Baixa de Cassanje revolt
Encyclopedia
The Baixa de Cassanje revolt is considered the first battle of the Angolan War of Independence
and the Portuguese Colonial War
. The uprising began on February 3, 1961 in the region of Baixa do Cassanje, district of Malanje
, Portuguese Angola. By February 4, the Portuguese authorities had successfully suppressed the revolt.
On January 3, agricultural workers employed by Cotonang, a Portuguese-Belgium cotton plantation company, staged a protest to force the company to improve their working conditions. The protest, which later became known as the Baixa de Cassanje revolt, was led by two previously unknown Angolans, António Mariano and Kulu-Xingu. During the protest, the Angolan workers burned their identification cards and physically attacked Portuguese traders on the company premises. The protest led to a general uprising, to which Portuguese authorities responded with an air raid on twenty villages in the area, killing large numbers of Angolan villagers. While the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) claimed that the air raid killed some ten thousand people, most estimates range from 400 to as many as 7,000 Angolans killed.
After independence from Portugal in 1975, the Angola
n government designated February 4 a national holiday, "Colonial Repression Martyrs Day," in 1996 in remembrance of the attack.
, staged a popular revolt in the Bakongo region of northern Angola. Angolan Bantu farmers and coffee-plantation workers joined the uprising and in a frenzy of rage against Portuguese settlers and landowners killed some 1,000 Portuguese Angolans
in the first days of fighting, together with an unknown number of native Angolans. The rioting workers burned plantations, bridges, government facilities, and police stations, and destroyed several barges and ferries. The graphic images of raped and mutilated settlers inflamed the rage of the Portuguese public, and the Portuguese Army instituted a harsh counter-insurgency campaign that destroyed dozens of villages and killed some 20,000 people, including 750 white Angolans, before the uprising was put down in September 1961.
Angolan War of Independence
The Angolan War of Independence began as an uprising against forced cotton cultivation, and became a multi-faction struggle for control of Portugal's Overseas Province of Angola with three nationalist movements and a separatist movement...
and the Portuguese Colonial War
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War , also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of liberation , was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974, when the Portuguese regime was...
. The uprising began on February 3, 1961 in the region of Baixa do Cassanje, district of Malanje
Malanje
Malanje is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola with a population of approximately 222,000. Nearby is the spectacular Calandula waterfalls, 85 km from the city. These falls are 105 metres high and their great width makes them the main tourist attraction in the region. It is a...
, Portuguese Angola. By February 4, the Portuguese authorities had successfully suppressed the revolt.
On January 3, agricultural workers employed by Cotonang, a Portuguese-Belgium cotton plantation company, staged a protest to force the company to improve their working conditions. The protest, which later became known as the Baixa de Cassanje revolt, was led by two previously unknown Angolans, António Mariano and Kulu-Xingu. During the protest, the Angolan workers burned their identification cards and physically attacked Portuguese traders on the company premises. The protest led to a general uprising, to which Portuguese authorities responded with an air raid on twenty villages in the area, killing large numbers of Angolan villagers. While the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) claimed that the air raid killed some ten thousand people, most estimates range from 400 to as many as 7,000 Angolans killed.
After independence from Portugal in 1975, the Angola
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...
n government designated February 4 a national holiday, "Colonial Repression Martyrs Day," in 1996 in remembrance of the attack.
March 15 UPA Revolt
On March 15, 1961 the União das Populações de Angola (UPA), led by Holden RobertoHolden Roberto
Holden Álvaro Roberto founded and led the National Liberation Front of Angola from 1962 to 1999. His memoirs are unfinished.-Early life:...
, staged a popular revolt in the Bakongo region of northern Angola. Angolan Bantu farmers and coffee-plantation workers joined the uprising and in a frenzy of rage against Portuguese settlers and landowners killed some 1,000 Portuguese Angolans
Portuguese Angolans
Portuguese Angolan is a person of Portuguese descent born or permanently living in Angola.-History:The first Portuguese settlements in Angola were established in the 16th century. Some Portuguese settlers married native Africans resulting in a mixed-race population...
in the first days of fighting, together with an unknown number of native Angolans. The rioting workers burned plantations, bridges, government facilities, and police stations, and destroyed several barges and ferries. The graphic images of raped and mutilated settlers inflamed the rage of the Portuguese public, and the Portuguese Army instituted a harsh counter-insurgency campaign that destroyed dozens of villages and killed some 20,000 people, including 750 white Angolans, before the uprising was put down in September 1961.