period of English history, language and literature which preceded the
Norman Conquest. It goes back to the time of King Alfred, who seems
to have frequently used the title _rex Anglorum Saxonum_ or _rex
Angul-Saxonum_. The origin of this title is not quite clear. It is
generally believed to have arisen from the final union of the various
kingdoms under Alfred in 886. Bede (_Hist. Eccl._ i. 15) states
that the people of the more northern kingdoms (East Anglia, Mercia,
Northumbria, &c.) belonged to the Angli, while those of Essex, Sussex
and Wessex were sprung from the Saxons (_q.v._), and those of Kent
and southern Hampshire from the Jutes (_q.v._). Other early writers,
however, do not observe these distinctions, and neither in language
nor in custom do we find evidence of any appreciable differences
between the two former groups, though in custom Kent presents most
remarkable contrasts with the other kingdoms. Still more curious is
the fact that West Saxon writers regularly speak of their own nation
as a part of the _Angelcyn_ and of their language as _Englisc_, while
the West Saxon royal family claimed to be of the same stock as that
of Bernicia. On the other hand, it is by no means impossible that the
distinction drawn by Bede was based solely on the names Essex (East
Seaxan), East Anglia, &c. We need not doubt that the Angli and the
Saxons were different nations originally; but from the evidence at our
disposal it seems likely that they had practically coalesced in very
early times, perhaps even before the invasion. At all events the term
_Angli Saxones_ seems to have first come into use on the continent,
where we find it, nearly a century before Alfred's time, in the
writings of Paulus Diaconus (Paul the Deacon). There can be little
doubt, however, that there it was used to distinguish the Teutonic
inhabitants of Britain from the Old Saxons of the continent.
See W.H. Stevenson, _Asser's Life of King Alfred_ (Oxford, 1904,
pp. 148 ff.); H. Munro Chadwick, _The Origin of the English Nation_
(Cambridge, 1907); also BRITAIN, _Anglo-Saxon_.
(H.M.C.)
ANGOLA, the general name of the Portuguese possessions on the west
coast of Africa south of the equator. With the exception of the
enclave of Kabinda (_q.v._) the province lies wholly south of the
river Congo. Bounded on the W. by the Atlantic Ocean, it extends along
the coast from the southern bank of the Congo (6° S., 12° E.) to the
mouth of the Kunene river (17° 18' S., 11° 50' E.). The coast-line is
some 900 m. long. On the north the Congo forms for 80 m. the boundary
separating Angola from the Congo Free State. The frontier thence
(in 5° 52' S.) goes due east to the Kwango river. The eastern
boundary--dividing the Portuguese possessions from the Congo State and
Barotseland (N.W. Rhodesia)--is a highly irregular line. On the south
Angola borders German South-West Africa, the frontier being drawn
somewhat S. of the 17th degree of S. latitude. The area of the
province is about 480,000 sq. m. The population is estimated (1906) at
4,119,000.
The name Angola (a Portuguese corruption of the Bantu word _Ngola_)
is sometimes confined to the 105 m. of coast, with its hinterland,
between the mouths of the rivers Dande and Kwanza, forming the central
portion of the Portuguese dominions in West Africa; in a looser manner
Angola is used to designate all the western coast of Africa south
of the Congo in the possession of Portugal; but the name is now
officially applied to the whole of the province. Angola is divided
into five districts: four on the coast, the fifth, Lunda, wholly
inland, being the N.E. part of the province. Lunda is part of the
old Bantu kingdom of Muata Yanvo, divided by international agreement
between Portugal and the Congo Free State.
The coast divisions of Angola are Congo on the N. (from the river
Congo to the river Loje), corresponding roughly with the limits of
the "kingdom of Congo" (see _History_ below); Loanda, which includes
Angola in the most restricted sense mentioned above; Benguella
and Mossamedes to the south. Mossamedes is again divided into two
portions--the coast region and the hinterland, known as Huilla.
_Physical Features_.--The coast is for the most part flat, with
occasional low cliffs and bluffs of red sandstone. There is but one
deep inlet of the sea--Great Fish Bay (or Bahia dos Tigres), a little
north of the Portuguese-German frontier. Farther north are Port
Alexander, Little Fish Bay and Lobito Bay, while shallower bays are
numerous. Lobito Bay has water sufficient to allow large ships to
unload close inshore. The coast plain extends inland for a distance
varying from 30 to 100 m. This region is in general sparsely watered
and somewhat sterile. The approach to the great central plateau of
Africa is marked by a series of irregular terraces. This intermediate
mountain belt is covered with luxuriant vegetation. Water is fairly
abundant, though in the dry season obtainable only by digging in the
sandy beds of the rivers. The plateau has an altitude ranging from
4000 to 6000 ft. It consists of well-watered, wide, rolling plains,
and low hills with scanty vegetation. In the east the tableland falls
away to the basins of the Congo and Zambezi, to the south it merges
into a barren sandy desert. A large number of rivers make their way
westward to the sea; they rise, mostly, in the mountain belt, and are
unimportant, the only two of any size being the Kwanza and the Kunene,
separately noticed. The mountain chains which form the edge of the
plateau, or diversify its surface, run generally parallel to the
coast, as Tala Mugongo (4400 ft.), Chella and Vissecua (5250 ft. to
6500 ft.). In the district of Benguella are the highest points of the
province, viz. Loviti (7780 ft.), in 12° 5' S., and Mt. Elonga (7550
ft.). South of the Kwanza is the volcanic mountain Caculo-Cabaza (3300
ft.). From the tableland the Kwango and many other streams flow north
to join the Kasai (one of the largest affluents of the Congo), which
in its upper course forms for fully 300 m. the boundary between Angola
and the Congo State. In the south-east part of the province the rivers
belong either to the Zambezi system, or, like the Okavango, drain to
Lake Ngami.
_Geology_.--The rock formations of Angola are met with in three
distinct regions: (1) the littoral zone, (2) the median zone formed
by a series of hills more or less parallel with the coast, (3) the
central plateau. The central plateau consists of ancient crystalline
rocks with granites overlain by unfossiliferous sandstones and
conglomerates considered to be of Palaeozoic age. The outcrops are
largely hidden under laterite. The median zone is composed largely of
crystalline rocks with granites and some Palaeozoic unfossiliferous
rocks. The littoral zone contains the only fossiliferous strata. These
are of Tertiary and Cretaceous ages, the latter rocks resting on a
reddish sandstone of older date. The Cretaceous rocks of the Dombe
Grande region (near Benguella) are of Albian age and belong to the
_Acanthoceras mamillari_ zone. The beds containing _Schloenbachia
inflata_ are referable to the Gault. Rocks of Tertiary age are met
with at Dombe Grande, Mossamedes and near Loanda. The sandstones with
gypsum, copper and sulphur of Dombe are doubtfully considered to be
of Triassic age. Recent eruptive rocks, mainly basalts, form a line
of hills almost bare of vegetation between Benguella and Mossamedes.
Nepheline basalts and liparites occur at Dombe Grande. The presence
of gum copal in considerable quantities in the superficial rocks is
characteristic of certain regions.
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_Climate._--With the exception of the district of Mossamedes, the
coast plains are unsuited to Europeans. In the interior, above 3300
ft., the temperature and rainfall, together with malaria, decrease.
The plateau climate is healthy and invigorating. The mean annual
temperature at Sao Salvador do Congo is 72.5° F.; at Loanda, 74.3°;
and at Caconda, 67.2°. The climate is greatly influenced by the
prevailing winds, which arc W., S.W. and S.S.W. Two seasons are
distinguished--the cool, from June to September; and the rainy,
from October to May. The heaviest rainfall occurs in April, and is
accompanied by violent storms.
_Flora and Fauna._--Both flora and fauna are those characteristic of
the greater part of tropical Africa. As far south as Benguella the
coast region is rich in oil-palms and mangroves. In the northern part
of the province are dense forests. In the south towards the Kunene are
regions of dense thorn scrub. Rubber vines and trees are abundant, but
in some districts their number has been considerably reduced by the
ruthless methods adopted by native collectors of rubber. The species
most common are various root rubbers, notably the _Carpodinus
chylorrhiza._ This species and other varieties of carpodinus are very
widely distributed. Landolphias are also found. The coffee, cotton and
Guinea pepper plants are indigenous, and the tobacco plant flourishes
in several districts. Among the trees are several which yield
excellent timber, such as the tacula (_Pterocarpus tinctorius_), which
grows to an immense size, its wood being blood-red in colour, and the
Angola mahogany. The bark of the musuemba (_Albizzia coriaria_) is
largely used in the tanning of leather. The mulundo bears a fruit
about the size of a cricket ball covered with a hard green shell and
containing scarlet pips like a pomegranate. The fauna includes the
lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, rhinoceros, hippopotamus,
buffalo, zebra, kudu and many other kinds of antelope, wild pig,
ostrich and crocodile. Among fish are the barbel, bream and African
yellow fish.
_Inhabitants._--The great majority of the inhabitants are of
Bantu-Negro stock with some admixture in the Congo district with the
pure negro type. In the south-east are various tribes of Bushmen. The
best-known of the Bantu-Negro tribes are the Ba-Kongo (Ba-Fiot), who
dwell chiefly in the north, and the Abunda (Mbunda, Ba-Bundo), who
occupy the central part of the province, which takes its name from the
Ngola tribe of Abunda. Another of these tribes, the Bangala, living
on the west bank of the upper Kwango, must not be confounded with the
Bangala of the middle Congo. In the Abunda is a considerable strain of
Portuguese blood. The Ba-Lunda inhabit the Lunda district. Along the
upper Kunene and in other districts of the plateau are settlements of
Boers, the Boer population being about 2000. In the coast towns the
majority of the white inhabitants are Portuguese. The Mushi-Kongo
and other divisions of the Ba-Kongo retain curious traces of the
Christianity professed by them in the 16th and 17th centuries and
possibly later. Crucifixes are used as potent fetish charms or as
symbols of power passing down from chief to chief; whilst every native
has a "Santu" or Christian name and is dubbed dom or dona.
Fetishism is the prevailing religion throughout the province. The
dwelling-places of the natives are usually small huts of the simplest
construction, used chiefly as sleeping apartments; the day is spent in
an open space in front of the hut protected from the sun by a roof of
palm or other leaves.
_Chief Towns._--The chief towns are Sao Paulo de Loanda, the capital,
Kabinda, Benguella and Mossamedes (_q.v._). Lobito, a little north of
Benguella, is a town which dates from 1905 and owes its existence to
the bay of the same name having been chosen as the sea terminus of a
railway to the far interior. Noki is on the southern bank of the Congo
at the head of navigation from the sea, and close to the Congo Free
State frontier. It is available for ships of large tonnage, and
through it passes the Portuguese portion of the trade of the lower
Congo. Ambriz--the only seaport of consequence in the Congo district
of the province--is at the mouth of the Loje river, about 70 m. N.
of Loanda. Novo Redondo and Egito are small ports between Loanda and
Benguella. Port Alexander is in the district of Mossamedes and S. of
the town of that name.
In the interior Humpata, about 95 m. from Mossamedes, is the chief
centre of the Boer settlers; otherwise there are none but native towns
containing from 1000 to 3000 inhabitants and often enclosed by a ring
of sycamore trees. Ambaca and Malanje are the chief places in the
fertile agricultural district of the middle Kwanza, S.E. of Loanda,
with which they are in railway communication. Sao Salvador (pop. 1500)
is the name given by the Portuguese to Bonza Congo, the chief town
of the "kingdom of Congo." It stands 1840 ft. above sea-level and is
about 160 m. inland and 100 S.E. of the river port of Noki, in 6°
15' S. Of the cathedral and other stone buildings erected in the 16th
century, there exist but scanty ruins. The city walls were destroyed
in the closing years of the 19th century and the stone used to build
government offices. There is a fort, built about 1850, and a small
military force is at the disposal of the Portuguese resident. Bembe
and Encoje are smaller towns in the Congo district south of Sao
Salvador. Bihe, the capital of the plateau district of the same
name forming the hinterland of Benguella, is a large caravan centre.
Kangomba, the residence of the king of Bihe, is a large town. Caconda
is in the hill country S.E. of Benguella.
_Agriculture and Trade._--Angola is rich in both agricultural and
mineral resources. Amongst the cultivated products are mealies and
manioc, the sugar-cane and cotton, coffee and tobacco plants. The
chief exports are coffee, rubber, wax, palm kernels and palm-oil,
cattle and hides and dried or salt fish. Gold dust, cotton, ivory and
gum are also exported. The chief imports are food-stuffs, cotton and
woollen goods and hardware. Considerable quantities of coal come
from South Wales. Oxen, introduced from Europe and from South Africa,
flourish. There are sugar factories, where rum is also distilled and a
few other manufactures, but the prosperity of the province depends
on the "jungle" products obtained through the natives and from the
plantations owned by Portuguese and worked by indentured labour, the
labourers being generally "recruited" from the far interior. The trade
of the province, which had grown from about £800,000 in 1870 to
about £3,000,000 in 1905, is largely with Portugal and in Portuguese
bottoms. Between 1893 and 1904 the percentage of Portuguese as
compared with foreign goods entering the province increased from 43 to
201%, a result due to the preferential duties in force.
The minerals found include thick beds of copper at Bembe, and deposits
on the M'Brije and the Cuvo and in various places in the southern
part of the province; iron at Ociras (on the Lucalla affluent of the
Kwanza) and in Bailundo; petroleum and asphalt in Dande and Quinzao;
gold in Lombije and Cassinga; and mineral salt in Quissama. The native
blacksmiths are held in great repute.
_Communications._--There is a regular steamship communication between
Portugal, England and Germany, and Loanda, which port is within
sixteen days' steam of Lisbon. There is also a regular service between
Cape Town, Lobito and Lisbon and Southampton. The Portuguese line is
subsidized by the government. The railway from Loanda to Ambaca and
Malanje is known as the Royal Trans-African railway. It is of metre
gauge, was begun in 1887 and is some 300 m. long. It was intended to
carry the line across the continent to Mozambique, but when the line
reached Ambaca (225 m.) in 1894 that scheme was abandoned. The railway
had created a record in being the most expensive built in tropical
Africa--£8942 per mile. A railway from Lobito Bay, 25 m.N. of
Benguella, begun in 1904, runs towards the Congo-Rhodesia frontier. It
is of standard African gauge (3 ft. 6 in.) and is worked by an English
company. It is intended to serve the Katanga copper mines. Besides
these two main railways, there are other short lines linking the
seaports to their hinterland. Apart from the railways, communication
is by ancient caravan routes and by ox-wagon tracks in the southern
district. Riding-oxen are also used. The province is well supplied
with telegraphic communication and is connected with Europe by
submarine cables.
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_Government and Revenue._--The administration of the province is
carried on under a governor-general, resident at Loanda, who acts
under the direction of the ministry of the colonies at Lisbon. At the
head of each district is a local governor. Legislative powers, save
those delegated to the governor-general, are exercised by the home
government. Revenue is raised chiefly from customs, excise duties
and direct taxation. The revenue (in 1904-1905 about £350,000)
is generally insufficient to meet expenditure (in 1904-1905 over
£490,000)--the balance being met by a grant from the mother country.
Part of the extra expenditure is, however, on railways and other
reproductive works.
_History._--The Portuguese established themselves on the west coast
of Africa towards the close of the 15th century. The river Congo was
discovered by Diogo Cam or Cao in 1482. He erected a stone pillar at
the mouth of the river, which accordingly took the title of Rio de
Padrao, and established friendly relations with the natives, who
reported that the country was subject to a great monarch, Mwani Congo
or lord of Congo, resident at Bonza Congo. The Portuguese were not
long in making themselves influential in the country. Gonçalo de Sousa
was despatched on a formal embassy in 1490; and the first missionaries
entered the country in his train. The king was soon afterwards
baptized and Christianity was nominally established as the national
religion. In 1534 a cathedral was founded at Bonza Congo (renamed Sao
Salvador), and in 1560 the Jesuits arrived with Paulo Diaz de Novaes.
Of the prosperity of the country the Portuguese have left the most
glowing and indeed incredible accounts. It was, however, about this
time ravaged by cannibal invaders (Bangala) from the interior,
and Portuguese influence gradually declined. The attention of the
Portuguese was, moreover, now turned more particularly to the southern
districts of Angola. In 1627 the bishop's seat was removed to Sao
Paulo de Loanda and Sao Salvador declined in importance. In the 18th
century, in spite of hindrances from Holland and France, steps were
taken towards re-establishing Portuguese authority in the northern
regions; in 1758 a settlement was formed at Encoje; from 1784 to 1789
the Portuguese carried on a war against the natives of Mussolo (the
district immediately south of Ambriz); in 1791 they built a fort at
Quincollo on the Loje, and for a time they worked the mines of
Bembe. Until, however, the "scramble for Africa" began in 1884, they
possessed no fort or settlement on the coast to the north of Ambriz,
which was first occupied in 1855. At Sao Salvador, however, the
Portuguese continued to exercise influence. The last of the native
princes who had real authority was a potentate known as Dom Pedro
V. He was placed on the throne in 1855 with the help of a Portuguese
force, and reigned over thirty years. In 1888 a Portuguese resident
was stationed at Salvador, and the kings of Congo became pensioners of
the government.
Angola proper, and the whole coast-line of what now constitutes the
province of that name, was discovered by Diogo Cam during 1482 and
the three following years. The first governor sent to Angola was Paulo
Diaz, a grandson of Bartholomew Diaz, who reduced to submission the
region south of the Kwanza nearly as far as Benguella. The city of
Loanda was founded in 1576, Benguella in 1617. From that date the
sovereignty of Portugal over the coast-line, from its present southern
limit as far north as Ambriz (7° 50' S.) has been undisputed save
between 1640 and 1648, during which time the Dutch attempted to expel
the Portuguese and held possession of the ports. Whilst the economic
development of the country was not entirely neglected and many useful
food products were introduced, the prosperity of the province was
very largely dependent on the slave trade with Brazil, which was not
legally abolished until 1830 and in fact continued for many years
subsequently.
In 1884 Great Britain, which up to that time had steadily refused
to acknowledge that Portugal possessed territorial rights north of
Ambriz, concluded a treaty recognizing Portuguese sovereignty over
both banks of the lower Congo; but the treaty, meeting with opposition
in England and Germany, was not ratified. Agreements concluded with
the Congo Free State, Germany and France in 1885-1886 (modified in
details by subsequent arrangements) fixed the limits of the province,
except in the S.E., where the frontier between Barotseland (N.W.
Rhodesia) and Angola was determined by an Anglo-Portuguese agreement
of 1891 and the arbitration award of the king of Italy in 1905 (see
AFRICA: _History)_. Up to the end of the 19th century the hold of
Portugal over the interior of the province was slight, though its
influence extended to the Congo and Zambezi basins. The abolition of
the external slave trade proved very injurious to the trade of the
seaports, but from 1860 onward the agricultural resources of the
country were developed with increasing energy, a work in which
Brazilian merchants took the lead. After the definite partition of
Africa among the European powers, Portugal applied herself with some
seriousness to exploit Angola and her other African possessions.
Nevertheless, in comparison with its natural wealth the development
of the country has been slow. Slavery and the slave trade continued
to flourish in the interior in the early years of the 20th century,
despite the prohibitions of the Portuguese government. The extension
of authority over the inland tribes proceeded very slowly and was not
accomplished without occasional reverses. Thus in September 1904 a
Portuguese column lost over 300 men killed, including 114 Europeans,
in an encounter with the Kunahamas on the Kunene, not far from the
German frontier. The Kunahamas are a wild, raiding tribe and
were probably largely influenced by the revolt of their southern
neighbours, the Hereros, against the Germans. In 1905 and again in
1907 there was renewed fighting in the same region.
_AUTHORITIES._--E. de Vasconcellos, _As Colonias Portuguesas_ (Lisbon,
1896-1897); J.J. Monteiro, _Angola and the River Congo_ (2 vols.
London, 1875); Viscount de Paiva Manso, _Historia do Congo....
(Documentos_) (Lisbon, 1877); _A Report of the Kingdom of Congo_
(London, 1881), an English translation, with notes by Margarite
Hutchinson, of Filippo Pigafetta's _Relatione del Reame di Congo_
(Rome, 1591), a book founded on the statements and writings of
Duarte Lopez; Rev. Thos. Lewis, "The Ancient Kingdom of Kongo" in
_Geographical Journal,_ vol. xix. and vol. xxxi. (London, 1902 and
1908); _The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell of Leigh in Angola
and the Adjoining Regions_ (London, 1901), a volume of the Hakluyt
Society, edited by E.G. Ravenstein, who gives in appendices the
history of the country from its discovery to the end of the 17th
century; J.C. Feo Cardozo, _Memorias contendo ... a historia dos
governadores e capitaens generaes de Angola, desde 1575 até 1825_
(Paris, 1825); H.W. Nevinson, _A Modern Slavery_ (London, 1906), an
examination of the system of indentured labour and its recruitment;
_Ornithologie d'Angola_, by J.V. Barboza du Bocage (Lisbon, 1881);
"Géologie des Colonies portugaises en Afrique," by P. Choffat, in
_Com. d. service géol. du Portugal._ See also the annual reports on
the _Trade of Angola,_ issued by the British Foreign Office.