Neto, Maria da Conceição (2012) In Town and Out of Town: A Social History of Huambo (Angola), 1902‐1961. PhD Thesis, SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/13822 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. In Town and Out of Town: A Social History of Huambo (Angola) 1902-1961 MARIA NETO Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in History 2012 Department of History School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 2 Abstract This thesis is a history of the Angolan city of Huambo from 1902 to 1961. It is about social change, focusing mainly on people excluded from citizenship by Portuguese colonial laws: the so-called 'natives', whose activities greatly shaped the economic and social life of the city and changed their own lives in the process. Their experiences in coping with and responding to the economic, social and political constraints of the colonial situation were reconstructed from archival documents, newspapers and bibliographical sources, complemented by a few interviews. The early twentieth century witnessed far-reaching events in the central highlands of Angola, where Governor Norton de Matos founded the city of Huambo in 1912: the conquest of the Wambu kingdom, the advance of Christian missions, the Portuguese policy of white settlement and the construction of the Benguela Railway heading towards the Belgian Congo. These processes together made Huambo an important trading, administrative and religious centre. Rural-urban interactions are central to this research, since the economy relied almost entirely on peasant production. Trade and transportation were the main activities of Portuguese settlers throughout the period, with only marginal investments in industry. Religion was another crucial factor in the social history of Huambo's (Angola's most Christianized district by 1960), so the articulation of Christianity, urbanization and social change is analysed, with a focus on the Catholic Missionaries of the Holy Ghost. Renamed Nova Lisboa in 1928, the city supposedly stood as an example of a 'European' town, although blacks living and working in and around it outnumbered whites. The intended racial segregation was never totally achieved: European petty merchants lived in the outskirts and people of all colours shared modest peripheral neighbourhoods. However, racial distinction was firmly established in Angola through the Native Statute, a legal barrier blocking the upward social mobility of non-whites except for a tiny minority able to secure 'citizenship' rights. The abolition of the statute in 1961 marked a new period in Angola's and in Huambo's colonial history, not covered by this research. 3 Contents List of Illustrations 6 List of Abbreviations 7 Glossary 8 Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 13 Chapter 1. Angola's central plateau before the colonial conquest 34 The place and the people 35 The remote past 40 Warfare and slave trade 47 The delayed and elusive abolition of slavery 60 Great caravans, great kings: a 'golden age'? 64 Wambu in the nineteenth century 70 Colonial military advances 74 The 1902-1904 war 77 Conclusion 80 Chapter 2. Huambo: A city is born 82 Portuguese imperial expansion and colonial politics (1880 to c. 1920) 83 From rubber traders to maize exporters 94 The meaning of defeat 102 Becoming 'natives' 110 The railway and the foundation of Cidade do Huambo 121 Conclusion 137 Chapter 3. Town and countryside: the first thirty years 140 Republicans, High Commissioners and Salazarism 141 From Cidade do Huambo to Nova Lisboa 148 The Native Statute 156 Working in town, out of town and beyond 166 Conclusion 176 4 Chapter 4. Christians in town 178 The Catholic Church: from privilege to marginalization and to privilege again 179 What did Christian faith 'overcome'? 187 Vakwasikola: 'People of the School' 195 Kanye: 'The Mission is ours' 207 The forging of an elite and the difficult emergence of an African clergy 216 Faith, social control and cultural change. 229 Conclusion 238 Chapter 5. Townspeople but not citizens, c.1945-1961 241 Resisting the winds of change 242 Peasants, workers and many others 246 Shifting limits: town, suburbs and villages 256 Law and order 265 Looking for a way out 279 Conclusion 288 Conclusion 290 Sources and Bibliography 295 Annexes 341 5 List of Illustrations Maps Map 1. The central plateau of Angola. 342 Map 2. Political divisions and historical dates. 343 Map 3. Samisasa, the last independent capital of Wambu. 344 Map 4. The network of the Catholic missions in the 1930s. 345 Map 5. Huambo: the first plan of the city (1912). 346 Map 6. Huambo: detail from the 1947 urban plan. 346 Map 7. Huambo and neighbouring areas (1953). 347 Figures Figure 1. Catechists from the Huambo (Kwando) mission, 1928. 348 Figure 2. Women from Huambo (Kwando) mission, 1949. 348 Figure 3. The Municipal Council in the late 1920s. 349 Figure 4. A future avenue in the 1920s. 349 Figure 5. Aspect of the city in the late 1950s. 350 Figure 6. Another aspect of the city in the late 1950s. 350 Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10. Pages from a Caderneta indígena. 351 Figure 11. Bilhete de identidade. 352 Tables Table 1. Population growth in Huambo Posto Sede 1933-1940. 153 Table 2. The four main Angolan cities in 1940. 153 Table 3. Huambo: Religion among 'non civilized' population. 209 6 List of Abbreviations ACSSp - Spiritan Archives: Archives générales spiritaines, Chevilly-Larue (Paris). ACSSp-Lisbon - Spiritan archives in Portugal (Lisbon). AGC - Agência Geral das Colónias AHM - Arquivo Histórico Militar (Lisbon) AHU - Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Lisbon) AHU/MU/GM/GNP - Fundo Ministério do Ultramar, Secção Gabinete do Ministro, Sub- Secção Gabinete dos Negócios Políticos. ANA - Arquivo Nacional de Angola (Luanda) ANTT - Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais - Torre do Tombo (Lisbon) BAGC - Boletim da Agência Geral das Colónias BAGC - Boletim da Agência Geral das Colónias/do Ultramar BO - Boletim Oficial da Província de Angola BSGL - Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa CCFB - Companhia do Caminho-de-Ferro de Benguela: The Benguela Railways Company. CEAUP - Centro de Estudos Africanos da Universidade do Porto CEHCA - Centro de Estudos de História e Cartografia Antiga (Lisbon) CEHCA/IICT - Centro de Estudos de História e Cartografia Antiga/Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical. CFB - Caminho-de-Ferro de Benguela: Benguela Railway. CGD/BNU - Fundo Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Arquivo Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Lisbon) CJAS - Canadian Journal of African Studies CNCDP - Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses IICT - Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (Lisbon) IJAHS - International Journal of African Historical Studies ILO - International Labour Organization IPAD/MU - Instituto Português de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento. Centro de Documentação. Fundo Ministério do Ultramar. JACS - Journal of African Cultural Studies JAH - Journal of African History JSAS - Journal of Southern African Studies MPLA - Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola PO – Provincial Ordinance (Portaria Provincial) SOAS-SC - SOAS Special Collections: Missionary Archives (London). UNITA - União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola 7 Glossary of Umbundu and Portuguese terms (Terms used only once are not included here but explained in the text. Umbundu words are signalled.) Administrador - Administrator in charge of a Circunscrição or Concelho, subdivided into Postos. It was a position of responsibility in the colonial administration, below Governor-General (Governador-Geral), District or Provincial Governor and District Intendente. Angariador (also engajador) - travelling labour recruiter, authorized by the colonial state to recruit so-called 'natives' for working in plantations, fisheries, mines and so on. Angolar - Angola's official currency between August 1928 and December 1958, when it became the escudo again. Assimilado - loosely meaning any African who adopted many aspects of European culture, it was also used as synonymous with civilizado (civilized), the legal term to refer to black and mixed-race people who were not under the Native Statute, being not 'natives' but 'Portuguese citizens'. Bilhete de identidade - Portuguese identification document extended in the colonies to the so-called 'civilized' who in principle enjoyed the same rights as white Portuguese citizens. Caderneta indígena - identification document for so-called 'natives'. Beginning as a working pass (certificado de trabalho) in 1913, in time it included the registering of taxes, workplaces, travel and so on. It lasted until the abolition of the Native Statute in 1961. Capitania-Mor - political and military administrative subdivision of the colony, before civilian administration in the twentieth century replaced it with 'circunscrição' or 'concelho'. Capitão-mor - captain-major, the official in charge of a capitania-mor.