Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 2, Part 1 Part 11

4. The next question to be approached concerns the pedigree of Anglo-Saxon law and the latter's natural affinities. What is its position in the legal history of Germanic nations? How far has it been influenced by non-Germanic elements, especially by Roman and Canon law? The oldest Anglo-Saxon codes, especially the Kentish and the West Saxon ones, disclose a close relations.h.i.+p to the barbaric laws of Lower Germany--those of Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians. We find a division of social ranks which reminds us of the threefold gradation of Lower Germany (edelings, frilings, lazzen-eorls, ceorls, laets), and not of the twofold Frankish one (_ingenui Franci, Romani_), nor of the minute differentiation of the Upper Germans and Lombards. In subsequent history there is a good deal of resemblance between the capitularies' legislation of Charlemagne and his successors on one hand, the acts of Alfred, Edward the Elder, aethelstan and Edgar on the other, a resemblance called forth less by direct borrowing of Frankish inst.i.tutions than by the similarity of political problems and condition. Frankish law becomes a powerful modifying element in English legal history after the Conquest, when it was introduced wholesale in royal and in feudal courts. The Scandinavian invasions brought in many northern legal customs, especially in the districts thickly populated with Danes. The Domesday survey of Lincolns.h.i.+re, Nottinghams.h.i.+re, Yorks.h.i.+re, Norfolk, &c., shows remarkable deviations in local organization and justice (lagmen, sokes), and great peculiarities as to status (socmen, freemen), while from laws and a few charters we can perceive some influence on criminal law (_nidings-vaerk_), special usages as to fines (_lahslit_), the keeping of peace, attestation and sureties of acts (_faestermen_), &c. But, on the whole, the introduction of Danish and Norse elements, apart from local cases, was more important owing to the conflicts and compromises it called forth and its social results,--than on account of any distinct trail of Scandinavian views in English law. The Scandinavian newcomers coalesced easily and quickly with the native population.

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The direct influence of Roman law was not great during the Saxon period: we notice neither the transmission of important legal doctrines, chiefly through the medium of Visigothic codes, nor the continuous stream of Roman tradition in local usage. But indirectly Roman law did exert a by no means insignificant influence through the medium of the Church, which, for all its insular character, was still permeated with Roman ideas and forms of culture. The Old English "books" are derived in a roundabout way from Roman models, and the tribal law of real property was deeply modified by the introduction of individualistic notions as to owners.h.i.+p, donations, wills, rights of women, &c. Yet in this respect also the Norman Conquest increased the store of Roman conceptions by breaking the national isolation of the English Church and opening the way for closer intercourse with France and Italy.

5. It would be useless to attempt to trace in a brief sketch the history of the legal principles embodied in the doc.u.ments of Anglo-Saxon law. But it may be of some value to give an outline of a few particularly characteristic subjects.

(a) The Anglo-Saxon legal system cannot be understood unless one realizes the fundamental opposition between folk-right and privilege.

Folk-right is the aggregate of rules, formulated or latent but susceptible of formulation, which can be appealed to as the expression of the juridical consciousness of the people at large or of the communities of which it is composed. It is tribal in its origin, and differentiated, not according to boundaries between states, but on national and provincial lines. There may be the folk-right of West and East Saxons, of East Angles, of Kentish men, Mercians, Northumbrians, Danes, Welshmen, and these main folk-right divisions remain even when tribal kingdoms disappear and the people is concentrated in one or two realms. The chief centres for the formulation and application of folk-right were in the 10th and 11th centuries the s.h.i.+re-moots, while the witan of the realm generally placed themselves on the higher ground of State expediency, although occasionally using folk-right ideas. The older law of real property, of succession, of contracts, the customary tariffs of fines, were mainly regulated by folk-right; the reeves employed by the king and great men were supposed to take care of local and rural affairs according to folk-right. The law had to be declared and applied by the people itself in its communities, while the spokesmen of the people were neither democratic majorities nor individual experts, but a few leading men--the twelve eldest thanes or some similar quorum. Folk-right could, however, be broken or modified by special law or special grant, and the fountain of such privileges was the royal power. Alterations and exceptions were, as a matter of fact, suggested by the interested parties themselves, and chiefly by the Church. Thus a privileged land-tenure was created--bookland; the rules as to the succession of kinsmen were set at nought by concession of testamentary power and confirmations of grants and wills; special exemptions from the jurisdiction of the hundreds and special privileges as to levying fines were conferred.

In process of time the rights originating in royal grants of privilege overbalanced, as it were, folk-right in many respects, and became themselves the starting-point of a new legal system--the feudal one.

(b) Another feature of vital importance in the history of Anglo-Saxon law is its tendency towards the preservation of peace. Society is constantly struggling to ensure the main condition of its existence--peace. Already in aethelberht's legislation we find characteristic fines inflicted for breach of the peace of householders of different ranks--the ceorl, the eorl, and the king himself appearing as the most exalted among them. Peace is considered not so much a state of equilibrium and friendly relations between parties, but rather as the rule of a third within a certain region--a house, an estate, a kingdom. This leads on one side to the recognition of private authorities--the father's in his family, the master's as to servants, the lord's as to his personal or territorial dependents.

On the other hand, the tendency to maintain peace naturally takes its course towards the strongest ruler, the king, and we witness in Anglo-Saxon law the gradual evolution of more and more stringent and complete rules in respect of the king's peace and its infringements.

(c) The more ancient doc.u.ments of Anglo-Saxon law show us the individual not merely as the subject and citizen of a certain commonwealth, but also as a member of some group, all the fellows of which are closely allied in claims and responsibilities. The most elementary of these groups is the _maegth_, the a.s.sociation of agnatic and cognatic relations. Personal protection and revenge, oaths, marriage, wards.h.i.+p, succession, supervision over settlement, and good behaviour, are regulated by the law of kins.h.i.+p. A man's actions are considered not as exertions of his individual will, but as acts of the kindred, and all the fellows of the maegth are held responsible for them. What began as a natural alliance was used later as a means of enforcing responsibility and keeping lawless individuals in order. When the a.s.sociation of kinsmen failed, the voluntary a.s.sociations--guilds--appeared as subst.i.tutes. The gild brothers a.s.sociated in mutual defence and support, and they had to share in the payment of fines. The towns.h.i.+p and the hundred came also in for certain forms of collective responsibility, because they presented groups of people a.s.sociated in their economic and legal interests.

(d) In course of time the natural a.s.sociations get loosened and intermixed, and this calls forth the elaborate police legislation of the later Anglo-Saxon kings. Regulations are issued about the sale of cattle in the presence of witnesses. Enactments about the pursuit of thieves, and the calling in of warrantors to justify sales of chattels, are other expressions of the difficulties attending peaceful intercourse. Personal surety appears as a complement of and subst.i.tute for collective responsibility. The _hlaford_ and his _hiredmen_ are an inst.i.tution not only of private patronage, but also of police supervision for the sake of laying hands on malefactors and suspected persons. The _landrica_ a.s.sumes the same part in a territorial district. Ultimately the laws of the 10th and 11th centuries show the beginnings of the frankpledge a.s.sociations, which came to act so important a part in the local police and administration of the feudal age.

The points mentioned are not many, but, apart from their intrinsic importance in any system of law, they are, as it were, made prominent by the doc.u.ments themselves, as they are constantly referred to in the latter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_Editions_: Liebermann, _Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen_ (1903, 1906) is indispensable, and leaves nothing to be desired as to the const.i.tution of the texts. The translations and notes are, of course, to be considered in the light of an instructive, but not final, commentary. R. Schmid, _Gesetze der Angelsachsen_ (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1858) is still valuable on account of its handiness and the fulness of its glossary. B. Thorpe, _Ancient Laws and Inst.i.tutes of England_ (1840) is not very trustworthy. _Domesday Book_, i. ii. (Rec.

Comm.); _Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici_, i.-vi. ed. J.M. Kemble (1839-1848); _Cartularium Saxonic.u.m_ (up to 940), ed. W. de Gray Birch (1885-1893); J. Earle, _Land Charters_ (Oxford, 1888); Thorpe, _Diplomatarium Anglicanum; Facsimiles of Ancient Charters_, edited by the Ordnance Survey and by the British Museum; Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils of Great Britain_, i.-iii. (Oxford, 1869-1878).

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_Modern works_.--Konrad Maurer, _uber Angelsachsische Rechtsverhaltnisse, Kritische Ueberschau_ (Munich, 1853 ff.), still the best account of the history of Anglo-Saxon law; _Essays on Anglo-Saxon Law_, by H. Adams, H.C. Lodge, J.L. Laughlin and E. Young (1876); J.M. Kemble, _Saxons in England_; F. Palgrave, _History of the English Commonwealth_; Stubbs, _Const.i.tutional History of England_, i.; Pollock and Maitland, _History of English Law_, i.; H. Brunner, _Zur Rechtsgeschichte der romisch-germanischen Urkunde_ (1880); Sir F. Pollock, _The King's Peace_ (Oxford Lectures); F. Seebohm; _The English Village Community_; Ibid. _Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law_; Marquardsen, _Haft und Burgschaft im Angelsachsischen Recht_; Jastrow, "uber die Strafrechtliche Stellung der Sklaven," Gierke's _Untersuchungen_, i.; Steenstrup, _Normannerne_, iv.; F.W. Maitland, _Domesday and Beyond_ (Cambridge, 1897); H.M. Chadwick, _Studies on Anglo-Saxon Inst.i.tutions_ (1905); P. Vinogradoff, "Folcland" in the _English Historical Review_, 1893; "Romanistische Einflusse im Angelsachsischen Recht: Das Buchland" in the _Melanges Fitting_, 1907; "The Transfer of Land in Old English Law" in the _Harvard Law Review_, 1907.

(P. Vi.)

ANGLO-SAXONS. The term "Anglo-Saxon" is commonly applied to that 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 t.i.tle _rex Anglorum Saxonum_ or _rex Angul-Saxonum_. The origin of this t.i.tle 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 Ess.e.x, Suss.e.x and Wess.e.x were sprung from the Saxons (_q.v._), and those of Kent and southern Hamps.h.i.+re 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 Ess.e.x (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, _a.s.ser'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 Kw.a.n.go 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. lat.i.tude. 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 s.h.i.+ps to unload close insh.o.r.e. The coast plain extends inland for a distance varying from 30 to 100 m. This region is in general spa.r.s.ely 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 alt.i.tude 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.), Ch.e.l.la 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 Kw.a.n.go 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 Tria.s.sic 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 quant.i.ties 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 sh.e.l.l 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 Kw.a.n.go, 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 Mus.h.i.+-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 pa.s.sing down from chief to chief; whilst every native has a "Santu" or Christian name and is dubbed dom or dona.

Fetis.h.i.+sm 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.h.i.+ps of large tonnage, and through it pa.s.ses 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 quant.i.ties 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 Ca.s.singa; and mineral salt in Quissama. The native blacksmiths are held in great repute.

_Communications._--There is a regular steams.h.i.+p 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 t.i.tle 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. Goncalo de Sousa was despatched on a formal emba.s.sy 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-establis.h.i.+ng 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 const.i.tutes 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 part.i.tion 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....

(Doc.u.mentos_) (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. x.x.xi. (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 ate 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); "Geologie des Colonies portugaises en Afrique," by P. Choffat, in _Com. d. service geol. du Portugal._ See also the annual reports on the _Trade of Angola,_ issued by the British Foreign Office.