The Kisama Sobados

Origins, Geography and Resistance Strategies (18th Century)

Abstract

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the Kisama territory, which lies south of the Kwanza River in present-day Angola, were the scene of many battles between forces representing the interests of the Portuguese crown and the region’s leaders. Local leaders called sobas by the Portuguese articulated defensive strategies that guaranteed the autonomy of Kisama’s territory until the final decades of the 19th century. Sources from the 17th and 18th centuries describe Kisama’s sobas as rebels and fierce enemies of the Portuguese, responsible for impeding land communication between Luanda and Benguela and for preventing Portuguese and Portuguese-African merchants from passing through the region. Some sobas maintained their independence until the first decades of the 20th century, when they fell under colonial rule. Kisama was an obstacle to the Portuguese advance in West Central Africa and should be considered one of the most important areas of resistance and insubordination to Portuguese domination. This article demonstrates Kisama’s territorial independence, also problematizing the demarcation between its geographic limits those of what was referred to as the “kingdom” or “province” of Angola in sources that described Kisama as one of the areas controlled by the Portuguese between the 17th and 18th centuries.