As you travel around Africa, have you ever wondered about the name of the second largest city of Angola, Huambo ?
Previously called Nova Lisboa (New Lisbon) after the capital of Portugal, Huambogot its name from Wambu, one of the 14 old Ovimbundu kingdoms of the central Angolan plateau. The Ovimbundu, an old tribe of Angola, which originally arrived from Eastern Africa, had founded their central kingdom of Bailundu as early as the 15th century. Wambuwas one of the smaller kingdoms and was hierarchically under the King of Bailundu, though it enjoyed, as the other kingdoms, a considerable degree of independence.
The House of the Governor in Huambo (Source: Wikipedia)
Situated in the Angolan central highlands, Huambois located near the headwaters of the Kunene River. It was founded in 1912 by Portuguese colons and was called Nova Lisboa until 1975, when it resumed its name of Huambo. It is located 600 km southeast of the capital Luanda, and 220 km east of Benguela; it is at high altitude, on a plateau 1800 m above sea level. Huambo is a main hub on the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela (CFB) (the Benguela Railway), which runs from the port of Lobito in Angola, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo‘s southernmost province, Katanga. It is the second industrial city of the country, and a big agricultural center.
If you ever visit Huambo, as you tour its neighborhoods, and get on the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela, remember that it was once an old Ovimbundu kingdom, Wambu, and reconnect with the feel of this ancient kingdom!
Sculpture of Queen Mary in Copenhagen (Source: NY Times – Nick Furbo)
If you are like me, you probably did not know that Denmark (and Norway) was involved in slavery in Africa, and that Denmark had several colonies, and forts in Africa, and exported slaves to its colonies in the Americas. Just last week, Denmark erected its first public statue of a Black woman, a rebel Queen, in Copenhagen; this was the statue of Queen Mary, a Black slave who led the slave uprising in the Virgin islands. The sculpture was inspired by Mary Thomas, known as one of “the three queens.” Thomas , along with two other female leaders Agnes and Matilda, unleashed an uprising in 1878 called the “Fireburn.” Fifty plantations and most of the town of Frederiksted in St. Croix were burned, in what has been called the largest labor revolt in Danish colonial history.
Fort Christiansborg (now Osu Castle in Ghana)
Denmark was one of the Signatory Powers to the Berlin Act of26th February, 1885 (No. 17), as well as to the Brussels Act of 2nd July, 1890 (No. 18); she has also entered into Treaty Arrangements with the Congo Free State (No. 45).
By a Convention dated 17th August, 1850, ‘the Danish forts and Possessions on the Gold Coast were ceded to Her Britannic Majesty for the sum of £10,000.
The following are extracts from that Convention:—
Preamble.
“ HIS Majesty the King of Denmark having offered to cede to Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland all the forts and Possessions belonging to the Crown of Denmark, situated on that part of the coast of Africa which is called the Gold Coast, or the Coast of Guinea, and Her Britannic Majesty having resolved to accept that offer, their said Majesties have named as their Plenipotentiaries to conclude a Convention for carrying such cession into effect, that is to say :”
[Here follow the names of the Plenipotentiaries.]
Cession of Danish Forts and Territorial Rights on the Gold Coast, or Coast of Guinea.
Fort Kongensteeen
“ART. I. In consideration of the sum of£10,000sterling, to be paid by Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to His Majesty the King of Denmark, on the exchange of the Ratifications of the present Convention,+‘
Fort Prindsensteen
His Danish Majesty cedes to Her Britannic Majesty, to be possessed by Her Britannic Majesty, her heirs and successors, in full property and Sovereignty, all the forts belonging to the Crown of Denmark, which are situated on that part of the Coast of Africa called the Gold Coast or the Coast of Guinea, and which comprise Fort Christiansborg,1Fort Augustaborg,2Fort Fredensborg,3 Fort Kongensteen,4 and Fort Prindsensteen,5 with their appurtenances and all the guns and stores contained therein, together with all other Possessions, property, and territorial rights whatever belonging to His Danish Majesty on the said coast.” The exact extent of the Possessions thus ceded was not at that time clearly defined; but, on the9th May, l887, the Kings and Chiefs of the country of Aquamoo signed a Declaration acknowledging that they and their country formed part of the Protectorate of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland on the Gold Coast, and that they were subject to the jurisdiction and authority of Her Majesty, and declaring that they had that belief inasmuch as their country of old enjoyed similar protection from His Majesty the King of Denmark, who, they said, they understood had ceded his right and title to their country to the British Crown in1850.
Fort Augustaborg
On the1st July, 1890, an Agreement was entered into between Great Britain and Germany, for defining their respective spheres of influence on the Gold Coast and in other parts of Africa (No. 129); and on the14th April, l893, a further agreement was entered into between the two countries for defining the limits of their respective spheres from the Gulf of Guinea into the Interior (No. 131).
A crown from the Maqdala exhibition at the V&A in south-west London. (Source: V&A Museum)
I was stunned by the title of this article on the Guardian, and the preposterous thought that a country whose treasure it is, Ethiopia, would have to be loaned its own treasures which were looted by the British and taken to Great Britain. It is just so outrageous that such a thought could even be uttered! Below are snippets of the article. For the full article, go to The Guardian.
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” Victoria and Albert Museum director says artefacts could be sent to Africa on long-term loan.
Treasures including a gold crown and a royal wedding dress, which were taken from Ethiopia by the British 150 years ago, could be returned to Africa by the Victoria and Albert Museumon long-term loan.
Emperor Tewodros II
Ethiopialodged a formal restitution claim in 2007 for hundreds of important and beautiful manuscripts and artefacts being held by various British institutions, all plundered after the 1868 capture of Maqdala, the mountain capital of Emperor Tewodros II in what was then Abyssinia.
That request has been refused. But in the run-up to a Maqdala display opening this week at the V&A, a compromise has been offered bythe museum’s director, Tristram Hunt, who said: “The speediest way, if Ethiopia wanted to have these items on display, is a long-term loan … that would be the easiest way to manage it.”…
British Camp at Zoola, Abyssinia expedition 1868-9 (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
They have never been on public display because of their religious importance and can only be seen, even by a curator, with the agreement of the Ethiopian Orthodox church.
Other objects are on display but the British Museum argues the value of them being seen by the public is in a global context. A spokeswoman said the museum would consider any loan request from Ethiopia.
Below is the notification by Alfred-Amédée Dodds from the French Republic stating that the Kingdom of Dahomey is now under the Protectorate of the French Republic, with the exception of Whydah and certain other territories, which were declared by a French Notification issued on the 3rd December, 1892, to be annexed to France.
The following is a Translation of that Notification :—
(Translation)
le general Alfred-Amedee Dodds
“In the name of the French Republic:
“We, Brigadier-General, Commander-in-Chief of the French Settlements of Benin, Knight Commander of the Legion of Honour.
“In virtue of the powers conferred upon us,
“We declare :
“That KingBéhanzinAhy-Djerehas been deposed from the throne ofDahomey, and has been banished for ever from this country.
Behanzin, the Last King of independent Dahomey
“That the Kingdom ofDahomeyis, and remains, placed under the exclusive Protectorate of France, with the exception of the Territories of Whydah, Savi, Avlékété, Godomey, and Abomey-Kalavy, which constituted the ancient Kingdoms of Ajuda and Jacquin, which are annexed to the Possessions of the French Republic. The limits of the annexed Territories are: to the west, the River Aheme; to the north and to the east, the River Savi and the north-east frontiers of the Territory of Abomey-Kalavy; to the south, the AtlanticOcean.”
Here are the words of the Scottish explorer Mungo Park in 1795 about the great city of Timbuktu, and its central place in the gold trade in Africa, and the world at the time.
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“Timbuktu is regarded as the gold warehouse of theManding. It is where the merchants of Tunis, Tripoli, Fez, Morocco, come to take it [gold] to distribute it in the whole North of Africa. The biggest part of this gold then moves on the Europe. One can observe that the Gold Coast ofGuinea, which is thus called only because the trade of the gold dust is done there, is located towards the Manding: but I don’t know if the gold found there was brought from the mountains, through the rivers of the north or those of the south. Maybe through all ; because part of the gold of theWangarais being sold on the south coast.”
The world celebrates men. Men can be ambitious, they can work to liberate their countries, they can be revolutionaries, and lead people. No one is against that. The world applauds these men. But when women fight for the liberation of their countries, they are vilified; they are called all sorts of names. It’s as if the world suffers from selective amnesia. We have a woman who is at the same level as all the world revolutionaries, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Just taking a look back at history, men, white supremacy, and patriarchy do not like strong women, and particularly strong black women. For instance, in the 1660s, white men described (and it can still be read in history books) the great Angolan warrior Queen Nzingha who fought for her people’s freedom and fought the Portuguese against slavery, as an angry, power-hungry, and over-sexed woman who would sleep with one new soldier every night, and have him killed the next morning. Such absurdity! Wouldn’t that diminish her troops, troops strongly needed to fight against the Portuguese?
Queen Nzingha of Angola
Next, we have the great queen Taytu Betul, the queen without whom there would have been no Battle of Adwa, where Ethiopia defeated Italy, the first victory of an African nation on a European one. There again, European historians describe Queen Taytu Betul as a man-eater, a woman with a black heart, manipulative, hateful, and conniving.
Empress Taytu Betul of Ethiopia
In both cases, the truth is that they are afraid of the power of the Black woman; these historians vilify Black women. The patriarchal and white supremacy system hatesWinnie Madikizela-Mandela because she fought like no other, like no man would have. She was strong, and brave, and a woman of principle. To them, she was a woman, she should have stayed home, and not joined and fought tirelessly for freedom.Even though she was cleared of the murder of Stompi, she is hated while Nelson Mandela is sanctified, but everybody forgets that Nelson Mandela was once the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe the armed branch of the ANC. We do not hate that fact, because we know that, that was what was needed at the time for the apartheid regime to fall. So why do people applaud Nelson Mandela, and honor him, while they hate Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who kept his name alive while he was in jail 27 years, and fought like not many human beings (not even him) would have fought? The world applauds him, because he is a man. The world should also celebrate her, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Stop the sexist history, the patriarchist history, the racist history. Winnie Madikizela-Mandelais a world revolutionary, and should be applauded for her stance all those years, for her hard work, her determination, her principle, and her love of her people. She should be celebrated. Please do watch what EFF leader Julius Malema has to say about it.
Just last week, markangelcomedy made a video about this joke I published here on my blog. I wanted to share it again, as it is very funny, and salute the work done on markangelcomedy, and its comedians. In the video, it is not a teacher in a classroom, but an uncle and his nieces; and it is not an iPhone, but a phone (albeit very nice). Watch and laugh your eyes out! Enjoy! The text for the original joke is below.
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In class, the teacher says: “I will give my iPhone 7 to whoever will answer my question correctly.”
Question: “How many men did Jesus feed in Bethsaida?”
Toto raises his hand and answers, “5000 men, sir”(Luke 9: 10-17).
The teacher: “Good answer Toto,” and the teacher gives him in iPhone 7.
The teacher then tells Toto: “Ask me a question Toto, and you give me back my iPhone 7 if I give you the correct answer.”
Toto, all smiles, asks him, “Sir, could you please give me the names of those 5000 men?”😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Laugh a little to chase away the stress!
The original in French is found on Nouchi.com (for iPhone 6S). Translated to English by Dr. Y. Afrolegends.com
Here is Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s last interview. She goes over parts of her life, the apartheid era, the transition, and the difference between political vs economical power. She also talks about the current leadership, and the need for a re-evaluation of the ANC, and the need for a new vision. A note: the leadership of Ghana had a delegation there with EFF leader Julius Malema to send their last goodbyes to Mama Winnie. Also the light has been shed on the truth about the fact that Winnie never killed Stompi! Enjoy!
Amilcar Cabral on a stamp with the flag of Guinea Bissau
« It is not the existence of a race and ethnic group or anything of the kind that define the behaviors of a human aggregate. No, it is the social environment and the problems arising from the reactions to this environment and the reactions of the human beings in question. All this defines the behavior of the human aggregate » (Cabral).
African Heritage 