Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- ONE AFRICA NORTH OF THE EQUATOR
- TWO AFRICA SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
- THREE THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (1) FROM THE NORTH-EAST
- FOUR THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (2) FROM THE MAGHRIB
- FIVE WEST AFRICA BEFORE THE COLONIAL PERIOD, 1800–1875
- SIX WESTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1880
- SEVEN EASTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1884
- EIGHT SOUTHERN AFRICA, 1800–1885
- NINE THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON PAPER, 1879–1891
- TEN THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON THE GROUND, 1891–1901
- ELEVEN COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (1) POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS, 1885–1914
- TWELVE COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (2) SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS
- THIRTEEN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD, 1918–1938
- FOURTEEN NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA, 1900–1939
- FIFTEEN SOUTH AFRICA, 1902–1939
- SIXTEEN THE LAST YEARS OF COLONIAL RULE
- SEVENTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (1) NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA
- EIGHTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (2) AFRICA FROM THE SAHARA TO THE ZAMBEZI
- NINETEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (3) CENTRAL AFRICA
- TWENTY THE LONG ROAD TO DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
- TWENTY ONE THE POLITICS OF INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY TWO ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY IN INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY THREE INTO THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
- EPILOGUE
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Index
SIX - WESTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1880
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- ONE AFRICA NORTH OF THE EQUATOR
- TWO AFRICA SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
- THREE THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (1) FROM THE NORTH-EAST
- FOUR THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (2) FROM THE MAGHRIB
- FIVE WEST AFRICA BEFORE THE COLONIAL PERIOD, 1800–1875
- SIX WESTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1880
- SEVEN EASTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1884
- EIGHT SOUTHERN AFRICA, 1800–1885
- NINE THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON PAPER, 1879–1891
- TEN THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON THE GROUND, 1891–1901
- ELEVEN COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (1) POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS, 1885–1914
- TWELVE COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (2) SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS
- THIRTEEN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD, 1918–1938
- FOURTEEN NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA, 1900–1939
- FIFTEEN SOUTH AFRICA, 1902–1939
- SIXTEEN THE LAST YEARS OF COLONIAL RULE
- SEVENTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (1) NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA
- EIGHTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (2) AFRICA FROM THE SAHARA TO THE ZAMBEZI
- NINETEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (3) CENTRAL AFRICA
- TWENTY THE LONG ROAD TO DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
- TWENTY ONE THE POLITICS OF INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY TWO ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY IN INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY THREE INTO THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
- EPILOGUE
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Index
Summary
The region we call ‘Western Central Africa’ encompasses the region of the Congo forest and the light woodland country to the south of it. Today this area is occupied by Angola and the states of Congo (DR), Gabon, the People's Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. In terms of the older African states, it includes the area of the Luba–Lunda and the lower Congo kingdoms. The Portuguese were the most active external influence in this region, but not the only one. During the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century, the northernmost frontier of Angola was at the Loge River, and from here northwards to Mount Cameroun and up both sides of the Congo estuary, there was a kind of commercial no-man's land, the shore dotted with the trading factories of English, Dutch, American, French, and Spanish as well as Portuguese firms. During the second half of the nineteenth century, an even more important source of external influence was that of the Swahili Arabs and Nyamwezi from East Africa. Only during the colonial period was the region as a whole reconnected with its natural ports of exit on the Atlantic coast.
The Pombeiros and the Mwata Kazembe
During the early part of the century, Portuguese influence reached the interior by two main routes, one of which started in Luanda, the other in Benguela. The Luanda route was the older and, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, it led in a sense right across the continent.
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- Information
- Africa since 1800 , pp. 78 - 89Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005