APPENDIX IV.
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF ANGOLA
TO THE
END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Early Portuguese Visitors.
The inhabitants of S. Thomé were granted permission in 1500[387] to trade as far as the Kongo river; but it is just possible that long before that time, and notwithstanding an interdict of 1504, they had felt their way southward along the coast, and had discovered that a profitable trade, not hampered by the presence of royal officials or “farmers,” might be carried on at Luandu, and up a river which, after the King of the country, was called the river of Ngola (Angola).
Several years afterwards, a representative of this Ngola, whilst on a visit at S. Salvador, suggested that missionaries should be sent to convert his master. King Manuel was nothing loth to act upon this suggestion, and entrusted Manuel Pacheco and Balthasar de Castro, both of whom were old residents in Kongo, with an expedition, whose main object was to report on the missionary and commercial prospects in Ngola’s country, to inquire into the existence of reputed silver mines, and, eventually, to explore the coast as far as the Cape of Good Hope. On arriving at the bar of Ngola’s river (the Kwanza), B. de Castro was to go to the King’s court, where, if circumstances were favourable, he was to be joined by a priest. Pacheco himself was to return to Portugal, with a cargo of slaves, ivory, and silver.[388]
No report of this mission has hitherto seen the light; but we know that B. de Castro actually reached Ngola’s residence, and that he was retained there as a prisoner, until released in 1526, through the intervention of the King of Kongo. He reported that he never saw silver or precious stones anywhere in Angola.[389]
The Early History of Ndongo (Angola).
Ndongo is the original name of the vast territory now known as Angola, from the name or title of its ruler (Ngola) when first the Portuguese became acquainted with it. The early history of this region is involved in obscurity, but it seems that its chiefs at one time owed allegiance to the King of Kongo, whose authority was finally shaken off about the middle of the sixteenth century, the King only keeping possession of Luandu island and its valuable njimbu fishery.
Cavazzi, Antonio Laudati of Gaeta, Cadornega, and others, have published long lists of Kings of “Angola;” but nearly all the names they give are not those of the Kings, but the titles which they assumed,[390] and by which they were generally known. The full title of the King of Ndongo was Ngola kiluanji kia Samba,[391] and that title is still borne by the present ruler, who claims to be a descendant of the kings of old, and whose Kabasa[392] on the River Hamba (Va-umba or Umba) still occupies the locality assigned by the missionaries to Queen Nzinga’s Kabasa, where they built the church of S. Maria of Matamba.
Cavazzi’s Matamba, however, included the whole of Queen Nzinga’s kingdom, as it existed in his day, whilst the original Matamba, as also the country known by that name in the present day, had much narrower limits. It was originally tributary to Kongo, but one of its rulers assumed the title of Kambulu, that is, King, and renounced all vassalage to his former suzerain. It existed as an independent kingdom until 1627, when the famous Queen Nzinga took prisoner the dowager Queen, Muongo Matamba, and incorporated this ancient kingdom in her own dominions.[393]
It may have been a Ngola kiluanji, described by Cavazzi as the son of Tumba ria ngola and of a Ngola kiluanji kia Samba, who first invaded lower Ndongo, and assigned his conquest to one of his sons. But all is uncertainty, and there exists an inextricable confusion in the names of the Kings of upper and lower Ndongo as transmitted to us. One thing, however, is certain, namely, that as early as 1520 the country down to the sea was held by a king bearing the name or title of Ngola.[394]
The First Expedition of Paulo Dias de Novaes, 1560.
In 1556 Ngola Ineve,[395] being threatened by Kongo, sent an ambassador to Portugal asking for the establishment of friendly relations. This ambassador arriving in the year of the death of King John III (1557), action was deferred until 1559, when three caravels were fitted out and placed under the command of Paulo Dias, a grandson of the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope. Dias left Lisbon on December 22nd, 1559, and called at S. Thomé (where Bishop Gaspar Cão observed that the Jesuits, who accompanied Dias, would meet with no success as long as commercial intercourse was prohibited).[396] Dias arrived at the bar of the Kwanza on May 3rd, and there waited patiently for six months, when Musungu, a native chief, made his appearance at the head of a crew of painted warriors, armed with bows and arrows. In his company Dias, accompanied by the Jesuit fathers and twenty men, travelled up the country for sixty leagues, when he arrived at the royal residence.[397] The King, not any longer the Ngola who had asked for missionaries, but his successor,[398] received his visitors kindly, but would net allow them to depart until they had helped him against one of his revolted Sobas, called Kiluanji kia kwangu by Garcia Mendes.[399] Having rendered this service Dias was dismissed, but the Jesuits remained behind as hostages. Whilst Dias was absent in Europe, Ngola defeated an army sent against him, and thus compelled the recognition of the Dande river as his boundary, the island of Luandu alone, with its productive njimbu fishery, remaining with Kongo. Ngola ndambi died (in 1568?) before Dias returned.
The Second Expedition of Dias, 1574.
After a considerable delay, Dias was sent out as “Conquistador” of the territory recently visited by him. He left Lisbon on October 23rd, 1574, with seven vessels and three hundred and fifty men, most of them cobblers, tailors, and tradesmen.[400] Among his officers were Pedro da Fonseca, his son-in-law, Luis Serrão, André Ferreira Pereira, and Garcia Mendes Castellobranco, all of whom subsequently won distinction as “Conquistadores.” Three Jesuit fathers (with P. Balthasar Barreira as superior), and three Dominicans accompanied him. These latter, however, not finding the country to their liking, soon sought more comfortable quarters in Kongo. Dias was authorised to grant estates (including full seignorial rights) to all such among his companions as were prepared to build a small fort at their own expense.
In February, 1575, the fleet sighted the coast near the Kwanza, and passing over the bar of Kurimba cast anchor in the fine bay of Luandu, and on February 20th Dias laid the foundations of a church.[401] The island, at that time, was inhabited by forty Portuguese who had come from Kongo, and a considerable number of native Christians. Its cowry fisheries yielded great profit to its owner, the King of Kongo, who was represented by a governor.[402] Not finding the site originally chosen for his capital to be suitable, Dias, in 1576, removed to what is now known as the Morro de S. Miguel, and he named the new colony “Reino de Sebaste na conquista de Ethiopia,” in honour of the King who fell gloriously at Al Kasr el Kebir, and its capital S. Paulo de Luandu.
Meanwhile the customary presents were exchanged with the King, whose name or title seems to have been Ngola a kiluanji. The King’s gifts included slaves, cattle, copper and silver bracelets, and aromatic Kakongo wood. The Cardinal King D. Henrique (1578-80) converted the silver bracelets into a chalice, which he presented to the church of Belem.
Friendly relations continued for three years. The King had been duly helped against his rebellious sobas; Pedro da Fonseca lived at the King’s residence as “ministro conservador” of the Portuguese, and a brisk trade seems to have sprung up with the new town of S. Paulo de Luandu, when it was insinuated to the King that the Portuguese ultimately intended to take possession of his country, and to sell his subjects abroad as slaves. The Catalogo traces these insinuations to the jealousy of a Portuguese trader “inspired by the Devil,” and although neither Garcia Mendes nor Abreu de Brito alludes to this infamy, their not doing so does not disprove the positive statement of the Catalogo.[403] Moreover, whether the King’s mind was influenced by envoys from Kongo, or by a traitorous Portuguese, it must be admitted that the intentions of the Portuguese were not altogether misrepresented.
At all events, the results were immediately disastrous, for twenty Portuguese traders, who were at the King’s kabasa at the time, were murdered, together with one thousand slaves, and their merchandise was confiscated.
Dias in the Field, 1578-89.
Dias, before this happened, had already (in 1577) built the fort of S. Cruz,[404] ten leagues up the Kwanza, and was at the time at a stockade on the Penedo de S. Pedro, still higher up on the river.[405] When there, he was warned not to advance any further, and, suspecting treachery, he retired with his one hundred and fifty men to Kanzele (Anzele),[406] where he entrenched himself (in 1578). Twenty days later he received news of the massacre. Dias at once hastened back to Luandu for reinforcements, the serjeant-major, Manuel João, meanwhile valiantly defending the stockade and raiding the neighbourhood.
In September, 1580, Dias again left Luandu with three hundred men. Slowly he proceeded along the Kwanza by land and in boats, punished the sobas Muchima, Kitangombe, and Kizua, in Kisama, and defeated the King’s army at Makunde,[407] where he had his headquarters for two years, during which time his subordinates, João Serrão, Manuel João, and others, established his authority among the sobas of Kisama and Lamba (Ilamba).
In 1582 he removed to Masanganu, at the “meeting of the waters” of the Lukala and Kwanza. Determined to capture the reputed silver mines of Kambambe, he set out with Luiz Serrão, eighty Portuguese, and a “guerra preta” of thirty thousand men. During his forward march he defeated the soba Mbamba Tungu; and at an entrenched camp at Teka ndungu, on February 2nd, 1584, he inflicted a crushing defeat upon the King’s forces; the Jesuit Father Balthasar Barreiro claiming no little credit for having contributed to this victory by his prayers.[408] As a result of this success, many of the sobas declared in favour of Portugal, but so inconsiderable were the forces at the command of Dias that he could do no more than maintain his position at Masanganu. An army under the Duke of Mbamba, which had been promised to him, was never sent.[409] Reinforcements, however, arrived in the course of 1584 and 1586,[410] and Dias fought a battle on the Lukala. But his subordinates did not always meet with a like success; and João Castanhosa Vellez, with one hundred Portuguese, was completely routed by the soba Ngola Kalungu.[411]
As an incident of the governorship of Paulo Dias may be mentioned the building of a fort at Benguella velho, by his nephew, Antonio Lopes Peixoto, in 1587. Unhappily, fifty men of the garrison ventured abroad, unarmed, and fell in an ambush; and of the twenty who had remained in the fort, and who offered a stout resistance, only two escaped. As a matter of fact, the losses of human life in these native wars were very considerable.
Paulo Dias died in the midst of preparations for a fresh expedition against Ngola, in October, 1589, and was buried in the church of N. S. da Victoria, which he himself had built at Masanganu.[412]
His soldiers elected Luiz Serrão, the captain-major, to succeed him.
Luiz Serrão and the Battle of 1590.
Luiz Serrão, having completed his preparations, started with an army numbering one hundred and twenty eight Portuguese musketeers (with three horses), and fifteen thousand native allies armed with bows. With this utterly insufficient force he crossed the Lukala, and then advanced to the east. On Friday, December 25th, 1590, when at Ngwalema a kitambu (Anguolome aquitambo) in Ari,[413] he found himself face to face with the King of Matamba, whose army had been reinforced by Ngola, the King of Kongo, the Jaga Kinda,[414] and others. Serrão desired to retire before this overwhelming host, but his subordinate officers, André Ferreira Pereira and Francisco de Sequeira, persuaded him to attack the enemy. He did so, on Monday, December 28th, 1590, and was defeated. The retreat was effected in good order. The vanguard of forty musketeers was led by João de Velloria, then came the “guerra preta,” whilst Serrão himself commanded the rear, and fought almost daily with his pursuers. The camp at Lukanza, with its valuable contents, had to be abandoned. At length, on reaching Akimbolo,[415] many leagues to the rear, the fugitives met Luiz Mendez Rapozo, who had come up from Luandu with seventy-eight men. At last they reached the old presidio of Mbamba Tungu and Masanganu; Manuel Jorge d’Oliveira was at once sent down to Luandu for reinforcements, and on their arrival the siege was raised. L. Serrão survived this disaster only for a month; and when he died, his officers elected Luiz Ferreira Pereira, the captain-major, to take his place. The sobas all around, and in Lamba and Ngulungu, headed by one Muzi Zemba (Muge Asemba), were in the field, but they were held in check by Pereira, and the Portuguese name continued to be respected.
The Jaga.
Jaga or Jaka is a military title,[416] and by no means the name of a people. The predatory man-eating bands at whose head they invaded the agricultural districts towards the sea coast, included elements of all kinds, not unlike the bands of the “Zulu” of our own time; and hence, one of the names by which they became known in Angola was Bangala.[417] I have already stated that I do not think that these military leaders, or Jaga, have anything to do with the tribe of the Ayaka to the east of Kongo. Still less can we adopt the monstrous notion that the various inland tribes who, in the course of the sixteenth century, descended upon the coast of the most opposite parts of Africa, are to be identified with our Jaga. It was João Bermudes[418] who first identified the Galla of Abyssinia with the Sumba, who raided the coast of Guinea about 1570. Duarte Lopez (pp. 66, 67) would have us believe that the Jaga came out of Moenemuge (Mwene muji), and called themselves Agag.[419] But the people of Mwene muji, or the land of the Maravi, are in reality the Zimbas, who raided Kilwa and Mombasa in 1589, whilst “Agag” looks to me like a corruption of Agau, which is the name of an Abyssinian tribe.[420] And hence arises this absurd confusion of Father Guerreiro, who expects us to believe that the Jaga are known in Kongo as Iacas, in Angola as Gindes,[421] in “India” (that is, on the East coast of Africa) as Zimbas, in Prester John’s country as Gallas, and in Sierra Leone as Sumbas! Battell, who reports facts and leaves hypotheses alone, confesses that in his day nothing was known about the origin of this dreaded people.[422]
We have already met with Jaga in Kongo, as allies of Ngola. In 1590 they were fighting Luiz Serrão as the allies of Matamba, and by 1600 they appear to have advanced as far as the coast of Benguella, where Battell joined them, and had an opportunity of gaining an intimate knowledge of their daily life, not enjoyed by any other traveller. H. D. de Carvalho[423] and A. R. Neves[424] have been at the trouble of collecting such information on their origin as it is possible to gather after the lapse of three centuries. Entrusting ourselves to the guidance of the former of these authors, we learn that Kinguri, the son of the chief of the Bungo, in Lunda, was excluded by his father from the succession, in favour of his sister Lueji. Gathering around him his adherents, he left his native land to found a “state” elsewhere. He first settled in Kioko, then crossed the Upper Kwanza into Kimbundu (Binbundu of Bié), and reached Lubolo, where he made friends with the chief, Ngongo, whose daughter Kulachinga he married. He then crossed the Kwanza above Kambambe, entered into friendly relations with the Portuguese, visited the Governor, D. Manuel,[425] and offered to fight on the side of the Portuguese. He was granted land at Lukamba,[426] on the river Kamueji. Being dissatisfied with this land, on account of its sterility, he again turned to the eastward, and, crossing the Lui, finally settled in the country still occupied by his successors, who (according to Carvalho), were Kasanje, Ngonga ka mbanda, Kalunga ka kilombo, Kasanje ka Kulachinga, etc.[427] Having settled down, Kinguri invited his father-in-law to join him, and his forces were subsequently increased by some discontented subjects of Queen Nzinga, led by Kalungu. His followers, being thus a mixture of many tribes, the Jagas were thenceforth chosen alternately among the three leading families of Kulachinga (Kinguri’s wife), Ngongo and Kalunga.[428]
It is perfectly clear from this information, collected in Lunda and Kasanje, that it throws no light upon the original Jaga, although it may explain the origin of the Jaga still ruling at Kasanje.
The account given by Ladislaus Magyar[429] evidently refers to the same leader. According to him, a Jaga Kanguri settled in the country now occupied by the Sonyo three hundred years ago. His people were cannibals, but the more intelligent among them saw that this practice would ultimately lead to the destruction of the subject tribes upon whom they depended for support, and they founded the secret society of the Empacaceiros[430] for the suppression of cannibalism. Being worsted in a civil war, they crossed the upper Kwanza into Bié, whilst Kanguri turned to the north-west and settled in Kasanje.
Cavazzi seems to go further back, for he tells us that Zimbo, who was the first chief of the Jaga (Aiacca), invaded Kongo, whilst one of his chiefs, “Dongij” (Ndongo?), invaded Matamba, and that the bloody “kichile,”[431] or customs, were introduced by Musasa the wife, and Tembandumba the daughter, of this “Dongij.” The daughter married Kulambo, whom she poisoned; he was succeeded by Kinguri, who was killed during an invasion of Angola, Kulachimbo a great warrior, Kassanje, and many others; the last of whom, Kassanje ka nkinguri, was baptised in 1657.[432]
I confess my inability to evolve the truth out of these conflicting statements, and can only suppose that the title of “Jaga” was assumed by the leaders of predatory hordes of very diverse origin, in order to inspire terror in the hearts of peaceful tribes; just, as in more recent times, certain tribes in East Africa pretend to be Zulu for a like reason.
D. Francisco and D. Jeronymo d’Almeida, 1592-1594.
The new Governor, D. Francisco d’Almeida, arrived at S. Paulo, on June 24th, 1592, accompanied by four hundred foot-soldiers and fifty African horse, all picked men. Among the volunteers attending him were his brother, D. Jeronymo, Luis Lopez de Sequeira and Balthasar Rebello de Aragõa;[433] and perhaps also Domingos d’Abreu de Brito, who, in a “Summario e descripção do Reino de Angola,” presented to King Philip I, proposed an expedition across Africa, and the protection of the road to be opened by a chain of forts.[434]
The new Governor, immediately on his arrival, found himself face to face with a religious difficulty. The Jesuits, ever since the days of Dias, expected to be consulted in all government business. They desired to be appointed “preceptors” (amos) of the native chiefs, their aim being evidently to create a theocratic government, such as they established subsequently in Paraguay. They “used their spiritual influence to induce the conquered sobas to refuse obedience to the civil powers;” and when d’Almeida made use of the authority conferred upon him at Madrid in order to crush this “nascent theocracy,” he was excommunicated.[435] He certainly was unequal to cope with these domineering priests. Disheartened, he threw up a charge to which he felt unequal, and took ship for Brazil (April 8th, 1593).[436]
D. Jeronymo, at the urgent request of the Camara, took up the reins of government, and being of a more conciliatory nature than his brother, made peace with the Jesuits, and was thus able to take the field. He started with four hundred men and twenty horses, and received the submission of the sobas of Kisama, excepting the most powerful among them. On reaching the salt mines of Ndemba[437] he founded a “presidio,” and garrisoned it with one hundred men. On his way to the silver-mines of Kambambe he was struck down with fever, and returned to Luandu, leaving Balthasar d’Almeida de Sousa and Pedro Alvares Rebello in command of the troops. They were imprudent, and on April 22nd, 1594, fell into an ambush prepared for them by the powerful chief Kafuche kabara (Cafuxe cambara). Only the captain-major, thanks to the swiftness of his horse, and a few men, escaped this disaster.[438]
João Furtado de Mendonça, 1594-1602.
D. Jeronymo was on the point of hurrying up with reinforcements when João Furtado de Mendonça arrived at Luandu (August 1st, 1594). He brought with him, not only four hundred men with thirty horses, but also twelve European women,[439] the first ever seen in Luandu, in whose honour the town was decorated.
One of the most memorable events of his governorship was a campaign which he conducted up the river Mbengu. Starting at the worst time of the year (in March, 1496), he quickly lost two hundred men by fever. Having brought up fresh recruits from Luandu, he avenged himself for a disaster brought about by his own ignorance, by an exceptional severity in his treatment of the “rebels,” many of whom were blown from guns. This expedition kept the field for several years, and proceeded as far as Ngazi (Ingasia), the chief of which district was called Ngombe—the bullock.[440]
Meanwhile, João de Velloria,[441] the captain-major, had severely punished the rebellious sobas of Lamba. Masanganu was once more blockaded by the King Ngola (1597), until relieved by Balthasar Rebello de Aragão. On again descending the Kwanza, he built a presidio in the territory of the chief Muchima, in Kisama (1559).[442]
The Campaign of 1602-3.[443]
A new Governor, João Rodrigues Coutinho, arrived early in 1602. He was acceptable to the Jesuits, and soon won the hearts of the people by his liberality. He had been authorised by the King to bestow five habits of the Order of Christ, dub five knights, and appoint thirty King’s chamberlains (moços da camara). Seven years’ receipts of the export duty on slaves were to be devoted to the building of forts at the salt mines (Ndemba), Kambambe, and in Benguela.
Six months after his arrival, the Governor took the field against the powerful chief Kafuche. His force was the most formidable that had ever been at the disposal of a Governor, numbering no less than eight hundred Portuguese. It was joined at Songo by a portion of the garrison of Masanganu. Unhappily, the Governor died before coming in contact with the enemy, and appointed Manuel Cerveira Pereira as his successor. Battell calls this man an “upstart,” and he certainly had many enemies; but he is well spoken of by the Jesuits, and was an able soldier. On August 10th, 1603, he inflicted a crushing defeat upon Kafuche, at Agoakaiongo,[444] on the very spot where, seven years before, the Portuguese had met with a great disaster. Overcoming the stout resistance of the chiefs of the Museke,[445] he arrived at the head of the navigation of the Kwanza, and there, at Kambambe, he founded the Presidio da N.S. do Rozario (1604). Having punished several of the neighbouring chiefs, including Shila mbanza (Axilambanza), the father-in-law of King Ngola, and left João de Araujo e Azevedo[446] in command of the new presidio, Pereira returned to the coast.
S. Paulo de Luandu had by that time grown into a fine town, where commerce flourished. Unfortunately for the lasting prosperity of the colony, human beings constituted the most valuable article of export, and the profits yielded by this slave trade attracted Dutch and French interlopers, notwithstanding a royal decree of 1605, which excluded all foreign vessels from the vast territories claimed by Portugal. In 1607 there were four “Presidios” or forts in the interior, namely Muchima, Agoakaiongo, Masanganu, and Kambambe.[447]
D. Manuel Pereira Forjaz and Bento Banha Cardoso, 1607-15.
We have already stated that Manuel Cerveira Pereira had many enemies, and when D. Manuel Pereira Forjaz, the new Governor, arrived towards the end of 1607, very serious accusations must have been brought against the former, for he was at once sent back to Lisbon. There, however, we are bound to assume that he refuted these accusations, for otherwise it is not likely that he would have been re-appointed Governor eight years afterwards: unless, indeed, he had friends at court who profited by his delinquencies. Forjaz himself showed to little advantage. He superseded the commandant of Kambambe by one of his own creatures, and the fort would certainly have been taken by the sobas who blockaded it, had not Roque de S. Miguel and Rebello de Aragão hastened to its relief. Forjaz, moreover, is accused of having imposed an annual tax upon the sobas, yielding from twelve to thirteen thousand cruzados, which seem to have found their way into his own pockets, and those of his favourites.[448] When he suddenly died in his bed, on April 11th, 1611, the bishop and the leading men called upon the captain-major, Bento Banha Cardoso, to take charge of the government. Cardoso was a man of enterprise, and successful in his undertakings, but cruel. In 1611 he defeated King Ngola. The sobas Kilonga and Mbamba Tungu, who fell into his hands, were beheaded, as were also several of their makotas. To avenge these executions, fourteen sobas of Ngola and Matamba made an attack upon Kambambe in the following year; and although that place was valiantly defended until relieved, it took a year before order was restored in the surrounding district. To keep these sobas in check, a fort (Mbaka) was built on the river Lukala (1614), eight leagues from Masanganu.[449] In Kisama, the territory of Nambua ngongo (Nabo angungo) was raided in the same year.
An Attempt to Cross Africa.
Before proceeding with our account, there remains to be noticed a serious attempt to cross the whole of Africa from the west coast to “Manomotapa,” on the Zambezi, which was made by Balthasar Rebello de Aragão, by order of D. Manuel Pereira Forjaz. Rebello de Aragão himself furnishes a very short account of this expedition,[450] from which we learn that he discovered copper and iron, and was told that there was also silver. The natives bred cattle and cultivated the land, and they told him of a lake, in lat. 16° S., giving rise to many rivers, including the Nile. Unfortunately, when he had advanced one hundred and forty leagues from the sea, and eighty beyond the place he started from (Kambambe?), he was summoned back, as the fort just named was threatened by King Ngola.[451]
The Conquest of Benguella.
In 1615, Manuel Cerveira Pereira[452] returned to the scene of his former labours, with special instructions to take possession of Benguella, which for a considerable time past had been visited by trading vessels. But before he started upon this enterprise, he ordered his old comrade, João (or Paio?) de Araujo e Azevedo, to deal with Kakulu Kabasa,[453] Mbumba (Bumba) a ndala, Kilomba kia tubia, and other revolted chiefs in Angola, whilst he himself penetrated into the country of the Kakulu Kahenda,[454] who had given offence by assisting fugitive slaves and interfering with traders.
Having entrusted Antonio Gonçalves Pitta with the government of S. Paulo, he left that place for the South, on April 11th, 1617, with four vessels, a patacho, and one hundred soldiers.[455] Finding the site of the old fort near the Terra das duas Puntas unsuitable, he continued his voyage along the coast, until he came in sight of a “sombreiro,” overlooking the Bahia das Vaccas;[456] and there he built the fort of S. Filippe de Benguella, which in course of time developed into a city of some importance. The sobas of Ndombe, of whose territory he had possessed himself, naturally objected to the presence of these uninvited strangers, but they were compelled to submit after five defeats. The Jaga on the river Murombo likewise gave in, after three months’ fighting, but soon afterwards broke the peace, and was executed. The chief Kalunga, at the mouth of the Koporolo (Kuporol), and the cattle-keeping Mukimba in the neighbouring hills, also submitted. It scarcely admits of doubt that Pereira, in the course of his many military excursions, discovered copper, sulphur and salt,[457] but he was to benefit little by these discoveries. His harsh conduct and greed had estranged his people. Headed by a priest and by their officers, they mutinied, put their leader on board a patacho, and shipped him off to S. Paulo, where no notice was taken of his presence, the Governor being absent at that time, because of a native war (1618).[458]
Pereira once more returned to Madrid, and having explained matters to the satisfaction of the authorities, he was sent back, and again reached S. Felippe de Benguella on August 8th, 1620. He sailed north to Sumba mbela’s country, at the mouth of the river Kuvu. A couple of days inland he discovered more copper, three quintals of which he took to S. Paulo. He died in the midst of his labours. The Catalogo credits him with having gone inland as far as Kakonda.[459]
The Colonial Government.
We have already learned that the native sobas were handed over to the mercy of individual “conquistadores,” and Rebello de Aragão declares that these sobas were being “robbed and maltreated.” They were required by their masters to pay a tax in slaves, to furnish carriers, and render all kinds of services,[460] without payment. In addition to this the Governor, D. M. P. Forjaz, imposed upon them a poll-tax, which produced from twelve to thirteen thousand cruzados (say £1,650[461]) a year. Rebello de Aragão maintains that the native wars were largely due to this pernicious system, which enriched the Governor and his officials, whilst traders were made to suffer, and ceased to visit the “feiras” because of the extortionate demands made upon them. At Mpinda nearly all the “honest” trade had passed into the hands of the Dutch, because of the monopoly conferred upon Portuguese slave-dealers. He declares that a tax of 20 per cent. on the salt mined at Ndemba would pay all the legitimate expenses of government; but that, although the export duty on slaves yielded from five to six thousand cruzados, there had not yet been built a decent house for the government offices.
Garcia Mendes Castellobranco, in a memoir[462] addressed to the King in 1620, is equally outspoken with regard to the treatment of the native chiefs, who, he maintains, ought not to be taxed more heavily than at the time when they were still subjects of a native king. He, too, refers to the salt mines as a source of revenue, recommends the levying of a toll at river crossings, and the expropriation of the uncultivated territory around S. Paulo.[463]
Many of these abuses may, no doubt, be traced to the demoralising influence of the slave-trade and the insufficient pay of the officials. A slave costing £3 7s. in the interior (or nothing, if taken in the course of one of the frequent slave raids) was sold for more than double that sum on the coast; and whilst money could be made thus easily the great natural resources of the country were neglected and the population—which, on the arrival of the Portuguese, is said to have been very considerable—shrank from year to year.[464]
The export duties on slaves and ivory were farmed out in 1607 to one Duarte Dias Enriques for twenty million reis annually (about £6,600).[465]
S. Paulo and Masanganu enjoyed municipal institutions at that time, but all outside these cities was ruled by military adventurers. The Governor (in 1607) was paid a salary of £267, but the other officials were decidedly underpaid; and thus, almost of necessity, were driven to increase their incomes by illegitimate means.[466]
The War with Ngola nzinga mbandi.
Luiz Mendes de Vasconcellos, the new Governor, arrived in November, 1617, and almost immediately found himself involved in a war with the King of Ndongo. Nzinga mbandi ngola kiluanji,[467] a great tyrant, had been “removed” by his indignant subjects shortly before the arrival of the new Governor. He left behind him three daughters, one of whom, born in 1582, became famous as Queen D. Anna de Souza Nzinga, and two sons, one by a legitimate wife, the other by a slave woman. It was the latter, Ngola nzinga mbandi,[468] whom his partisans raised to the throne, which he reached through rivers of blood, among his victims being his own brother, a son of his sister, and many of the trusted councillors of his father. In 1618 the usurper took the field, intending to expel the Portuguese, who seem to have given provocation by shifting the old presidio of Mbaka (Ambaca) to a site much higher up the Lukala.[469] The Governor, ably supported by his captain-major, Pedro de Souza Coelho, not only defeated the King, but also captured his queen and many other persons of consideration. The King sued for peace, but as he failed to surrender the Portuguese whom he had taken prisoner, the war was renewed in 1619. His allies fared no better than the King himself. His vice-king of lower Ndongo, Ngola ari,[470] was compelled to pay a tribute of one hundred slaves annually (in 1620); and while the Governor raided the territories of Kahibalongo, Ndonga, and Kasa, his lieutenant, Lopo Soares Laço, destroyed the kilombos of the sobas Ngunza a ngombe and Bangu.
It had been recognised by this time that many of these punitive expeditions were provoked by the lawless conduct of white traders, mulattoes and negros calçados (that is, shoe-wearing negroes), who went inland on slaving expeditions; and only Pumbeiros descalços, that is, native agents or traders not yet sufficiently civilised to wear shoes, should be permitted to do so in future.[471]
When King Ngola nzinga mbandi heard of the arrival of João Corrêa de Souza, the new Governor, in September, 1621,[472] he at once sent his sister to Luandu to arrange terms of peace. This woman, then about forty years of age, proved an excellent diplomatist. When the Governor alluded to the payment of tribute, she declared that tribute could only be demanded from a conquered people, and the treaty ultimately signed was one of reciprocity: fugitive slaves were to be surrendered, and assistance to be given against common enemies.
Before this able ambassadress left Luandu, she was received into the bosom of Holy Mother Church, being baptised as D. Anna de Souza (1622); and on her return home she persuaded her brother to apply for the services of a priest, or Mamaganga.[473] A priest was sent, but he was a native, who had been ordained at Luandu, and one of the King’s own subjects. The King looked upon this as an insult; he treated the priest with great indignity, and once more invaded the Portuguese territory. Thrice beaten, and deserted by his vassals, he fled to the island of Ndangi,[474] in the Kwanza river, where he died of poison administered by his own sister Nzinga, who thus avenged the murder of her son (1623).
Queen Nzinga, 1623-1636.
Nzinga at once renounced Christianity, and the bloody rites of the Jaga were celebrated when she ascended her throne. She inaugurated her reign by the murder of her brother’s son, of his adherents, and her supposed enemies. Having reduced her own people to subjection, with the aid of the Jaga, she declared war upon Portugal. D. Felippe de Souza Ngola ari, the King of Ndongo recognised by the Portuguese, was at once ordered to defend the frontier, and, if possible, to invade the territories of his kinswoman. On consideration, however, it was thought best, in the interest of trade, to avoid a serious conflict. An officer was sent to the court of the Queen, offering to restore the lost provinces (and thus sacrificing their vassal D. Felippe), on condition of her acknowledging herself a vassal, and paying tribute. These conditions were haughtily rejected, and the war began in earnest.
João de Araujo e Azevedo was placed at the head of the Portuguese invading force.[475] He raided the country along the Lukala, and then turned back upon the Kwanza, occupied the islands of Ukole and Kitaka, and came up with the Queen’s camp at Ndangi Island. The Queen, having consulted the spirit of her brother Ngola mbandi,[476] declined to risk a battle, and fled into Hako (Oacco). The Portuguese followed in pursuit, passing through Bemba, Malemba and Kipupa, and Little Ngangela (Ganguella); came up with the Queen’s forces in the territory of soba Matima (Mathemo), and inflicted a serious defeat upon them. Among the prisoners taken were the Queen’s sisters, Kambe and Funji, and many Makotas. The pursuit was continued as far as Kina grande in Ngangela, a deep and difficult gorge, into which some of the soldiers and the guerra preta descended by means of ropes. When the Queen fled to the kingdom of Songo, the Portuguese forces retired to the west (1627).[477]
The two princesses were taken to Luandu, where the Governor, Fernão de Souza, lodged them in his own house. In baptism (1628), they received the names of D. Barbara and D. Engracia.
The Portuguese had no sooner retired than Queen Nzinga returned to Ndangi Island, and having been reinforced by several Jaga, she undertook the conquest of Matamba. At Makaria ka matamba she took prisoner the dowager-queen[478] Muongo Matamba, and her daughter. The mother was branded as a slave, and died of grief; but the daughter was taken into favour, and was baptised in 1667.
Having thus destroyed the ancient kingdom of Matamba, the Queen once more invaded Portuguese territory, but she turned back when she heard that the Jaga Kasanji was raiding her recent conquest, upon which he claimed to have prior rights.
At the same time she interfered continually with the commerce of the Portuguese with the interior; and it was only in 1636, when the Governor, Francisco de Vasconcellos da Cunha, sent D. Gaspar Borgia and Father Antonio Coelho on a mission to the Jaga in Little Ngangela, and to the Queen at her Kabasa, in Umba, that peaceable relations were established. The Queen, however, persistently refused to surrender her claims to the provinces of Ndongo which had been occupied by the Portuguese.
Minor Events, 1624-1641.
Punitive expeditions were frequent. In 1624 the Jaga Kasanji, who had taken advantage of the conflicts between the Portuguese and Queen Nzinga to rob Pumbeiros, was severely punished, and Captain Roque de Miguel returned from this expedition with a large number of captives, who as a matter of course, were sold into slavery. During the provisional governorship of the bishop D. Simão de Mascarenhas[479] (1623-4), Lopo Soares Laço meted out punishment to the Jagas Nzenza a ngombe and Bangu-Bangu, and to the irrepressible Kafuche.[480] A few years later, in 1631, the captain-major Antonio Bruto waged a successful war against rebellious sobas, and more especially impressed the natives by his victory over the dreaded Mbuila anduwa (Ambuila Dua), who held out for six months in a rocky stronghold deemed impregnable. The invasion of Kongo, in 1622, by order of Governor João Corrêa de Souza, who claimed the surrender of Luandu Island and of all the copper mines, has already been referred to (see p. 123).
Among the very few measures calculated to promote the material or moral interests of the colony may be mentioned the establishment of the three feiras, of Ndondo, Beja, and Lukamba, in 1625; the foundation of a Santa casa da misericordia (Poor-house and hospital) at S. Paulo de Luandu, by the bishop D. Simão de Mascarenhas; the compulsory cultivation of the banks of Mbengu (Bengo), when Luandu was threatened with famine owing to the non-arrival of provision ships from Brazil, in 1629;[481] the reform of the administration of the Royal revenue, by Fernão de Souza, in the same year; and the creation of a board of revenue (Junta da fazenda), charged with the collection of the tithes and of the tribute payable by the native chiefs, by Francisco de Vasconcellos da Cunha, in 1638.
The affairs of the missions will be dealt with subsequently, in a comprehensive manner, but a difficulty which arose in 1623 between the Governor, João Corrêa de Souza, and the Jesuits, may be dealt mentioned at once. In 1619, Gaspar Alvares,[482] a wealthy merchant of Luandu, placed 20,000 cruzados at the service of the Fathers, in order that they might found a seminary[483] for the education of twelve natives. Subsequently he himself became a member of the Society of Loyola, and devoted the whole of his fortune, amounting to 400,000 cruzados, to its purposes. The Governor not unnaturally objected to this sudden enrichment of a Society which had always been a thorn in the side of the government. Alvares himself escaped to S. Salvador, but the Prefect of the Jesuits and three Fathers were sent as prisoners to Lisbon, where they were at once liberated; whilst the Governor himself, who arrived soon afterwards, perhaps with the intention of justifying his hasty proceedings, was thrown into prison, and died in the limoeiro in 1626.
The Dutch in Angola.
When Philip of Spain seized upon the crown of Portugal in 1580, that unfortunate country became at once involved in the troubles between Spain and the United Netherlands. No sooner had the destruction of the Armada, in 1588, enabled the Dutch to take the offensive on sea, than they began to compete for a share in the trade of the Portuguese possessions. The Dutch at first kept on the defensive, but in 1598 they and the Portuguese came into hostile collision near the Ilha do Principe; and all efforts to exclude these noxious heretics from sharing in the trade of the Kongo proved futile, more especially as the natives themselves preferred their Dutch visitors to the masterful Portuguese.[484]
An armistice concluded in 1609 expired in 1621. The Dutch West-India Company was founded in that very year, and thenceforth the Dutch proceeded aggressively. In 1623 they burnt several patachos off the mouth of the Kwanza; in 1629 a Dutch squadron cruised during three months off the coast of Benguella and captured four Portuguese merchantmen, but failed to force their way into the harbour of Luandu. In 1633 two Dutch vessels menaced S. Felippe de Benguella, but were driven off by Lopo Soares Laço, after a stout fight, on November 15th. In 1637, Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos da Cunha, the Governor’s brother, captured a Dutch man-of-war of 24 guns. At that time the coast was being regularly patrolled by Portuguese men-of-war,[485] and in 1638 the foundations of the Fort S. Miguel were laid on the Morro de S. Paulo, the original site of the city of S. Paulo.
When Portugal recovered her independence, in December, 1640, D. João IV of Bragança at once sent Tristão de Mendoza Furtado to the Hague, with instructions to demand a suspension of hostilities. The West-India Company, which profited largely from a state of war, declared in favour of a definite treaty of peace, but objected to the conclusion of an armistice. The Portuguese envoy had no authority to sign such a treaty; but after protracted negotiations an armistice for ten years was signed on June 23rd, 1641, which was to take force outside Europe as soon as it became known there.
Meantime, the directors of the West-Indian Company had instructed Count John Moritz of Nassau to take advantage of the momentary weakness of Portugal, after her war of liberation, to seize all he could before the terms of the treaty became known.[486] Count Moritz, being desirous to increase the supply of slaves for the plantations in Brazil, determined to seize upon Luandu. A fleet of twenty-one vessels was at once fitted out at Pernambuco, and placed under the command of Cornelis Cornelissen Jol, surnamed Houtebeen, or “Wooden leg.” It was manned by nine hundred sailors, and had on board two thousand troops, commanded by Jeems Hindersen. This formidable armament left Pernambuco in June 30th, 1641, sighted Cabo Negro on August 5th, and having captured the Jesus Maria, on a voyage from Madeira, was by her piloted into the harbour of Luandu. On August 24th the Dutch fleet unexpectedly appeared off S. Paulo, surprising its inhabitants in the midst of their rejoicings at the accession of the “liberator king.” S. Paulo, at that time, was a city of twenty thousand inhabitants, including three thousand Portuguese; but the Governor, Pedro Cezar de Menezes, though he was at the head of nine hundred white troops, offered only a feeble resistance; and, accompanied by many of the citizens, he withdrew to the river Mbengu, and subsequently to Masanganu. The booty which fell into the hands of the Dutch included thirty ships and ninety-eight cannon.
They lost no time in gaining the goodwill of the neighbouring sobas, sent an embassy to the King of Kongo (see p. 125), and entertained offers of alliance from Queen Nzinga. Aki musanu (Aca mochana) and Nambu a ngongo (Nabo a ngongo), who had risen upon the Portuguese, were joined by one hundred and fifty Dutchmen, and thus enabled to overcome their enemies, whose leaders, André da Costa and João Vieira, they killed (1642).
In the following year (1643) information was received that the truce had been signed, but the Dutch director very naturally declined to surrender the town. He agreed, however, to suspend hostilities. Pedro Cezar had been instructed by his government to avail himself of the first opportunity to recover the city,[487] and it was evidently with a view to this eventuality that he established a camp on the river Mbengu. The Dutch suspected his treacherous design, and at dawn on May 26th, 1643, they surprised his force. Many Portuguese were killed (including Antonio Bruto), while Pedro Cezar himself, Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos da Cunha, and one hundred and eighty seven soldiers were taken prisoner. The remainder escaped to Masanganu. The forces assembled there under the captain-major, Antonio de Miranda, were unable to retrieve this disaster, but the Governor, aided by friends, managed soon afterwards to escape.
But though unequal to meeting the Dutch in the field, the Portuguese were still able to enforce their authority upon the natives; and in 1645 Diogo Gomes de Morales led an expedition into Lubolo and Mbalundu (Bailundo), and reduced the kolombos of thirty “Jagas” to obedience.
In 1645, the Portuguese of Brazil, under the leadership of João Fernandez Vieira, rose upon their Dutch oppressors, and in the same year the Dutch occupied S. Felippe de Benguella. The garrison under Antonio Teixeira de Mendonça, the captain-major, and Antonio Gomez de Gouvea, an experienced sertanejo, or backwoodsman, retired northward along the coast. On reaching Kikombo Bay, on July 27th, 1645, they met there Francisco de Sotto-maior, just arrived from Rio de Janeiro with reinforcements. By advice of Gomez, the troops and stores were landed in Suto Bay, near Cabo ledo, and conducted by him in three detachments to Masanganu, without the Dutch becoming aware of their arrival. The Governor, Pedro Cezar de Menezes, returned by the same route to Rio, taking with him a cargo of slaves.
These reinforcements arrived just in time to be employed against Queen Nzinga. That lady had set a black and a white cock to fight each other, and the defeat of the white cock was looked upon by her as a favourable augury for venturing an attack upon Masanganu. But Gaspar Borges de Madureira fell upon her before her forces had been concentrated (January, 1646). She suffered a severe defeat, notwithstanding the presence of Dutch auxiliaries. Her sisters once more fell into the hands of the Portuguese. D. Engracia was strangled soon afterwards for an act of treachery, whilst D. Barbara was kept in honourable captivity until 1657.[488]
Meanwhile the Dutch had made preparations for an advance up the Kwanza. They had built Fort Mols at the mouth of the river, and another fort higher up. The Governor, Francisco de Sotto-maior, having died of fever in May, 1646, measures for a spirited defence were taken by the three captains-major, Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos da Cunha, Antonio Teixeira de Mendonça, and João Juzarte de Andrada. Muchima, which had been furiously assaulted by the Dutch, was relieved by Diogo Gomes de Morales. But in the following year the Portuguese suffered a reverse at Kawala (Caoalla), and Masanganu itself was threatened by the combined forces of Queen Nzinga, Kongo, and the Dutch.
However a saviour was at hand in this extremity. On August 12th, 1648, Salvador Corrêa de Sá Benevides,[489] with nineteen vessels, having on board nine hundred soldiers, cast anchor in the harbour of Luandu, and summoned the Dutch to surrender within forty-eight hours. On their refusal he landed his troops, and after a short bombardment of Fort S. Miguel, to which the Dutch had withdrawn, early on August 15th he delivered an assault, which cost him one hundred and sixty three men, but led to the surrender of a garrison numbering one thousand one hundred men, including French and German mercenaries. When these prisoners had been joined by the three hundred Dutchmen who were with Queen Nzinga, and the garrison of Benguella, which surrendered without a blow, they were shipped off to Europe. The city, in memory of the event, assumed the name of “S. Paulo da Assumpção de Loanda,” for it was on the Day of Ascension of the Virgin Mary that a seven years’ captivity ended. The anniversary of that event is celebrated to the present day by a religious procession.
Restoration of Portuguese Authority.
No time was lost in restoring the authority of Portugal throughout the colony. The King of Kongo was compelled to accept a treaty by which Luandu Island and the whole of the country to the south of the Dande river were unconditionally surrendered, and other advantages held out (p. 128). Queen Nzinga, although she declined the overtures of Captain Ruy Pegado[490] for a formal treaty, retired inland, and gave no trouble for a number of years. As to the sobas of Lamba, Kisama, Lubolo, and the Modiku islands, they were visited by punitive expeditions commanded by Antonio Teixeira de Moraes, Diogo Mendes de Morales, Vicente Pegado de Pontes, and Francisco de Aguiar.
Order having been restored, the Governor, Salvador Corrêa de Sá, caused the ruined buildings to be repaired, and granted crownland to the inhabitants for houses and gardens. In a very short time prosperity returned, and the trade of Luandu was as flourishing as ever it had been.[491]
But although the Portuguese were masters on shore, the Dutch, and occasionally also French or English “pirates” frequented the coast. In 1650 Alvaro d’Aguiar defeated five of these interlopers, who had made prizes of two ships on a voyage from Brazil; in 1651 João Duque was killed in an action with Dutch men-of-war; in 1652 João de Araujo drove away the Dutch from Mpinda and Luangu; in 1658 the same officer made a prize of a English slaver off Benguella. A second English slaver was captured in 1659 by João Cardoso, who also captured a Dutch vessel off the Kongo in 1661. In 1662 the definite treaty of peace between Portugal and Holland was signed, and “pirates” are no longer heard of; although Dutch vessels provided with passes, or favoured by the Governors, seem to have been admitted to Portuguese ports.
Queen Nzinga and Her Successors.
Queen Nzinga, after the return of her General from a raid on the territory of Mbuila (Imbuille), in 1655, whence he brought a miraculous crucifix, felt troubled in her conscience; and on consulting the spirits of five of her ancestors (see p. 166), she learned, to her no small terror, that they were suffering eternal torments, which she could only escape by once more embracing the Christian faith, and seeking the friendship of the Portuguese.[492] Upon this advice she acted. The negotiations for a treaty were conducted by Captain Manuel Freis Peixoto and the Capuchin friar Antonio of Gaeta, who came to her Court for that purpose in 1657. Her sister, D. Barbara, was restored to her on payment of a ransom of two hundred slaves,[493] and the river Lukala was thenceforth to form the boundary between the Queen’s dominions and those of the Portuguese. No tribute was to be paid by her. Friar Antonio had the honour of once more baptising this ancient lady, then seventy-five years of age, and also of marrying her, legitimately, to a slave-youth, Don Salvatore; while her sister, D. Barbara, allied herself unto D. Antonio Carrasco Nzinga a mona, a foster-brother of the Queen, and the General-in-Chief of her armies. A church, S. Maria de Matamba, was specially built for these interesting ceremonies. This remarkable woman died on December 17th, 1663, after Father Cavazzi had administered to her the last consolations of religion, and was buried in the church of St. Anna, which had been built within the precincts of the Royal palace.
When D. Barbara died, on March 24th, 1666, her husband, D. Antonio Carrasco Nzinga a mona, killed the legitimate heir, D. João Guterres Ngola kanini, and usurped the throne, but was himself slain in a battle against D. Francisco Guterres Ngola kanini, in 1680. The conqueror then attacked the allies of the Portuguese, robbed the pumbeiros, and beheaded the Jaga Kasanji (1682).[494] Luiz Lopez de Sequeira at once took the field against him with five hundred and thirty infantry, thirty-seven horse, and ten thousand empacaceiros, and defeated him at Katole, a place within three days of the Royal kabasa. The King himself lost his life, but so did the leader of the Portuguese[495] and Vasco de Mello da Cunha. João Antonio de Brito, who took the command after his leader’s death, remained encamped for thirty days on the site of the battle; and finding that the enemies did not return, retired to Mbaka; from which we may judge that the Portuguese, too, suffered heavy losses. D. Veronica (or Victoria) Guterres, the sister of the late King, sued for peace, which was readily granted. Fresh complications threatened in 1689, when the Queen was charged—falsely, it appears—with having stirred up the soba Kahenda to rebel against his Portuguese masters; but matters were arranged through the intervention of bishop D. João Franco de Oliveira. No further trouble seems to have occurred with the successors of Queen Nzinga until 1744, when the Queen[496] provoked a war by killing a white trader and robbing pumbeiros: the result of which was the capture of her capital by Bartholomeu Duarte de Sequeira, and the cession of the Kinalunga Islands to Portugal.[497]
The Last of the Kings of Ndongo, 1671.
We have seen that D. João de Souza Ngola ari had been installed as the first King of Ndongo, recognised by the Portuguese (see p. 164), about 1627, and had been succeeded by D. Filippe de Souza, who died in 1660, and by João II. The hope that this tributary would prove a staunch ally of the Portuguese was not to be realised, for immediately after the disastrous campaign against Sonyo (see p. 131), in 1670, D. João Ngola ari raised the standard of rebellion, and invaded the district of Mbaka. The Governor, Francisco de Tavora,[498] a future Viceroy of India, who on account of his youth (he was only 23 years of age) and supposed prudence had been nick-named o menino prudente, despatched his captain-major, Luiz Lopes de Sequeira, to reduce the rebel to obedience. Ngola ari met with a defeat on the river Luchilu, close to the Pedras of Pungu a ndongo, which were considered impregnable. Yet, on a dark night, on November 18th, 1671, Manuel Cortes, the leader of the guerra preta, surprised this rocky stronghold. The King himself was taken, and beheaded as a traitor. Thenceforth there was no further need for punitive expeditions on a large scale.[499]
Relations with Kongo.
No sooner had the Portuguese regained possession of S. Paulo than the King of Kongo was called to account for having sided with the Dutch and favoured the operations of “foreign” Capuchins. A threatened invasion of his kingdom (1649) speedily led to the conclusion of a treaty of peace (see p. 126). But as the supposed gold and silver mines were not ceded, as promised, the Portuguese once more invaded the country, and in the bloody battle of Ulanga, in 1666, the King lost his life and crown (p. 129). From that time to the close of the century anarchy reigned in Kongo. The disastrous expedition against Sonyo in 1670 (see p. 131) was partly undertaken in order to support one of the many rival kings of that period.
Minor Punitive Expeditions, 1658-95.
João Fernandes Vieira, who had gained fame as the leader of the Portuguese patriots in Brazil, where the capture of Pernambuco had won him the surname of o hero de nossa edade, arrived as Governor on April 18th, 1658, and before the close of the year, a serious rebellion broke out in Upper Ngulungu. The captain-major, Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos, took the field, and compelled Ngolome a kayitu (Golome Acaita), to surrender his rocky stronghold after a siege of four months; Tanga a ngongo submitted quietly, but Kiluanji kia kanga (Quiloange Acango), faced the Portuguese four times, and then retired inland without yielding submission.
A second expedition, in the same year, traversed the districts to the south of the Kwanza.[500] It started from Masanganu, and having crossed the Kwanza into Hako was joined by Ngunza mbambe;[501] it entered the district of Kabeza, where the Jaga of Rimba brought further reinforcements. Jaga Ngonga ka anga, the chief of Nsela (Shella), on the river Kuvu, surrendered his capital, Kangunza, by the advice of his diviners, without striking a blow, and submitted to be baptised. The expedition then returned to Mbaka by way of the river Gango and Tamba; whilst Cavazzi, who accompanied it as chaplain, took a more direct road through Kabeza.
After the great victory over the King of Kongo in 1666 (see p. 130), a detachment under Antonio da Silva was sent into the territory of the Ndembu Mutemu Kingengo, whilst another, under Diogo Gomes Morales, raided the villages of Nambua nongo, these chiefs having aided the defeated King.
Kisama, at all times an unruly district, and even now virtually independent, though situated on the sea and within easy reach of Luandu, has repeatedly given trouble to the Portuguese. In 1672, the sobas of the district unsuccessfully assaulted the fort at Muchima. In 1686 they blockaded that fort, until relieved by João de Figueiredo e Souza. In 1689, the sobas Kimone kia sanga and Muchima interfered with the free navigation of the Kwanza, and were punished by the Portuguese leader just named; and in 1695, the rebellion of the soba Katala brought into the field the captain-major, Manuel de Magalhães Leitão.
A rebellion in Lubolo, in 1677, was suppressed by Luiz Lopez de Sequeira. The soba Ngunga mbambe was killed, and his allies, Sakeda, Ngola kitumba, and Ngola Kabuku, were severely punished.
Far more serious was an expedition which the Governor, Gonçalo da Costa de Alcaçova Carneiro de Menezes, despatched against the ndembu Mbuilu (Ambuilla), who had expelled the Portuguese residents, robbed the Pumbeiros, and burnt the church. João de Figueireda e Souza, a trusted officer, was given the command; and notwithstanding that the garrison of Masanganu mutinied and refused to join him, he mustered, on May 25th, 1682, a formidable force of six hundred musketeers, forty-two horse, and a guerra preta of forty thousand men, with two field guns. Unfortunately, he lost precious time by lingering two months at Kamolembe, where many of his people died; and when at last ready to start, he heard that Mbuila had been reinforced by two “armies” sent to his aid by King Manuel of Kongo[502] and Queen Nzinga, and lost his head. Fortunately for the Portuguese a stroke of paralysis carried off this pusillanimous leader, and his place was taken by Pascoal Rodrigues, a man of much energy, who marched straight upon the mbanza of Mbuilu, and there achieved a great victory. Mbuilu fled to his neighbour and ally Ndamba (Dambe). The number of prisoners taken was so great that it was feared they might endanger the safety of their captors, and they were mercilessly beheaded, a nephew of Mbuilu alone being sent a prisoner to Luandu.[503]
When Pascaol Rodrigues fell ill, the Governor appointed João Baptista de Maia to succeed him. The troops passed the rainy season in barracks. On the return of fine weather, Mbuilu was pursued into the territory of Ndamba and killed. The mbanzas and over one hundred and fifty libatas were burnt. The Ndembu Kabanda, a partisan of Mbuilu, was pursued by the sergeant-major, Lourenço de Barros Morim, and the leader of the guerra preta, Gonçalo Borges de Barros, and killed with many of his people. Another ndembu having been installed, and sworn allegiance to the King of Portugal, the army returned to Mbaka, and thence to Lembo near Masanganu. The victorious troops were refused admission into the latter, the garrison of which had mutinied. It was only after the Governor had promised a pardon to the offenders, with the exception of the leaders, that order was restored (1693).
Benguella.
S. Filippe de Benguella was founded in 1617 by Manuel Cerveira Pereira, and in 1661 its fortifications were rebuilt by Gaspar de Almeida Silva, whilst Manuel de Tovar Froes fought the neighbouring sobas. A further step in advance was taken in 1682, when the sergeant-major, Pedro da Silva, founded the presidio of Kakonda a velha, in the territory of the soba Bongo. Two years later, in 1684, this presidio was surprised by Bongo, and Manuel da Rocha Soares, its commandant, was killed. Carlos de Lacerda, who was despatched to avenge this outrage, being compelled to fall back before superior forces, João Bráz de Goes, the captain-major of Benguella, himself took the field. The Jaga, deserted by his people, sought refuge with Ngola njimbu (Golla Gimbo), but was pursued and captured,[504] and the present presidio was built eighty miles further inland (1685), in the territory of the soba Kitata. An attempt made by the soba of Huambo (Hiamba), in 1698, to expel the Portuguese was frustrated by Antonio de Faria, its commandant. A more formidable attack by the neighbouring sobas, in 1718, proved equally ineffectual. The Portuguese had thus gained an advanced post nearly one hundred and fifty miles from the coast, the possession of which opened up to them fresh sources for the supply of slaves, and contributed not a little to the growing prosperity of S. Filippe de Benguella.
Ecclesiastical Affairs.
The Jesuits were the earliest missionaries in Angola; but it would be in vain to look to them for any precise geographical or historical information, such as is furnished by members of the Society established in other parts of the world. They confined their activity to the seat of Government and its immediate vicinity, and Portuguese authors are severe upon their love of power and covetousness. Their relations with the Governors were on many occasions strained, but it cannot be asserted that the Jesuit Fathers were in every instance in the wrong.[505] As an illustration of their masterfulness, the following incident may serve. In 1661, the Governor, João Fernandez Vieira, very properly ordered that pigs, should no longer be allowed to run about the streets of the capital. The Jesuits did not deign to take the slightest notice of this order; and when several of their slaves were arrested for disregarding it, they protested against this exercise of authority, and actually excommunicated the Governor. But the Governor was not to be frightened. He reported the case to his King, D. Affonso VI, and the King in a Royal rescript of December 9th, 1666, severely reproved the Jesuits for their insolence; and threatened, in case of similar conduct, to deprive them of the crown lands, and to take other legal measures against them.
Franciscans (Tertiaries of the Order of St. Joseph) followed the Jesuits in 1604. Then came the Capuchins, for the most part Italians and Castilians, in 1651; and lastly barefooted Carmelites (Religiozos de S. Thereza). Of all these friars the Italian Capuchins alone appear to have done good work; and to members of their Order, and especially to Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi, of Montecuccoli, Antonio Laudati, of Gaeta, and Antonio Zucchelli, of Gradisco, we are indebted for much useful information regarding the people among whom they laboured. Many of the other friars seem to have been men whom their superiors in Europe were glad to part with; and the same may be said with reference to the secular clergy.
A report of the ecclesiastical affairs of Angola and Kongo, drawn up in 1694 by Gonçalo de Alcaçova Carneiro Carvalho da Costa de Menezes, by order of the Governor, presents us with a deplorable picture of the state of affairs in that year. Throughout the country there were only thirty-six friars[506] and twenty-nine secular clergy; and of these as many as twenty-nine had taken up their quarters in the capital. Of fifty churches and chapels, many were without priests, and had fallen into ruins. The village missions (missões das Sanzalas) had long been given up, and many baptised negroes had returned to the ancient superstitions. The author proposes the institution of a court of clerics, in order that all lapses of this kind might be punished in accordance with the “sacred canons.” A board of missions (Junta das missões), which had been created in 1693, and richly endowed,[507] allowed things to drift. Lopes de Lima[508] ascribes the failure of the Christian missions, first, to the small number of missionaries and priests; secondly, to the corruption of the clergy; and thirdly, to the slave-trade.
Measures of Administration.
João Fernandez Vieira must be credited with the first serious attempt to organise the military forces of the country (1660), by raising a regiment, or terço, of infantry, for Luandu, and a company for each presidio. These “regulars” were to be supported by the guerra preta, or empacaceiros. A company of cavalry was added to the regular troops in 1672; and the exemption from every kind of military service conferred upon the inhabitants of Luandu since 1660 was partly abolished in 1695, and orders given for the organisation of a terço of ordenanças (militia) for Luandu, and of seventeen companies for the districts and presidios. The fortifications of Luandu had been much improved since the expulsion of the Dutch. The fort of S. Miguel, at Luandu, which was begun in 1638, had been completed by D. João de Lencastre in 1689; and at the close of the century there existed forts, sufficiently strong to resist native attack, at Muchima, Masanganu, Kambambe, Pungu a ndonga, Mbaka, S. Filippe de Benguella, and Kakonda.
The only measure bearing upon the civil administration of the country seems to have been the publication of a Regimento for the guidance of officers of revenue and of justice, in 1675. At the same time, an extra export-duty of ten testões[509] was ordered to be paid on every slave, the proceeds to go towards the dowry of Queen Catherine, the consort of Charles II of England.
The introduction of copper coins (makutas) into Luandu, in 1624, caused much dissatisfaction, and actually led to a mutiny of the troops, who not unnaturally felt agrieved at being expected to accept 200 reis in copper as an equivalent of a native cloth, up to that time valued at 700 reis.[510] The mutiny was suppressed, and the five ringleaders were executed. In the interior of the country, the ancient currency remained in force, larger amounts being paid in merchandise (fazenda de lei), whilst smaller sums were paid in zimbos (njimbu) or cowries, libongos (mbongo, plural jimbongo), or square pieces of native cloth, or blocks of rock-salt.
The only attempt at geographical exploration was that of José de Roza, who left Masanganu in 1678, for the lower Zambezi, but turned back after only a few days’ journey, owing to the hostility of the natives.
At the end of the seventeenth century, Portugal held sway over a territory of over fifty thousand square miles; she maintained fortified posts far inland; her traders had penetrated as far as the upper Kwanza; and on the coast she held the prosperous cities of S. Paulo de Luandu and S. Filippe de Benguella. But this prosperity depended almost exclusively upon the slave trade. Scarcely any attempt had been made to develop the great natural resources of the country, and even the food of the inhabitants was still largely supplied by the Brazils. The colonists introduced included too large a criminal element; the Government officials were more intent upon realising large fortunes[511] than permanently benefiting the country they had been sent to rule; and even among the preachers of the gospel were men quite unfit to hold the office which they filled. And this deplorable state of affairs continued long beyond the period with which we have dealt. Lopes de Lima[512] calls D. Francisco Innocencio de Sousa Coutinho, who was appointed in 1764, the “first Governor who undertook to civilise this semi-barbarous colony; and who during his rule of eight years and a-half, did more in that sense than all his predecessors had ever thought of.” Up to his time, “Governors, captains, magistrates, men of the church and the cloister” were only intent upon dividing the spoils of office, and acted in the most scandalous manner.
