Black Chiefs, White Traders and Colonial Policy near the Kwanza: Kabuku Kambilo and the Portuguese, 1873–1896

Abstract

Some effects of the expansion in European commerce and of developments in colonial policy in Angola are explored through a study of the relationship of the black chief Kabuku Kambio with the Portuguese during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. By the 1870s the growth of ‘legitimate’ trade along the rivers Lukala and Kwanza was attracting the settlement of an increasing number of European colonists and traders. in theconcelhoof Cambambe thefeiraof Dondo, situated on the right bank of the Kwanza, briefly became the most important commercial centre of the interior. In these years much of the trade flowing between Dondo and other points was regulated by Kabuku, ruler of the largest and most powerful chiefdom, orsobado, in the conceiho. Kabuku's aggressive attempts to extend his dynastic authority and to profit from the increasing volume of trade entering theconcelhoinvolved him in a series of violent conflicts with rival chiefs and with European settlers. At first the extension of his power was facilitated by the military and administrative weakness of the Portuguese. By the mid-i880s however a more vigorous colonial policy, supporting the expansion of Portuguese power and commercial interests in the interior of Angola caused Kabuku's power to wane. After 1890 he succumbed to the pressure of white political and economic dominance in the Kwanza region. Following Kabuku's death thesobadoitself may have suffered extinction through an outbreak of sleeping sickness around 1900.