Angola Military Campaigns
After the Berlin Conference, the Portuguese military
was
preoccupied with the subjugation of the African
inhabitants of the
hinterland, and by 1915 it secured the colony for
Portugal. Before
African resistance was broken, intensive military action
was
necessary in several areas. One campaign took place in the
southern
region in response to a request from the Boer settlement
near Humbe
that was threatened by the Kwanhama. Sporadic campaigning
included
several serious reverses for the Portuguese. The
Portuguese were
able to bring the Kwanhama under control only with the
assistance
of field artillery and the establishment of a series of
fortified
garrisons. One of the most difficult Portuguese military
campaigns
was waged against the Dembos, a Kimbundu-speaking people
who lived
less than 150 kilometers northeast of Luanda. The
Portuguese
attacked the Dembos repeatedly over a period of three
years before
the Dembos were finally subdued in 1910. Because of
difficult
conditions, including the tropical climate, the Portuguese
did not
complete their occupation of Dembos land until 1917.
Data as of February 1989
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