Angola

1459 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Imposition of colonial rule in africa

Angola

Angola, formerly Portuguese West Africa, is the seventh largest country in Africa. The country can be divided into three major regions: the coastal plain, a transition zone, and the vast inland plateau. Angola has a tropical climate with its vegetation including tropical rain forests, savannas, grasslands, palm trees and even deserts. A great variety of animal life ranging from elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, and even crocodiles can also be found in this African country (Microsoft 1).

Very little is known about the early regions of Angola. "The original inhabitants of present-day Angola were hunters and gatherers. Their descendants, called Bushman by the Europeans, still inhabit portions of southern Africa" (Collelo 5). As early as the seventh century AD, the Bantu migrated to Angola and formed a number of important kingdoms. The earliest and most important of these was the Kongo Kingdom, which arose somewhere between the mid-1300s and the mid-1400s. One of the reasons for this kingdoms success was the willingness of the new inhabitants to live together with the natives rather than try to be their overlords (Bender 23).

The earliest contract with outsiders occurred when a Portuguese explorer, Diego Cao arrived at the mouth of the Congo river. "Upon the initial landing, Portugal and Kongo exchanged emissaries, so that each kingdom was able to acquire knowledge of the other" (Collelo 7). The leader if Kongo was so impressed with the reports he received about Portugal that he decided to ask the crown for missionaries and educational assistance in exchange for ivory and other goods.

"The ruler who came to power in 1506 took a Christian name, Afonso" (Collelo 10). He looked to Portugal for support in edu...

... middle of paper ...

...in Colin Legum (ed.), Africa Contemporary Record:

Annual Survey and Documents, 1979-80. New York: Africana, 1981.

"Angola: A State of Flux," Africa Confidential [London], 22, No. 9, April 22, 1981,

1-3.

Bender, Gerald J. Angola Under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality.

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.

Collelo, Thomas. Angola, A Country Study. Washington DC: U.S. Government

Printing Office, 1991.

Halladay, Eric. The Emergent Continent: Africa in the Nineteenth Century. New

York: St. Martin's Press, 1972.

July, Robert W. A History of the African People. New York: Charles Scribener's

Sons, 1970.

"Portugal (Bibliography)," Microsoft ® Encarta. Copyright © 1993 Microsoft

Corporation. Copyright © Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.

Ritner, Peter. The Death of Africa. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1960.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Tales Of Angola Brown By Cantor Brown

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tales of Angola: Free Blacks, Red Stick Creeks, and International Intrigue in Spanish Southwest Florida was a powerful essay written by Cantor Brown Jr. This essay displayed the significant increase of the slave resistance in the state of Florida, in the nineteenth century. Throughout Tales of Angola Brown, came off to his readers with a strong argument regarding the many different characteristics being exhibited of slave resistance in the state of Florida. Even though some may not agree but his argument got through to millions. Angola is a country in southwestern Africa. It was thought that Bantu speaking people from West Africa were the first of many people to arrive to this area, but in actuality the original people to arrive were the Khosian speakers, but since the Bantu people were so powerful they began to displace many of the other kingdoms. The significance of importance of the black communities was more than just the Negro Fort and the Fort Mose. (page.5) After awhile there was a link between Bahamian exiles through these communities. (page.6) Brown’s argument was that the Indian Removal Act, the racial collaborations between Red Sticks and African, and the legacies of resistance in the writing of African American history, all helped in the slave resistance in Florida.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Poisonwood Bible

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alas, in 1961 Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by a US- sponsored plot 7 months after independence, and replaced him with a “puppet dictator named Mobutu” (Kingsolver). In her book, Barbara Kingsolver surfaces a forgotten part of our nation’s history in the exploitation of the Congo through her main characters, the Price family, who are missionaries sent to the Kilanga village. Through characters’ narratives that “double as allegories for the uneasy colonial marriage between the West and Africa” (Hamilton, Jones), Kingsolver creates a relatable way for her readers to understand the theme she is trying to convey, which is “‘what did we do to Africa, and how do we feel about it?’” (Snyder). Kingsolver began with this theme and developed the rest of the novel around it, just as she does with her other works, and sticking with her trademark technique, she utilizes her book as a vessel for “political activism, an extension of the anti-Vietnam protests” she participated in college (Snyder).

    Read More

  • The Changing Duality of Race, Martha Hodes

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mazrui, Ali A. "The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Said, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond." Research in African Literatures 36, no. 3 (Autumn 2005): 68-82.

    Read More

  • King Leopold's Ghost Analysis

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story starts with King Leopold II of Belgium. In the scramble for Africa, many nations rushed to establish colonies, and those who did made a great profit from them. The king himself wanted to compete with them, as well as amass a profit. He traveled to several British colonies and learnt how to establish and manage a colony of his own. The king himself then secretly bought the Congo, and supported an expedition led by Henry Morton Stanly.

    Read More

  • Age Of Exploration Dbq

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shortly after, Portuguese traders entered the practice of slave trading, Europeans did. Europeans brought exorbitant amounts of slaves to work on plantations in America. European traders “relied on African rulers and traders to seize captives in the interior and bring them to coastal trading posts and forts” (Ellis & Eysler 453). Captives were then traded for textiles, metalwork, rum, tobacco, weapons, and gunpowder; the slave trade led to three hundred years of profitable trading. Eventually, African leaders like Affonso I, ruler of Kongo, began to try and end the practice of transatlantic slave trade. Affonso I was alarmed as Portuguese continually came to Kongo to buy slaves but wished to continue his solid relationship with Europe. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to end slave trade; however, many African rulers followed in his footsteps. Another African to lead in the example of Affonso I, was the almany of Futa Toro, a religious leader during the eighteenth century, in present day Senegal. The almany forbade slave trade transport through Futa Toro for sale abroad. However, this attempt was also unsuccessful because traders just found a different route along the coast. African slave trade greatly increased during the times of European exploration and many African leaders saw the negative impact of the slave trade and attempted to

    Read More

  • Pre-Colonial African Slavery: An Analysis

    1542 Words  | 4 Pages

    Growing up in the United States, many Americans have come to learn that the slave trade often started on the West African coast, but after reading Olaudah Equiano’s narrative and Reversing Sail written by Michael Gomez, we can see that the slave trade was already transpiring way before the trans-Atlantic trade. Before the European trade even occurred, there were systems of slavery that were happening already within different provinces or districts. Based on Equiano’s narrative, he observed “that their subjection to the king of Benin was little more than nominal; for every transaction of the government was conducted by chiefs or elders of the place” (Equiano 5). Based on that, we can see that there were designated chiefs, kings, and judges in

    Read More

  • Slavery throughout the african disporia

    1769 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many of the African kingdoms were quite powerful, having wealth, land, military power, and many natural resources. During the early 13th and 14th centuries Africa was in a power struggle, with different groups battling each other for power, land and resources. Some of the first instances of slavery occurred during this time, with the winning group taking captives. Such as in the book we read, Ama. They used to captives mostly for labor purposes but most often sold them and exported them to other countries. This exporting of captives lead to wealth for their captors and was a starting point for the slave trade. The increasing number of West African exports also increased the slave trade. During this time a great deal of trading was happening between Africa and other countries, mainly in Europe. Many resource rich African countries (Kingdoms) traded items such as ivory, gold, animal skins and spices, and in return mainly received salt. Although salt was coveted for its preserving properties, the Africans definitely got the short end of the stick. Thus, draining Africa of its many rich resources, and leaving outsiders to hold a lot of wealth.

    Read More

  • Imperialism: Great Britain in Africa

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    Priscilla. “The World Economy and Africa.” JSpivey – Home – Wikispaces. 2010. 29 January 2010. .

    Read More

  • West African Kingdoms

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Trupin, James E. West Africa - A Background Book from Ancient Kingdoms to Modern Times, Parent's Magazine Press. New York, 1991.

    Read More

  • Liberia

    2719 Words  | 6 Pages

    Liberia owes its establishment to the American Colonization Society; founded in 1816 to resettle freed American slaves in Africa. An attempt at colonization in Sierra Leone had failed in 1815. Six years later native rulers granted a tract of land on Cape Mesurado, at the mouth of the Saint Paul River, to U.S. representatives, and the first Americo-Liberians, led by Jehudi Ashmun, began the settlement. In 1824 an American agent for the society, Ralph Randolph Gurley, named the new colony Liberia and the Cape Mesurado settlement Monrovia. Other separate settlements were established along the coast during the next 20 years. Soon, however, conflicts arose between the settlers and the society in the United States. By the time Joseph Jenkins Roberts became the first black governor in 1841, the decision had been made to give the colonists almost full control of the government. A constitution modeled on that of the United States was drawn up, and Liberia became an independent republic in July 1847. Roberts was its first president, serving until 1856. Liberia was recognized by Britain in 1848, by France in 1852 and by the United States in 1862. The Americo-Liberian communities eked out a precarious existence during the 19th century. Claims over i nterior territory were disputed not only by the indigenous Mandinka (also known as Mandingo or Malinke), Kru, and Gola peoples, but also by European states that did not recognize Liberian jurisdiction over the interior. U.S. support led to a series of agreements with Britain and France between 1892 and 1911, which marked the present boundaries. (Liberian control over the interior peoples, however, was not completely assured until the 1940s.) Loans from Britain and the United States partially eased the country's financial difficulties. Liberia declared war on Germany on August 14, 1917, which gave the Allies an additional base in West Africa during World War I (1914-1918). In 1926 the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company opened a rubber plantation on 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land granted by the Liberian government the year before. Rubber production became the mainstay of the nation's economy.

    Read More

  • Driving Force Behind European Imperialism in Africa

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    The "DBQ Project" What Is the Driving Force Behind European Imperialism in Africa? (2012): 257. pp. 177-177. Print.

    Read More

  • The Brass Plaques of the Benin Palace

    2152 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Portuguese arrived in Benin, in modern Nigeria, between 1472 and 1486 to find an established and ancient kingdom with remarkable social and ritual complexity, with art that was comparatively naturalistic, and with a political system that was, on the surface, recognizable to the Europeans: monarchy. Even more importantly, they found a land rich in pepper, cloth, ivory, and slaves, and immediately set out to establish trade (Ben-Amos 35-6). Though we often imagine "first contacts" between Europeans and Africans as clashes of epochal proportions, leaving Europeans free to manipulate and coerce the flabbergasted and paralyzed Africans, this misjudges the resilience and indeed, preparedness, of the Benin people. The Benin were able to draw on their cultural, political, and religious traditions to fit the European arrival in an understandable context. Indeed, as the great brass plaques of the Benin palace demonstrate, the arrival was in fact manipulated by the Benin to strengthen, not diminish, indigenous royal power.

    Read More

  • Negative Affects of Imperialism in Africa in the 19th Century

    1758 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Web. November 22, 2010 http://web.ebscohost.com>. Hargreaves, John. The. “The Scramble for Africa.”

    Read More

  • Capoeira

    2489 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Africans first arrived by the hundreds and later by the thousands (approximately four million in total).Three major African groups contributed in large numbers to the slave population in Brazil, the Sudanese group, composed largely of Yoruba and Dahomean peoples, the Mohammedanized Guinea-Sudanese groups of Malesian and Hausa peoples, and the "Bantu" groups (among them Kongos, Kimbundas, and Kasanjes) from Angola, Congo and Mozambique.

    Read More

  • The Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Ghana: A Violent Legacy

    2407 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lovejoy, Paul E. Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1983. Print.

    Read More

More about Angola

Open Document