Namibe
Encyclopedia
Namibe is the capital city of Namibe Province in Angola
. It is a coastal desert city located in southwestern Angola and was founded in 1840 by the Portuguese rulers of the territory
. The city's current population is 132,900 (2004 estimate). Namibe has a cool dry climate and desert vegetation due to its proximity to the Namib Desert
.
on a bay that the Portuguese originally called Angra do Negro. The area was first explored by the Portuguese in 1785, and was claimed for Portugal by Luiz Candido Cordeiro Pinhaira Furtado, who had been sent there in the frigate Loanda by the then governor-general of Angola, Baron Moçâmedes, who also sent an overland expedition headed by Gregorio José Mendes to rendezvous with Furtado. It was they who renamed the bay Moçâmedes in honour of the man who had sent them. In 1839 the then governor-general of Angola, Admiral Noronha, sent a fresh expedition to subdue the Sobas or chieftains of the region and establish them as vassals of Portugal. In 1840 a factory was established by two merchants, Jacomo Felippe Torres and Antonio Joaquim Guimarães, and in July of the same year a fort was built at Ponta Negra, and the town of Moçâmedes was founded by order of the Portuguese prime minister Count Bonfim
, who was also head of the Colonial Department. In 1846, after his defeat in the civil war of the Patuleia
, Bonfim was himself exiled to Moçâmedes with his son and other members of the Junta of Oporto, and though he managed to escape was returned to there by the Royal Navy until released under the terms of the Convention of Gramido
. The area was colonized mainly by Portuguese settlers from Madeira
and Brazil
; in the 1850s the Portuguese government also gave sea passage and financial assistance to a large number of German colonists. The village - known by the native inhabitants in the 19th century as Mossungo Bittolo - grew as a fishing port
, and by the 1960s, it had 143 fishing boats and several fish processing factories. The port normally handled a major part of the Angolan catch and had one of the most important fish landings of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola together with Luanda
, Benguela
and Lobito
. About 200 km from the city of Namibe the Portuguese authorities founded the Iona National Park
, Angola's oldest and largest national park, which was proclaimed as a reserve in 1937 and was upgraded by the authorities of Portuguese Angola to a national park covering 15,150 km² in 1964. During 1966-67 a major iron ore terminal was built by the Portuguese at Saco, the bay just 12 km North of Moçâmedes. The client was the Compania Mineira do Lobito, the Lobito Mining Company, which developed an iron ore mine inland at Cassinga
. The construction of the mine installations and a 300 km railway were commissioned to Krupp
of Germany and the modern harbour terminal to SETH, a Portuguese company owned by Hojgaard & Schultz of Denmark. The small fishing town of Moçâmedes hosted construction workers, foreign engineers and their families for 2 years. The Ore Terminal was completed on time within one year and the first 250,000 ton ore carrier docked and loaded with ore in 1967.
in Lisbon
, as the Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola's political situation deteriorated and the independence of the territory seemed inevitable, many Moçâmedes-based fishing boats departed to Portugal
with entire crews and their families. Angola become independent from Portugal in 1975, after the Alvor Agreement
. During the Angolan Civil War
(1975–2002), following the departure of the Portuguese, the mine of Cassinga was controlled by UNITA
and the coast by the communist government of the MPLA, so no export was possible. The port installations were unused but protected by communist Cuba
n soldiers and on the promotory behind the terminal, Soviet experts installed SAM-3 missile sites aimed towards South Africa
in May 1981. When intelligence about this increase in military activity reached the USA, airplanes from South Africa completed bombing raids, knocking out the dangerous SAM missile sites at Mocamedes/ Namib sometime in 1981. In 1985 the city of Moçâmedes changed its name to Namibe.
. This line was originally 600mm gauge but was converted to 1067mm gauge in the 1950s.
located about 7 km to the south of the city. The old Yuri Gagarin
airport, only about 1.7 km from the city's center, connects the city to the rest of the country.
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. It is a coastal desert city located in southwestern Angola and was founded in 1840 by the Portuguese rulers of the territory
Angola (Portugal)
Angola is the common name by which the Portuguese colony in southwestern Africa was known across different periods of time...
. The city's current population is 132,900 (2004 estimate). Namibe has a cool dry climate and desert vegetation due to its proximity to the Namib Desert
Namib Desert
The Namib Desert is a desert in Namibia and southwest Angola that forms part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest game reserve in Africa. The name "Namib" is of Nama origin and means "vast place"...
.
Portuguese rule
A coastal desert city located in southwestern Angola, it was officially founded in 1840 by the Portuguese rulers of the territoryAngola (Portugal)
Angola is the common name by which the Portuguese colony in southwestern Africa was known across different periods of time...
on a bay that the Portuguese originally called Angra do Negro. The area was first explored by the Portuguese in 1785, and was claimed for Portugal by Luiz Candido Cordeiro Pinhaira Furtado, who had been sent there in the frigate Loanda by the then governor-general of Angola, Baron Moçâmedes, who also sent an overland expedition headed by Gregorio José Mendes to rendezvous with Furtado. It was they who renamed the bay Moçâmedes in honour of the man who had sent them. In 1839 the then governor-general of Angola, Admiral Noronha, sent a fresh expedition to subdue the Sobas or chieftains of the region and establish them as vassals of Portugal. In 1840 a factory was established by two merchants, Jacomo Felippe Torres and Antonio Joaquim Guimarães, and in July of the same year a fort was built at Ponta Negra, and the town of Moçâmedes was founded by order of the Portuguese prime minister Count Bonfim
José Travassos Valdez
José Lúcio Travassos Valdez , first and only Baron and first Count do Bonfim , was a Portuguese soldier and statesman.-Early life:...
, who was also head of the Colonial Department. In 1846, after his defeat in the civil war of the Patuleia
Patuleia
The Patuleia, Guerra da Patuleia, or Little Civil War was a civil war in Portugal, so called to distinguish it from the 'great' civil war between Dom Pedro IV and Dom Miguel that ended in 1834. The Patuleia occurred after the Revolution of Maria da Fonte, and was closely associated with her...
, Bonfim was himself exiled to Moçâmedes with his son and other members of the Junta of Oporto, and though he managed to escape was returned to there by the Royal Navy until released under the terms of the Convention of Gramido
Convention of Gramido
The Convention of Gramido was an agreement signed on 29 June 1847, in Casa Branca on the town square of Gramido, in Valbom, Gondomar, Portugal, to end the civil war of the Septembrists against the Cartists known as the Patuleia...
. The area was colonized mainly by Portuguese settlers from Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
; in the 1850s the Portuguese government also gave sea passage and financial assistance to a large number of German colonists. The village - known by the native inhabitants in the 19th century as Mossungo Bittolo - grew as a fishing port
Fishing in Angola
Fishing in Angola is mainly performed by foreign fleets. Some of the foreign fishing fleets operating in Angolan waters were required by the government to land a portion of their catch at Angolan ports to increase the local supply of fish...
, and by the 1960s, it had 143 fishing boats and several fish processing factories. The port normally handled a major part of the Angolan catch and had one of the most important fish landings of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola together with Luanda
Luanda
Luanda, formerly named São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda, is the capital and largest city of Angola. Located on Angola's coast with the Atlantic Ocean, Luanda is both Angola's chief seaport and its administrative center. It has a population of at least 5 million...
, Benguela
Benguela
Benguela is a city in western Angola, south of Luanda, and capital of Benguela Province. It lies on a bay of the same name, in 12° 33’ S., 13° 25’ E...
and Lobito
Lobito
Lobito is a town and municipality in Benguela Province in Angola.It dates from 1905 and owes its existence to the bay of the same name having been chosen as the sea terminus of the Benguela railway to the far interior, passing through Luau to Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The...
. About 200 km from the city of Namibe the Portuguese authorities founded the Iona National Park
Iona National Park
Iona National Park is a National park in Namibe Province of Angola. It is about 200 km from the city of Namibe and, at 5850 sq. miles, the largest in the country. Before the independence of Angola and the Angolan Civil War, Iona was an "animal paradise, rich in big game"...
, Angola's oldest and largest national park, which was proclaimed as a reserve in 1937 and was upgraded by the authorities of Portuguese Angola to a national park covering 15,150 km² in 1964. During 1966-67 a major iron ore terminal was built by the Portuguese at Saco, the bay just 12 km North of Moçâmedes. The client was the Compania Mineira do Lobito, the Lobito Mining Company, which developed an iron ore mine inland at Cassinga
Cassinga
Cassinga is a former town in the Huíla province of southern Angola.The transliteration Kassinga is also commonly used, with the "K" being a mutation of the original Portuguese name either by German miners, or by indigenous people in whose language the letter "K" is also common...
. The construction of the mine installations and a 300 km railway were commissioned to Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
of Germany and the modern harbour terminal to SETH, a Portuguese company owned by Hojgaard & Schultz of Denmark. The small fishing town of Moçâmedes hosted construction workers, foreign engineers and their families for 2 years. The Ore Terminal was completed on time within one year and the first 250,000 ton ore carrier docked and loaded with ore in 1967.
After independence from Portugal
After the April 1974 military coupCarnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, as the Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola's political situation deteriorated and the independence of the territory seemed inevitable, many Moçâmedes-based fishing boats departed to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
with entire crews and their families. Angola become independent from Portugal in 1975, after the Alvor Agreement
Alvor Agreement
The Alvor Agreement, signed on January 15, 1975, granted Angola independence from Portugal on November 11, ending the war for independence while marking the transition to civil war...
. During the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...
(1975–2002), following the departure of the Portuguese, the mine of Cassinga was controlled by UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
and the coast by the communist government of the MPLA, so no export was possible. The port installations were unused but protected by communist Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n soldiers and on the promotory behind the terminal, Soviet experts installed SAM-3 missile sites aimed towards South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in May 1981. When intelligence about this increase in military activity reached the USA, airplanes from South Africa completed bombing raids, knocking out the dangerous SAM missile sites at Mocamedes/ Namib sometime in 1981. In 1985 the city of Moçâmedes changed its name to Namibe.
Rail
Namibe is the terminus of the Moçâmedes RailwayMoçâmedes Railway
The Moçâmedes Railway is a 907 km railway line in Angola, between Namibe and Menongue in Cuando Cubango province....
. This line was originally 600mm gauge but was converted to 1067mm gauge in the 1950s.
Air
Namibe is served by the Namibe AirportNamibe Airport
Namibe Airport is an airport serving Namibe, the capital city of the Namibe province in Angola.-Facilities:The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has 1 runway designated 08/26 with an asphalt surface measuring ....
located about 7 km to the south of the city. The old Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....
airport, only about 1.7 km from the city's center, connects the city to the rest of the country.