Mbundu leaders and on the labour of their subjects. The Portuguese presence in the Kingdom of Angola in the 17th and 18th centuries was either based on vassalage agreements with sobas defeated in war or alliances with other local rulers interested in trade deals. Among the local leaders, the sobas became the principal negotiators for the Portuguese, since they determined who could travel across their territories, thereby establishing trade agreements and deciding on allocations of free and slave workers. They acted as essential intermediaries among the local powers.4
The sobas were local rulers under the rule of either African kings or the king of Portugal, upon becoming vassals of the Portuguese Crown. According to Jan Vansina, they occupied leadership positions in monocephalic chiefdomsâwhich are known, in Portuguese, as sobados.5 In the Portuguese sources, additional Mbundu authorities appear subordinated to the sobas: the councillor, the kota (plural makota) and the sobeta (a subordinate leader under the jurisdiction of a powerful soba), as well as the tandala, ngolambole and kimbandaâauthorities with spiritual, combatant, and/or political functions. Another figure that appears is the kilamba, described by VirgÃlio Coelho as a sorcerer âin charge of placating the fury of natureâs geniusesâ;6 however, the meaning of this title underwent changes over time as a result of Portuguese influence and the kilamba was later known for having strong ties with the colonisers.
Though the correlation of forces among Africans and the Portuguese changed noticeablyâbecause of changes in the colonial interests, Portuguese occupation and the wars of the 17th century, which led to the conquest of Ndongoâthe maintenance of alliances with local rulers remained a constant practice. While some chiefdoms survived and new ones emerged, many others succumbed to the violence of military conquest and the demands of the slave trade. The continuance of the Portuguese presence in the Kingdom of Angola was only made possible by the subjugation of African sovereign rulers.
The power of sobas, in turn, was based on the number of subjects within their dominions. The more subjects they had, the larger their plantation fields (known as arimos) and the quantity of food they could produceâhence, the more promptly they would begin to amass wealth and incorporate new subjects. Such chiefdoms exercised control over lands and natural resources, as well as over the labour force used to exploit them. The colonial exploitation that followed the Portuguese conquest, thus, did not fully annihilate the autonomy of local leaders. Despite an assumed asymmetric reciprocity, the subjection of the sobas to the king of Portugal gave them some leeway for acting, since it was actually based on an idea of interdependence. According to the scholars who have studied this topic, the history of political and economic relations of the sobados with their conquerors encompasses a complex mesh of relations that shifted from âcollaboration to resistanceâ and from âadaptation to rejectionâ.7
The relations of the Mbundu people with their territory were linked to âcomplex supernatural bonds [that] united each kinship group to its lands and integrated the people and territory into a single collectivityâ.8 However, it is necessary to problematise the idea of a âsingle collectivityâ. As Mariana Candido has demonstrated, in West Central Africa people accumulated wealth not only in people, but also in land. Rulers, elites and commoners not only âclaim[ed] and register[ed] land [from as early as] the 17th and 18th centuriesâ, but also entered into a series of disputes over property in the 19th century with Portuguese colonial settlers: âdifferent local actors have clashed over who has the right to use land and have claimed rights over occupancyâ.9 West Central Africans valued landownership and there were local landownership rights and regimes.
The rearrangement of the sobados in consonance with supernatural guidelines and/or in search of better croplands did not observe the fixed layout of the Portuguese cartography. For this reason, in 1797, Governor Miguel Antonio de Melo pointed out a number of flaws in a map used in his period:
Since the banzas or African villages are built with straw houses and move almost daily from previous sites to new onesâwhich are never close to those left behindâevery time they either wish to, or are led to do so by their omens and superstitions, what one observes to be peopled on a map today will be found deserted tomorrow, full of thicket and inhabited by beasts.10
Armed resistance against the conquerors and the spoliation of the African territory was a relevant strategy, but it was not the only one. Based on their own political culture and on the accumulated experience with Portuguese colonisation, the local rulers submitted pleas and informed opinions and sent letters and signed agreements to ensure the maintenance of their lineage powers, as well as to avoid the disaggregation of their people and the loss of their lands, wealth, and privileges.11
A similar process can be seen in the history of appropriations of indigenous lands in Portuguese America. The conquest of its territory was characterised by violent combats with the indigenous peoples. Further, the colonial encampments became mechanisms for controlling the local populations, their natural resources and access to the labour force. The establishment of fixed settlements with a permanent territorial delimitation went against the features of the social and cultural structure of many indigenous societies. Among the Mbundu in Angola, as well as among the indigenous populations on the other shore of the Atlantic Ocean, village displacements were frequent and occurred in response to certain situations, such as the depletion of natural resources and conflicts among political rulers.
This Chapter studies the landownership conflicts that resulted from the installation of an iron foundry in the region of Ilamba, in the Angolan hinterland, in the second half of the 18th century. The expropriation of African lands in West Central Africa in the pre-19th-century periods is a subject rarely addressed in historiography. This case study contributes to reflecting on the issue, since it examines the colonial mechanisms of spoliation of lands and natural resources from the local African chiefdoms. Furthermore, the analysis also considers the local rulersâ strategies for maintaining their political power over time.
2 Sobas, the Portuguese, and the Possession of the Lands of Ilamba
Ilamba province is cited in written sources dating as far back as 1586. It was the first to be conquered by the Portuguese, who used to refer to it as âour Ilambaâ. The boundaries of the lower Ilamba lands were set by the Ndande River (in the north of the Kwanza River), as well as by the Luinha and Lukala Rivers to the east; they extended for nearly 40 kilometres to the west, up to the eastern side of Luanda and the Kilunda Lake, on the left shore of the Mbengu River, that is, almost to the Atlantic Coast. Its most prominent ruler was Mubanga, a member of the Ndongo lineage.12
Map 9.1
Ilamba (Detail)
Furtado, Luis Candido Cordeiro Pinheiro. Map of West Central Africa Coast, 1791. Biblioteca Pública Municipal do PortoâBPMP_C-M&A-Pasta 24 (16) 01.
The region of Ilamba had valuable resources for West Central African societies. The chiefdoms of Ilamba had been mining iron ore since long before the first Portuguese initiatives to exploit the mineral locally. It was not a coincidence that Ilamba became the spot of the foundries of Nova Oeiras and Novo Belém in the mid-1760s.13 Access to iron ore, as well as to the local salt pans appreciated the value of those lands, which were an object of dispute among the sobas themselves, as well as between the sobas and the subjects of the Portuguese Crown.14
When the Governor of Luanda decided to establish iron ore foundries in the region, conflict initially emerged through quarrels over landownership. It is evident that the Governor of Luanda needed to use some of the mines, which were then controlled by the local rulers. In addition to the mines, the governor planned that a portion of the lands of the settlement of Nova Oeiras be used as vegetable gardens to provide sustenance for the workers of the foundry and its supporting services.15
The historical documents allow the identification of the lands of some sobas located more closely to the site selected for the foundries: Nguengue a Kimbemba, owner of iron minesââa soba who shares boundaries with another oneâ, namely, Kyambata kya Ngoto. âAnd as one continues in a compass of only 10 or 12 leagues [nearly 50 kilometres], the following sobas are also foundâ: Itombe ya KaNdongo, Nzambi a Keta, Ngola a Kiato, Ngolome, Kabuku Kambilu, Kisala kya Kabuku, Nzamba Nsungui, Kabuto and Kilamba Pedro Ambaxi. This list was produced by Captain Joaquim de Sousa Lobo during a 1768 expedition commissioned by Governor Francisco de Sousa Coutinho.16
Captain Loboâs depiction shows that he perceived the boundaries between the lands of the African sobados. Governor Sousa Coutinho even affirmed this in his governmental letters of January 1767, in which he stated that the foundry built in Luinha was located on the âgroundsâ of Soba Nguengue a Kimbemba. The foundry of Novo Belém, located at the heart of Ilambaâs low areas, was placed on the âgroundsâ of Kilamba Ngongue a Kamukala.17 In other words, the Portuguese built the two foundries in areas that belonged, in political and economic terms, to these sobas and to ilamba (kilamba in singular form, ilamba in plural form).18
A historical record dating back to February 1767âtwo years after the building of both foundries beganâinforms us that the ownership of lands in the region was claimed by sobas who lived close to the fortified village of Muxima. In that year, the villageâs sargento-mor19 wrote about the conflicts between Muximaâs residents and sobas for the âpossession of the lands where the foundry is establishedâ.20 The residents claimed to have bought those areas from the sobas, who, in turn, accused the residents of having stolen them. The governor ordered the iron foundryâs general intendant to disregard those quarrels and only listen to individuals capable of presenting documents that evinced their ownership. He required the documents of the sale, because he was not certain whether âthe sobas could or could not sell the lands of their Stateâ.21 This is the first reference, amid the context of the foundryâs construction, to the idea that Mbundu lands could not be sold. This episode reveals that there were also other, local rulesâwhich were well-known to the Portugueseâwhich governed the relations of West Central African peoples with their territory.
The issue was not settled on this occasion. In April 1767, the foundryâs intendant wrote to the governor suggesting that the settlement of Nova Oeiras should be built along the banza of Soba Muxixi, located along the banks of the Lukala River. The reply was that such a step would not be productive, and the intendantâs idea was dismissed.22 It is no surprise that one year after their exchange of letters, Soba Muxixi claimed the âlands of Luinhaâ.23 In all likelihood, the intendant pressed on with the occupation up to Muxixiâs lands, even though he did not count on the governmentâs approval in Luanda. Beyond the land issue, this episode also illustrates some tensions that pervaded the history of the Kingdom of Angola in the form of disputes between the government of Luanda and the colonial agents in the countryside.
Other sobas from the region participated in this conflict. As also happened in Muxima, disagreement erupted in the village of Massangano between sobas and residents over the lands of the foundry. Once again, the governor doubted the residents by pondering that no soba could have undertaken such a negotiation: âthe sobas commonly cannot sell their lands, as they are a kind of morgado [entailed estate] [uma espécie de morgado]â. The Luanda order was that lands considered âvacantâ should be occupied until their alleged owners presented their âtitle deedsâ proving either a âgood or bad saleâ, that is, the legitimacy of their dealings.24 If a vacant plot had a previous owner, he would be obliged to cultivate it under âpenalty of having it expropriated for not promptly doing soâ.25 Thus, the foundryâs intendant was not authorised to occupy productive lands.
And the sobas did claim the possession of landsânot only in the context of the iron ore foundry in Ilamba. In 1759, when the Jesuits were expelled from the Kingdom of Angola, their properties were confiscated by the Royal Treasury.26 The large diversity of Jesuit possessions at that time included houses, farmlands, arimos, and estates that were among the properties with the largest food production both in Luanda and in its hinterland. The possession of those areas was claimed by the inhabitants of Luanda and of its country, as well as by the sobas. The governor stated that those claims were leading to unsettled, âeternal suitsâ and affirmed: âsome sobas want to be entitled to a large part of [those lands], since they have always claimed that [the Jesuits] held them in bad possession after usurping them from their ancestors with the subtleness and industriousness that was natural to themâ.27
Regarding the Jesuits and the jurisdiction over those lands, he also expressed:
In addition to the sobas, we also have some residents with eternal suits, who contended with [the Jesuits] for this very reason. The same suits concern the Misericórdia charity institution of this city: for over 50 years, a bitter litigation has dragged on through them on the enforcement of an inheritance to this charity, left by a man to whom they were heirs and will executors. The man died 137 years ago, leaving an inheritance of 400,000 Cruzados, which they imbibed into themselves and never conceded, even after the Misericórdia charity obtained favourable rulings by the Court of Appeals against them [the residents].28
Beyond the legal dimension, it must be pointed out that these disputes were taking place between the residents of areas under Portuguese administrationâpredominantly, members of the Portuguese and African elitesâthe Misericórdia charity and the sobas, that is, all vassals of the Crown who were independently in charge of their own populations.
Many remarks can be made about this document regarding quarrels for land possession. The reference to âthey have always claimedâ underscores that the local rulers had claimed the possession of those territories long before. As vassals of the Portuguese Crown, West Central African elites knew that the king of Portugal and his administrative staff owed them protection, respect, and the assurance of their âinstances, privileges, honours, and statutesâ, as was recorded on their allegiance treaties.29 However, they were not always listened to, even amid so many tensions, and so they found ways of legitimising their conquests and rights by ratifying their lineages. It is important to note that many vassals were enslaved by the Portuguese and had their lands seized.
One of the key issues for the Governor of Luanda at that time was the need to foster agriculture as a means to fight food scarcity and the poor distribution of water. In a 1768 bando (ordinance), the governor ordered the mapping of all deserted arimos along the Nzenza, Ndande, and Kwanza rivers. This document shows how the actions of colonial agents themselves served to instigate conflicts over the land. In it, the governor vows to transfer deserted properties to those who denounce their unproductive status and commit to cultivating them. Now, if, in order to obtain access to a land it sufficed to denounce its poor use, then one may have expected a large number of denouncement cases. The document also informs us that the Kingdom of Angolaâs lands either had the status of sesmarias or of âimproper purchases from the sobasâ.30 This citation further indicates that the sobas were not wont to sell their lands, and, therefore, any purchase of their areas would probably be illegal. Portuguese colonisation was based on local rule, and that implied also recognising land claims from local rulers and recognising the ways of understanding their ownership.
The governorsâ regulations ordered a survey of âall allotted lands, who bestowed them, what powers they had to do so, and who possesses them todayâ,31 since news was circulating that some lands granted by sesmaria were not being cultivated. In such cases, areas without an owner would be granted to those who committed themselves to cultivating them within five years. If, by the end of this period, their occupants had not fulfilled their commitment, these lands could be reassigned to new ones.32 This provision draws on the 1375 Sesmarias Law, which was compiled in the Ordinances of Kings Afonso, Manuel, and Phillip, with some modifications in the records of these three sets.33
3 Negotiating Access to Land: Sobas and Residents
Defining residents, or dwellers, as a social category in Angola is a rather challenging task. The available documents describe them either as free or freed individuals of diverse originâAfrican, Portuguese, or Portuguese Africanâwho lived in the vicinity of Portuguese strongholds, estates, villas, and fortified villages. The historiography of the region indicates that, over time, an elite consisting of Portuguese African families established itself primarily in Luanda. This elite was independent of the sobados. By controlling activities linked to transatlantic trafficking, its members became closely linked to the elites based in Brazil. According to Beatrix Heintzeâs description, it consisted of a âquite heterogenous group and hard to define, which included, above all, black Africans (many of them were former slaves) and mestizos, as well as some whitesâ.34 For Vansina, in turn, a resident was a âwealthy patronâ known as Mwadi, who led a sanzala, that is, a grouping of relatives and subordinates.35
In the Portuguese occupation of Africaâs eastern coast, the areas allotted to the African chieftainsâand, particularly, to the Maravesâare considered by the historiography to be a form of collective property, which no ruler could sell or transfer. This same pattern repeated itself among the Mbundu. In her book Portugueses e Africanos nos rios de Sena, Eugénia Rodrigues provides a long inventory of the concessions known as prazos in the Zambezi Valley region, which on the Indian Ocean shore provided a distinct legal framework for the partition of lands. The prazos were âlease concessions through which the Crown maintained its direct dominion while granting rights of use in exchange for the payment of a feeâ.36 This grant was initially designed to last for three generations, after which it could be renewed. Like the Mbundu sobas, the rulers of the Sena Rivers conflicted with the colonial residents, who claimed to have purchased their lands.
Rodriguesâ work can be helpful in clarifying the basis of the disagreement: did residents really purchase lands from African elites? In Mozambique, the settling of the Portuguese in African territory was sealed with the exchange of textiles. In this transaction, âapparently, only the African ruler remained as the land possessor, even though the river merchants considered that either they had bought these lands, or that they were donated to themâ. Rodrigues warns that in order to understand this contrast, we must distinguish between the âEuropean concepts of donation and purchaseâ and the modalities of âgratification of new subjects by the African rulersâ.37
It is worth considering that similar misunderstandings between the sobas and the residents of the villages along the Kwanza River continued to occur, since their relations were based on the supply of products, such as textilesâa common form of currency in West Central Africa.38 A gesture, a negotiation, or a simple exchange of gifts could all have distinct meanings for the respective parties. We may imagine that what the first settlers believed to be a land purchase, for the Mbundu could well have represented a bid for authorising passage through their territory or the establishment of an alliance. In any case, an interpretation that we must always consider is that of forced seizures of land, for instance, in situations of war. According to Vansina, in the absence of other options, the sobas who had been removed from their lands during the conquests, negotiated their resettlement with the colonisers.39
Returning to the case at hand, the residents of villages in Luandaâs hinterland started providing documents, which are described in the sources only as âtitlesâ capable of proving the possession of the land. Governor Sousa Coutinho even received a list with the names of those who claimed to own lands that were used for the foundryâs construction. His order was, then, to compensate those who had parts of their properties unduly annexed to the foundry.40 However, we do not know if the sobas could prove their land tenure.
4 Lineage and Land: The African Morgados
According to historian Isabel de Castro Henriques, âthe African land is comprehensive; it encompasses all African territories: the land is the cosmosâ.41 As such, land contained some âfundamental pillars of African identityâ, such as kinship and religion, constituting a sacred space: âfor Africans, the land has no exchange value, since it does not belong to a group unless mediated by spiritsâ.42 Elements such as sacred trees, rivers, plants that provided the pigments of sacred colours, the drums that took messages from one cubata (house) to another, and the graves of ancestors or founding heroes were all important markers of this space.43 For instance, in 1809, the capitão-mor44 of the Pungo Andongo village ordered some sobas to inhabit one of the Kwanza River islands. Those rulers did not do so, since it ran against âtheir ritesââwhich were translated by the colonial agents as âgentilic lawsâ.45
When Governor Sousa Coutinho referred to the morgado (entailed estate) to describe the sobasâ relationship with the lands of Ilamba, he was creating an analogy between the African notions of parentage and transmission of nobility titles and the Portuguese inheritance and succession rights. The key issue to be highlighted in this regard is that, by making an analogy with entailed estates, the governor understood that land possession was ruled by parentage criteria in a kind of African morgado. According to Priest Raphael Bluteauâs dictionary, entailed estates or bens de morgado were a property âthat could neither be divested, nor divided, in such a way that a successor shall possess it in the same way and structure that the institutor has declaredâ.46 The transfer of morgados was regulated by the Ordenações Filipinas. The morgado was usually transmitted to the firstborn male son and was succeeded along his line. In case âthe oldest son dies while his father or morgado possessor is still alive, if said oldest son has a son, grandson or legitimate descendants, these descendants, following their order, will have precedence over the second oldest sonâ.47 A morgado also had to be confirmed by the heirs through the possession of a document.
Despite the relevant bibliography that exists on other parts of the Portuguese empire, in particular, on Portuguese America, India, and Eastern Africa, the references on land conflicts in the Kingdom of Angola and in West Central Africa, are still scarce and predominantly focused on the 19th and 20th centuries.48 According to these studies, the rules of access to Mbundu lands experienced a significant change with the decline of the slave trade, as Portuguese colonialism became predominantly concentrated on agricultural activities, such as the production of cassava, corn, and indigo, in addition to the exploitation of roccella lichen, ivory, and starch. These studies thus argue that the Portuguese only resorted to the exploitation of local labour in West Central Africa to meet the needs of an expanding agriculture.49 However, as underscored by Candido, since the 16th century, driven by the plans and rights of conquest, and in the name of a âjust warâ, the Portuguese occupation influenced the local politics of land distribution and control.50 Over time, the expansion to Luandaâs hinterland intensified as African rulersâ power weakened. Land possession had always been central to Portuguese colonialism in Angola, even though it only became a key issue with the decline of the transatlantic slave trade.
For the areas located to the north of the Kwanza River, the most illustrative studies on land possession were published by Eva Sebestyén on the transmission of land possession among the Ndembu and in NâDalatando, as well as in the sobado of Samba Cajú in the Ambaca-region,51 located near the place where the Nova Oeiras foundry was built. Sebestyén found documents kept by the local sobas on disputes over lands and purchase titles from the 17th century to the 20th century. These records based on the oral tradition were used to legitimise the possession of lands. They follow the narrative thread of Portuguese testaments but cover distinct contents. Their testators do not list their property items or heirs. Instead, they leave a record of the relevant information for their lineage, including instructions for defending their heirs from slavery: âprimarily, a declaration validating lineage membership and a record of boundary inspections which codifies lineage landownershipâ.52 Another relevant piece of information is that the documents of sobas from the jurisdiction of the Ambaca fortress were only recognised as genuine if they were registered by the official scribe of its village. Thus, the colonial administration recognised the titles to the land of those lineages if its employees had certified them. Here, we see the dependency of African rulers on the colonial employees, as these officials had the power to register and authenticate their âtestamentsâ.
For Sebestyén, these titles served two aims. First, they âfulfilled Portuguese demands insofar as they gave detailed accounts of the boundaries of the sobado and of the names of neighbouring sobadosâ.53 A sobado is a village that can have multiple plantations and productions, where the people dependent on the soba live. The number of dependents in a sobado is directly proportional to the power of the soba. Second, these documents safeguarded the lineageâs history: its origin and migrations, as well as its first settlement and the record of local wars and alliances. When a new ruler was elected, a vassalage ceremony was held and the sobadoâs boundaries were confirmed anew, by means of boundary inspections. A symbolic procedure characterised the vassalage rite: a celebration that absorbed the enthronement rituals of the Mbundu culture for a new ruler, named undamento. In this ceremony, perpetuated by the Portuguese, the new vassalâs undamento meant to âlay flour (or white clay) on the shoulders of the African ruler, who would then rub it on his chest and armsâ.54 Lineage successors of vassal sobas were meant to submit to the investiture as soon as they were selected by the makota, lest they would be seen as rebels and, thereby, become liable to punishment.55 Thus, the undamento ceremony became a synonym for vassalage itself.
Sebestyén distinguishes between two groups of issues in connection with these land titles. Conflicts related to lineages, daily life, and politics are prevalent in the documents from Dembos, whereas in the case of Samba Cajú, the prevalent narrativesâabove all from the 18th and 19th centuriesâare linked to land demarcations, disputes, purchases, and sales. In a set of documents kept by the Historical Archives of Angola, the will of Dom Gaspar de Caxinda, dated 1829, reads:
I, the Testator, declare that with the passing of time, and seeing that my people were numerous and did not have the means for agricultural activities, had my Friend the Soba Quitalla Quia Huy help me wage war against the Mucundu Sobas, and another Ndomba. And after being razed, they left behind the lands known as Ngando Acaquigy river; my above-mentioned Friend Quittalla shall remain on this side as I, the Testator, shall remain yonder = I, the Testator, declare that by descending along the Carianga stream, as the above-mentioned Friend always remains on this side of the stream, and as I remain on the other side = I declare that by descending along it until the Carianga stream meets the Mussurigi River, and apportioning in two halves the Lake named Quizanga da Branca in the Helho belongs to me the Testator = I declare that the Testator continued, as the two Friends shared the area named Quicembo, having on its left side the Soba Luachy Niandalla Adungo and, on the right side, the Soba Calanga Riaqueta, and, remaining, the initial part of this Areaâs outlet with the above-mentioned Friend Quittala, while its end reaches me, the Testator, all along to the Zé Ria Cagungo River. This river remained shared by four sobas: Calanga Riaqueta, Luachy Luandalla Ndungo, Quitalla Quiahuy by another name, Mucamby Huahuy; its marks were set in a brotherly way, with no grievances = I, the Testator, declare that, after, the two companions, sobas Quitalla and Luachy, remained on this side of the Zé Riacagungo River, I went with my companion Soba Calanga, with the highly named Muxinda Huabúlo and the Calanga descending along the said River to the Spring of the Cubombonuabembe stream, this side-part of which belongs to the said Calanga, whereas the part beyond it belongs to me the Testator = I, the Testator, declare that by moving along the above-said Calombo River until the Cambombo River, known as Cabobmo Caquicuquelle until it meets the Quiongua River. Beyond the Quionga, I demarcated it with my companion Calanga until the Cahissari Stream. Calanga remains on this side of the Quiogua River, and Cahissady, while I, the Testator, remain beyond it up to the Spring of the Quicungulla Stream; I, the Testator, am always beyond, whereas Calanga remains on this side of the said stream, until it meets the river named Cassuissuy = I, the Testator, declare that I went up along the said Cassuissui River, now leaving my companion Calanga on this side of the river. I went on its other side up to its Spring, and demarcated with another, Soba Cámuhóto Cattusu, highly denominated as Calundu Cacumba by another name Quibalanga, up to the Spring of the stream known as Quiamifulla, and descending along with it until it meets another stream named Cangulungo, having the Soba Camuhoto taken to himself this side before the stream, and I, the Testator, beyond it, thence to reach Murro Bangoâs foothill = I, the Testator, declare that, should this deed not be valid as a will, it shall still be valid as a codicil or charitable donation or Lawfully under Better Conditions to Come, and in better expressed terms; and I revoke any other testament or codicil I may have established before the present one, even if acting among other sobas, regardless of the number of clauses that may contradict the present ones, or of tacit clauses, even if they are to be intangible and reproachful, and even if they should be compared on a Verbo ad Verbam basis56 to the way I am now stating and declaring them = And since this is my last and final will, the way in which I have said it was read and explained to me in Mbundu, that [illegible] as I have said, I signed it before the following in-person witnesses: Soba Camuhoto, Soba Quitalla Quiahuy, Soba Juachy Luandalladungo and Soba Calanga Riaqueta, all of whom signed it with a cross, and I request the Justice procedures of Your Majesty, whom God May Guard [satisfy] give full compliance, so that, should this deed not be valid as a will, it may still be valid as a codicil or causa mortis donation, or be Lawfully expressed in better terms to come; may the truth of what I faithfully and personally signed with the Testator at his plea and request = Banza at the location of Mussurigi, on 20 February 1016 = Cross of Testator Dom Gaspar de Caxinda, alias SaboâCross of witness Soba Camuhoto Cattusu = Cross of Witness Soba Quitalla Quiahuy = Cross of witness Soba Calanga Riaqueto = I am the one who produced it at his plea and request as witness Francisco de Souza Roza = And no other thing was contained in such testament presented to me, which I accurately and faithfully drafted in accordance with the original statement, and which I attest to after having revised and confirmed it, seemingly leaving nothing that may give rise to doubt; written, revised, confirmed and signed in this Banza of Soba Caxinda in conformity with my profession under oath. Cacumby and Canumia, the site where this Banza is located today on 20 February 1829.
[Signatures]
Gaspar Jeronimo
âIn ttª G.âTruthfully J.â.57
It is certainly difficult to decipher this document, based as it is on oral tradition. Yet, it is worth pointing out how the soba described the reasons for his peopleâs migrationââseeing that my people were numerous and did not have the means for agricultural activitiesââin addition to the alliances he made with and the wars he waged against other sobas, with the aim of occupying new lands, and the streams and rivers that served to demarcate the land, as well as other specific referencesââits marks were setâ. According to Sebestyén, the boundary markers used by locals were specific trees, which she found to have medicinal properties, and other elements: âtrees with an incised cross sign [â¦] pieces of crockery [â¦], pieces of iron, rocksâ, clay pots and others.58 In annual rites linked to the land, the sobas resorted to the support of their ancestors and water entities âon the banks of bordering rivers, to obtain good harvest by making offerings to mermaids, quiximbi who owned the rivers, and protectors of the landâ.59
If we consider that these were not the first written records kept by lineage holders from the region that have reached us today,60 then it is quite likely that the sobas from the ancient province of Ilamba also maintained titles to attest to the possession of lands through their lineages, and that they presented such titles to the governor. There is evidence of such records: in 1860, the Soba Quipola from Moçâmedes claimed the possession of lands that, according to him, were occupied by whites for agricultural activities. He requested the governor to hand him the âland titleâ, so that he could prove the legitimacy of his ownership to anyone who questioned him on the issue. The request supports the reasoning that the lineageâs possession had to be attested by the colonial authorities.61 The evidence strongly indicates that it was due to Governor Sousa Coutinhoâs knowledge of the documents kept by the sobas that he made the morgado analogy, since this land could no longer be appropriated. Thus, we find an exchange of legal and cultural practices that must be taken into consideration. Bearing in mind the colonial context, we may also call attention to how Africans, in addition to subordination and/or resistance, conceived new practices and solutions for conflicts, even if this was by resorting to norms and narrative strategies of the Portuguese.62
5 Kilambas and Sobas: The Unfolding of the Conflict in Ilamba
In the consulted documents, we did not find additional allusions to the above-cited Soba Muxixi or to Muxima sobas. This indicates that land disputes did not only occur among royal officials, residents, and traditional West Central African authorities; the issue of land ownership also produced conflicts among the sobas themselves, as well as between sobas and other local authorities, such as the kilamba. Such reality was confirmed, above all, in regard to the High Ilamba-lands, with their bountiful iron ore mines.
The term kilamba, in Kimbundu language, means a person in charge of an activity. It is quite difficult to categorise this title, since, in many contexts, it was linked to black wars and collaboration with colonial initiatives. As mentioned earlier in this Chapter, according to Coelho, it meant a sorcerer âin charge of placating the fury of natureâs geniusesâ. The kilamba figure was also described by Antonio de Oliveira Cadornega as a âblack war captainâ. Cadornega associated such rulers to foreign origins and linked their growing political and economic eminence in the region to their military skills. They were âhatedâ by the sobas, since, after settling on soba lands, they acted as spies by reporting on the sobas to the Portuguese. In the news from the Ambaca village, we find something in this direction: the kilamba and the kimbar, both of which were seen as black war agents, possessed no lands but were located in a âpart of the soba landsâ. Heintzeâs glossary defines kilamba as an âAfrican officer in the black war, who enjoyed special confidence by the Portugueseâ.63
According to Heintze, the kilamba were recompensed âfor their loyal services with areas in regions of vassal [sobas]â.64 The lands where the Novo Belém foundry was built previously belonged to Kilamba Ngongue a Kamukala; the lands around Nova Oeiras, in turn, had belonged to Kilamba Pedro Ambaxi; Soba Muxixi, who claimed lands in Luinha, appears in another set of documents as a kilamba.65 Heintze and Vansina, also suggest that, over time, the kilamba could become sobas. And there seems to be a consensus among the sources, in that the kilamba figure occupied part of the sobasâ lands by living there, with the intention of spying on them for the Portuguese, but did not possess their own lands. However, the cases mentioned here suggest that at least some of them possessed lands. It was possible that some ilambaâin particular, those who first associated with the Portugueseâbecame possessors of lands, natural resources, and peoples. They may have even been brought into the parentage-based political arrangement to become sobas. Others, in turn, may not have been as fortunate and remained based in soba lands, like many other secondary sobasâthe so-called sobetasâwho clustered over the lands of a more powerful soba.66 But it must be remembered that the ilamba were not popular (instead, they were âhatedâ) among the sobas, on account of their spying practices and alliances with the Portuguese.67 Many sobas may have been subdued by colonial domination as a result of actions by the ilamba, who, as mentioned above, acted as black war captains.
As mentioned, quarrels over land had become âeternal suitsâ. As land disputes in Ilamba unfolded, an additional character appeared on the scene in February 1768 to claim lands: a âblack man with shoesâ whose name remained unmentioned.68 This was probably João Correia, who submitted a petition and a âtitle of lord of the lands on which Nova Oeiras was foundedâ to the Royal Treasury one year later, in February 1796. In this document, Correia asserted to possess a tobacco field on that spot, as well as profitable activities originating from his access to the Luinha and Lukala Rivers, in the form of canoe rentals to traders and travellers. With the peopling and beginning of the foundryâs construction, Correia allegedly lost his businesses and underwent great losses. The orders from Luanda, once again, required âthe titles on which the said lordship is basedâ, as well as testimonials of witnesses âtruthful and free from any suspicionâ, to inquire whether the lands were really cultivated, how much they yielded and what the legal grounds for his rights of transit in the rivers were.69
Thus, the documents about the lands of Ilamba give us few clues as to how the conflicts involving land possession among the local rulers and other subjects of the Portuguese Crown were solved. The documents are rather fragmentary and filled with contradictions and clashes. In his order of June 1769 to the intendants of iron foundries, Governor Sousa Coutinho instructs how these employees should regulate âdoubts regarding the [possession of the] landâ. The aim of this instruction was to avoid violence and outrage among the Africans, residents, and merchants at the foundryâs founding. The governor reiterated that the legitimate owner of a piece of land had to present âhis titlesâ. If anyone could prove it, he would be compensated with available lands elsewhere. And in case such âfree landsâ were not found, then the recent occupant had to pay a tribute to the landâs owner.70
In the end, a legitimate possession of lands in Ilamba does not seem to have been proved by anyone. What we find is that all the above-mentioned characters used the means within their reach in their attempts to prove their possessions. Inconsistencies indicate how the Luanda government displeased the sobas and village residents alike. Since this topic was not addressed again in the correspondence on the construction and peopling of the Nova Oeiras foundry, we may speculate that neither the sobas, nor the residents, nor João Correia succeeded in proving that their titles were genuine, thus making it possible for the region to be occupied according to the plans of the Royal Treasury of Angolaâs government. Another conjecture is that they did have the titles, but not the witnesses to testify to their possessions. Further, royal officials may have performed legal manoeuvresâsuch as categorising the lands as vacant or requesting the presence of witnesses who either were not found or were not considered âtruthful and free from any suspicionââas measures to expropriate the lands of residents, sobas and the ilamba, as well as of João Correia, the Misericórdia charity institution and, probably, the local donas who eventually became large proprietors of arimos.71
6 Final Remarks
Though focusing on other contexts, Sara Berryâs studies on the Ashanti Confederation in the Gold Coast help us reflect on some of the topics above. Berry expounds on the influence of the British administration as the confederation was established in the late 19th century. The colonial agents favoured and empowered African rulers aligned to their interests by allotting lands in the region to them. In doing so, they produced a stable basis for controlling the territory. In their land investiture ceremonies, they used black stoolsâa symbol of traditional Ashanti authority. Berry shows how the colonisers established a legal and administrative apparatus by including and reformulating traditions, as well as inventing new ones to their own benefit, while excluding others, according to what they understood to be ânative law and customâ.72
In Angola, the Portuguese colonial administration also used powerful symbols of African leaders and the local hierarchic structure to exert control over the territory. In a certain way, by harnessing the traditional symbols, such as the undamento ceremony, and attesting to the land titles of certain lineages, the Portuguese benefited from the existing African political structures for maintaining their dominion over the sobados to the north of the Kwanza River.73 It is important to point out that other political powers were then just as important as the colonial administration for the maintenance of the Kingdom of Angola. Kristin Mann draws attention to the law-making process on land appropriations in an original way by underscoring the key role played by Africans in Lagos in the transformation of these norms over time. She shows how the Africans reverted impositions of the colonial administration to their favour, for instance, by re-elaborating legal rules to legitimise their property, including lands and slaves, and to uphold the landâs status as family property.74
In the case of Angola, it is still necessary to reconstitute in detail the elements I have described in this Chapter, as well as the precepts that ruled the occupation of the land for the Mbundus, and how such rules were either incorporated or reformatted in or eliminated by the norms of the colonial agents. Yet, by resorting to the very instruments imposed by the colonial administration, such as land titles and, as seen above, legal testaments, the local chiefdoms found ways to keep the lands of their lineages and sustain their histories and power, even when confronted with successive shifts in the configuration of local powers, driven by the enslaving violence of their days. Such processes did not occur without changes, conflicts, expropriations, and wars. But it is noteworthy how they managed, within the available limits, to ensure their autonomy over time. They did so by using ritualistic emblems and Christian symbols as well as many other ways that deserve further in-depth study. Sebestyén, for instance, only obtained access to the records of her research after participating in a ritual led by local rulers, since they were considered sacred documents.75 Every year, the records are read to the leaders of the sobados and continue to legitimise the rights of their lineages to their lands today.
Despite the striking distinctions found among the Portuguese overseas possessions, in all of them, the royal administration was âunable to maintain large numbers of soldiers and employees in the fieldâ76 and thus resorted to some expedients in order to safeguard and manage its territories. In Angola, the allegiance of vassal African rulers enabled the control of the territory by means of intermediaries and minimised European costs in the administration of the lands, including those lands that were still unchartered.77 This reality has ensured both conquest and occupation but has also led to claims and clashes, such as the ones described above. The relations of interdependency that emerged from territorial appropriations in the land of Ilamba stand out and give us a glimpse of several nuances in the exercise of political dominion by sobas, capitães-mores, residents, and governors alike.
Thomaz, De Ceuta a Timor, 207â243; Hespanha and Santos, âOs poderes num império oceânicoâ, 395â413.
Montecúccolo, Descrição histórica dos três reinos do Congo, Matamba e Angola.
Delson, Novas Vilas para o Brasil colônia, 140. Another way of approaching this topic is by analysing cartographic documents. Since the early decades of the 18th century, European diplomats strove to legitimise the political appropriation of oversea territories. See Kantor, âCartografia e diplomaciaâ.
See Heintze, Angola nos séculos XVI e XVII; Carvalho, Sobas e homens do rei.
Vansina, How societies are born, 196.
Coelho, Em busca de Kà bà sà , 161.
Dias, âO Kabuku Kambilu (c. 1850â1900)â, 15.
For instance, it was believed that the spirits of a lineageâs ancestors would only find rest if the bodies of the dead were buried in lands belonging to that lineage. Miller, Poder polÃtico e parentesco, 239.
Candido, Wealth, land, and property in Angola, 1, 35.
Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (therefore AHU) AHU_CU_001, Cx. 86, D. 66.
According to Silvia Lara, one may speak of the political experience that accumulated in the regions occupied by the Portuguese. Such experience was based on European and, in this case, Central African parameters that set up a distinctive âpolitical syntaxâ, in other words, a political culture that determined the way in which local leaders dealt with the Portuguese and other Europeans. Lara, Palmares & Cucaú, 232.
Heintze, Angola nos séculos XVI e XVII. Estudos sobre Fontes, Métodos e História, 192â193; Freudenthal and Pantoja (eds.), Livro dos Baculamentos, 47; Montecúccolo, Descrição histórica dos três reinos do Congo, Matamba e Angola, Vol. I, 33; Ito, Uma âtão pesada cruzâ, 81.
The history of these iron foundries can be found in: Alfagali, Blacksmiths of Ilamba.
Miller, Poder polÃtico e parentesco, 267.
The then governor said, regarding the lands of the region: âSince I am told that from the Luinha Riverâwhere Nova Oeiras is to be establishedâto the Zundo Fair, one finds admirable lands, encampments and seedbeds shall be built all along them, provided that they are vacantâ. AHU_CU_001, Cx. 52, D. 73.
Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros (IEB)/ USP, Coleção Alberto Lamego, AL-083-099.
AHU_CU_001, Cx. 52, Doc. 73.
In Bantu languages, the plural form is mostly constructed by removing a prefix (for instance, kilamba, whose plural is ilamba).
Sargento-mor is a military rank.
âPertenção (sic) das terras aonde se assenta a fábricaâ.
âOs sobas pod[iam] ou não vender as terras do seu estadoâ. Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (BNP), C 8742, F6364, fl. 148.
BNP, CÂ 8742, FÂ 6364, fl. 167.
IEB/USP, AL-083-003.
IEB/USP, AL-083-003.
AHU_CU_001, Cx. 52, Doc. 73.
Regarding the Jesuits in the Kingdom of Angola, for Catarina Madeira Santos, âthe missionary assistance of the Society of Jesus in the Angolan country in the 18th century was rather inexpressive. Since the restoration of 1648, the Jesuits had been leaving the countryside missions to dedicate themselves first and foremost to the school of Luanda (whose construction began in 1607) and to the arimos (agricultural estates or properties) they owned in various locationsâabove all, in the Bengo River regionâ. Santos, Um governo âpolidoâ para Angola, 129.
âHá alguns sobas que querem ter direito a muita parte delas porque sempre clamaram que [os jesuÃtas] as retinham em má posse e as usurparam a seus antepassados com as sutilezas e as indústrias que lhes eram naturaisâ, AHU_CU_001, Cx. 46, D. 4261.
âAlém dos sobas há também alguns moradores que com causas eternas contendiam com eles [os jesuÃtas] sobre o mesmo; e igualmente a Misericórdia desta cidade, que há mais de cinquenta anos traz com eles um renhido pleito sobre a satisfação de um legado que deixou [à ] dita Casa um homem de quem foram herdeiros e testamenteiros, que faleceu há cento e trinta e sete anos, importando a herança quatrocentos mil cruzados, que todos [ensoparam?] em si; e nunca satisfizeram o legado ainda depois de alcançar a Misericórdia sentenças da Relação contra elesâ, AHU_CU_001, Cx. 46, D. 4261.
Vassalage treaties have been constantly revisited by historiography. Beatrix Heintze has been a pioneer who exhaustively studied this reality and the documents it produced. For Heintze, the term âvassalâ was introduced by the Portuguese overseas as a power instrument, by which lineage chiefs became âvassals of the king of Portugal under a legal, documented and recognised procedure set up in the presence of witnessesâ, thus becoming a âtype of inter-state dependencyâ. The defeated party promised to comply with all imposed conditions and swore an oath of loyalty and obedience. The victors, in turn, made a âpledge of protection and investitureâ. Heintze also distinguishes between âvoluntary vassalageââwhen local chiefs, either for political or economic reasons, sought on their own initiative to join the Portugueseâand vassalage imposed by force, but points out that the former type was less frequent. As a rule, the vassal status was imposed on local leaders in such a way that the Portuguese dictated the terms of the treaties. Heintze, Angola nos séculos XVI e XVII, 395.
IEB/ USP, AL-083-92.
âDe todas as terras que são dadas, quem as deu, e que poder tinha para isso, e quem as possuiâ.
AHU, Códice 544, fl. 8v.
The sesmarias regime first came into existence in the reign of Ferdinand I, to counter the decrease in the Portuguese rural population. See Código Filipino, ou, Ordenações e Leis do Reino de Portugal: recompiladas por mandado dâel-Rei D. Filipe I, ed. de Almeida, Livro IV, 43.
Heintze, âA lusofonia no interior da Ãfrica Central na era pré-colonialâ, 11. Regarding the 19th century, see: Villas Bôas, Portugueses, moradores e Sobas em Golungo Alto, Angola. For Vilas Bôas, residents were a quite distinct group consisting of Africans, mestizos and white settlers, who were free and possessed some type of movable or immovable property. âThey were active participants of Angolaâs political life, playing a vital role in trade activities and in bureaucratic positions in the hierarchy of countryside military militias. In a certain way, they were the intermediaries between the colonial administration and African sobadosâ (23, fn. 27).
Vansina, âAmbaca Society and the Slave Trade c. 1760â1845â, 8.
Rodrigues, Portugueses e Africanos nos rios de Sena, 25.
Rodrigues, Portugueses e Africanos nos rios de Sena, 357. Rodrigues also points out that merchants obtained lands via military and marital alliances in the territories of the Karanga States, which emerged from the Monomotapa Empire.
The term âmoney objectâ was first used by Paul Lovejoy in A escravidão na Ãfrica, 169â170.
Vansina, âAmbaca Society and the Slave Trade c. 1760â1845â, 22.
IEB/ USP, AL-083-223.
Henriques, âA materialidade do simbólicoâ, 40.
Henriques, âA materialidade do simbólicoâ, 40.
Regarding the Africansâ multiple meanings for the land, Holly Hanson presents an interesting example in which a system of social relations based on âreciprocal obligationsâ became the basis for the State of Ganda. Such obligations were linked to the possession of the land (which was, in turn, a payment for the obligation), and embedded an affective meaning that determined the social and political hierarchies. Hanson, Landed Obligation. On the importance of non-human entities in the definition of access and distribution of land, see Bastias Saavedra (Chapter 1) in this volume.
Capitão-mor is the position of commander, a military rank. These commanders were the main authority in the villages and forts of the hinterland.
âSeus ritosâ; âleis gentÃlicasâ. Arquivo Histórico de Angola (AHA), Cód. 3018.
Bluteau, Vocabulário portuguez e latino, entry âmorgadoâ.
Código Filipino, ou, Ordenações e Leis do Reino de Portugal. Recompiladas por mandado dâel-Rei D. Filipe I, Livro IV, TÃtulo 100, âPor que ordem se sucederá nos Morgados e bens vinculadosâ.
Candidoâs latest book is an important exception: Wealth, land, and property in Angola.
Dias, âMudanças nos padrões de poder do hinterland de Luandaâ, 42â94; Venâncio, A economia de Luanda e Hinterland no Século XVIII; Pantoja, âDonas de âarimosââ¯â, 35â49; Freudenthal, Arimos e fazendas; Ferreira, âA questão das terras na polÃtica colonial portuguesa em Angola nos anos de 1880â, 261â272. Regarding the Portuguese Empire in America, see Herzog, Frontiers of Possession; Mota, âApropriação econômica da natureza em uma fronteira do império atlântico portuguêsâ, 43â53. On Eastern Africa, see: Rodrigues, Portugueses e Africanos nos rios de Sena, 25; Bastião, Entre a Ilha e a Terra; Farré, âRegime de terras e cultivo de algodão em dois contextos coloniaisâ, 245â254.
Candido, âConquest, occupation, colonialism and exclusionâ, 230.
Sebestyén found 234 documents. Sebestyén, âLegitimation through Landcharters in Ambundu Villagesâ, 363â379; Sebestyén, âOs âarquivosâ de sobas Mbundu. Um caso transcultural dos testamentos em Angolaâ, 51â74.
Sebestyén, Legitimation through Landcharters in Ambundu Villages, 364.
Sebestyén, Legitimation through Landcharters in Ambundu Villages, 365.
Heintze, Angola nos séculos XVI e XVII, 398.
Sebestyén, Legitimation through Landcharters in Ambundu Villages, 365.
Word by word.
I am thankful to Roquinaldo Ferreira for sharing this document with the Cecult/Unicamp researchers. AHA, Caixa 3465 (Avulsos)âAmbaca. Italics added.
Sebestyén, Legitimation through Landcharters in Ambundu Villages, 365.
Sebestyén, âO contexto cultural dos marcos de terrenos nas aldeias Ambundu/Angolaâ, 93.
These records include, at least, the âArchives of the State of Ndembu Kakulu Kakaendaâ, which consist of 210 documents exchanged between the ndembu and the colonial administration, dating from the 18th century to the 20th century. See Tavares and Santos, Africae Monumenta. And an unprecedented set of records is now available online at Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Fundo Dembos: PT/AHU/DEMBOSâ
Candido, Conquest, occupation, colonialism and exclusion, 224.
Mary Louise Pratt employs the concept of transculturation to describe how âsubordinated or marginal groups select and invent from materials transmitted to them by a dominant or metropolitan cultureâ. Pratt, Imperial Eyes, 7â8.
This interpretation is found in 18th-century sources: see Silva Correa, História de Angola, vol. I, 291. In the work Livro dos Baculamentos, the ilamba appear as tax collectors of the sobas. Furthermore, Jan Vansina and Roquinaldo Ferreira identify these chiefs as relevant slave trade agents. See Coelho, Em busca de Kà bà sà , 161; Cadornega, História das Guerras Angolanas (1680), ed. Delgado, vol. I, 246. Heintze, Fontes para a História de Angola do século XVII, 126â127; Freudenthal and Pantoja (eds.), Livro dos Baculamentos, 32; Vansina, âAmbaca Society and the Slave Trade c. 1760â1845â, 8; Vansina, How societies are born, 59.
Heintze, Angola nos séculos XVI e XVII, 451. Despite the fact that ilamba, the plural of kilamba, corresponds to the name of the region (Ilamba), we do not yet know the grounds for such a coincidence. We do know that the ilamba received lands in exchange for their participation in the black war. But were all those lands really donated to them? An answer is not currently available for this question, as we do not yet count on new elements to progress in this analysis.
AHU_CU_001, Cx. 55, D. 6 and 7.
Vansina, âAmbaca Society and the Slave Trade c. 1760â1845â, 8.
The feeling of hatred described by Cadornega was so evident that in the documents found by Sebestyén, a saying is recurrent: âwe are vassals of the Majesty; do not want subjection in a service of empacaceiro [hunter], quilamba and quimbarâ. The sobas seemingly did not want their identity to be associated with those of the Ilamba and Imbari. Sebestyén, âO contexto cultural dos marcos de terrenos nas aldeias Ambundu/Angolaâ, 92.
IEB/USP AL-083-009. In the Angolan hinterland, traders were known as pumbeiros or funadores, and as âblackmen with shoesâ. These characters shared cultural and social traits with their victims, and the âsuccess of their businessâ hinged on the manipulation of these symbols so that they could distinguish themselves from the enslaved. One of their distinctive signs was the use of shoes, whereby traders were called âblackmen with shoesâ and considered white. Many of them used their new social status to evade their obligations as vassals of the Portuguese, for instance, by refusing to work as helpers transporting the products of market sellers. Ferreira, Cross-cultural Exchange in the Atlantic World, 61â63.
IEB/USP, AL-083-223.
IEB-USP, Al-083â254.
Some local women became owners of large arimos in Luandaâs hinterland after inheriting them as the third part of the possessions of previous lords, or as widows of rich Europeans and Portuguese-Europeans. By associating these properties with others, such as slaves, houses, shops and taverns, these rich ladies were known as donas. See Pantoja, âDonas de âarimosâ: um negócio feminino no abastecimento de gêneros alimentÃcios em Luanda (séculos XVIII e XIX)â, 35â49.
Berry, Chiefs Know Their Boundaries. As colonial states consolidated their power and elaborated the legal and administrative apparatus of their rule, however, officials took steps to formalize conditions of tenure on lands set aside or left for African useâusually according to what they understood to be ânative law and customâ. Berry, âDebating the Land Question in Africaâ, 638.
Dias, âO Kabuku Kambilu (c. 1850â1900)â, 22.
According to Mann, the shifts in the uses, meanings and ways of appropriating the land were at the heart of Lagosâ emancipation. See Mann, Slavery and the Birth of an African City.
Sebestyén describes that the documents are maintained by African authorities, the sobas and dembos, as well as their councillors. In the case of the dembos, for instance, they are kept along with other power emblems in a specific place under the guardianship of Mene Tandalla, the councillor with links to the local traditions and magic. See Sebestyén, âOs âarquivosâ de sobas Mbundu: um caso transcultural dos testamentos em Angolaâ, 55â56.
Rodrigues, Portugueses e Africanos nos rios de Sena, 27.
Candido, âConquest, occupation, colonialism and exclusionâ, 224.
Bibliography
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Delson, Roberta Marx, Novas Vilas para o Brasil colônia. Planejamento espacial e social no século XVIII, BrasÃlia 1997.
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