Luchazi People

Native tax and forced labour system in the colony of Angola The change or shift from slave-based economies was a complex process that extended far beyond formal abolition. The cost of military operations to secure economically strategic points led in 1856 to the imposition of imposto cubata (hut tax) on all Africans, which for the first time had to be paid with currency or trade goods rather than with slaves. By 1861 the Portuguese lacked the resources for continued military expansion or economic development, and most of the interior remained in the control of African traders and warriors. In 1906 the Portuguese introduced a systematic taxation of all Africans in the colony of Angola, and in 1919 the colonial government replaced the hut tax with the imposto indígena (native tax). After abolishing slavery, Portugal still needed a supply of labour. The primary mechanism used to achieve this was the imposto indígena (native tax), a head tax requiring payment in Portuguese currency. Thi...

Slave trade in Portuguese colony of Angola Although the Portuguese authorities in Lisbon initially sent to Angola teachers to educate and priests to proselytize, Portugal eventually came to view the territory mainly as a source for slaves, especially for Brazil, its colony across the Atlantic Ocean. According to historian C.R. Boxer, African slaves were more valued in the Americas than were American Indian slaves because Africans tended to adjust more easily to slavery and because they were less vulnerable to the diseases of Europeans. Boxer also suggests that Jesuits in the New World opposed the notion of using Indians as slaves, whereas they were less resistant to the use of Africans as slaves. Many of these African slaves were sent to Spanish colonies, where they brought a higher price than they would have if sold in Brazil. In 1570s the Portuguese conquistadores launched slave raids in Angola after the Kongo wars had been quelled. The Portuguese expected conquered tribes and their ...