Lubango
Encyclopedia
Lubango is the capital city of the Angola
n province of Huíla
. Its last known population was 100,757. Until 1975, the city's official name was Sá da Bandeira.
to the area of current-day Lubango, Angola
. These Portuguese farmers successfully developed the whole region and founded the settlement. The city, originally established in 1885 to serve colonists from the Madeira Islands, lies at an elevation of 1,760 metres in a valley of the Huíla Plateau and was surrounded by a scenic park spreading up the mountain slopes.
In 1885, about 40 Boer
families from the north-west of South Africa
settled at Grootfontein
. Part of the Dorslandtrekker, they were heading towards the area currently known as Lubango, in Angola
, which was claimed by Portugal. When that territory officially fell under Portuguese
control due to the Conference of Berlin, they turned back and tried to establish the "Republic Upingtonia" at Grootfontein.
By 1910 there were over 1,700 ethnic Portuguese living in the settlement that was referred to as "Lubango". By 1923 the Moçâmedes Railway
had connected the settlement to the town of Moçâmedes
in the coast. The Portuguese government made it a city and renamed it "Sá da Bandeira", after Bernardo de Sá, 1st Marquess of Sá da Bandeira. Because the local semi-nomadic Nhaneka-Humbe tribe refused to live in the city, Sá da Bandeira was the only city in Portuguese Angola with a white majority. Once the major centre of Portuguese settlement in the hinterland of southern Angola, it was built in a Portuguese style of architecture, with a cathedral
, commerce
hall, industrial
hall, and a secondary school
, and, like every Portuguese city or town in the mainland and the overseas territories, it would have the Portuguese town hall, the hospital and the typical CTT
post office, besides banking (most prominently the Banco Nacional Ultramarino
- BNU), insurance and other services as well. The city developed as a notable agricultural and transportation centre, with its own airport and railway station, as well as major maintenance and repair facilities for them. In 1951, the Portuguese colony of Angola was officially rebranded the Overseas Province of Angola
.
in Lisbon
, the city was once again renamed Lubango. During the Angolan Civil War
(1975–2002), Lubango served as a major base of Cuba
n, SWAPO and government troops. Its once thriving economy plummeted.
In 2001, a chartered Sociedade de Aviacao Ligeira Beechcraft 1900
crashed into a mountain while attempting to land at Lubango. All but one of the seventeen people on board perished.
After the end of civil war in 2002, both Angola at large and the city of Lubango, resumed a process of notable economic growth and development within an environment of stability and peace.
, especially meat
products, cereal
s, sisal
, tobacco
, fruit
s and vegetable
s produced in the surrounding fertile region. Food processing, leather
tanning
, and consumer goods industries dominate the industrial sector.
A number of Angolan banks like BAI or BPC offer good financial services and it is possible to receive funds from outside Angola by way of Electronic fund transfer into these banks. ATM's are available around the city but they disburse Kwanza which is the local currency. In the markets US Dollars or Kwanza both are acceptable.
The main shopping plaza in Lubango is a newly built Mall called "Milleneum" where most products of daily use as well as other products like cosmetics, shoes, clothes etc are available.
IATA code:SDD) and headquarters for a fighter bomber regiment of the Angolan Air Force
. The airport receives daily flights from Luanda through TAAG, the Angolan airline and thrice a week from Windhoek, Namibia.
The town is served by the Moçâmedes Railway known as CFM. It is the junction for the branch railway to Chiange
. Also the town is serviced by taxis (mostly shared) which run in circles around the city. One can hire personal taxis which are marked "PARTICULAR". Walking around town is also a good way to explore Lubango. Bus services are available from Lubito and the buses run by a firm called "SGO" are pretty comfortable.
The city is regarded as the coldest city in Angola, with registered temperatures of -2 °C.
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 province of Huíla
Huíla (province)
Huíla is a province of Angola. It has an area of 75,002 km² and a population of approximately 700,000.-Overview:Lubango is the capital of the province...
. Its last known population was 100,757. Until 1975, the city's official name was Sá da Bandeira.
Portuguese rule
In 1882 approximately one thousand of Portuguese settlers came from the island of MadeiraMadeira
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...
to the area of current-day Lubango, 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...
. These Portuguese farmers successfully developed the whole region and founded the settlement. The city, originally established in 1885 to serve colonists from the Madeira Islands, lies at an elevation of 1,760 metres in a valley of the Huíla Plateau and was surrounded by a scenic park spreading up the mountain slopes.
In 1885, about 40 Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
families from the north-west of 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...
settled at Grootfontein
Grootfontein
Grootfontein is a city of 14,200 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of central Namibia. It is one of the three towns in the Otavi Triangle, situated on the B8 national road that leads from Windhoek to the Caprivi Strip...
. Part of the Dorslandtrekker, they were heading towards the area currently known as Lubango, in 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...
, which was claimed by Portugal. When that territory officially fell under Portuguese
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...
control due to the Conference of Berlin, they turned back and tried to establish the "Republic Upingtonia" at Grootfontein.
By 1910 there were over 1,700 ethnic Portuguese living in the settlement that was referred to as "Lubango". By 1923 the Moçâmedes Railway
Moçâmedes Railway
The Moçâmedes Railway is a 907 km railway line in Angola, between Namibe and Menongue in Cuando Cubango province....
had connected the settlement to the town of Moçâmedes
Namibe
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...
in the coast. The Portuguese government made it a city and renamed it "Sá da Bandeira", after Bernardo de Sá, 1st Marquess of Sá da Bandeira. Because the local semi-nomadic Nhaneka-Humbe tribe refused to live in the city, Sá da Bandeira was the only city in Portuguese Angola with a white majority. Once the major centre of Portuguese settlement in the hinterland of southern Angola, it was built in a Portuguese style of architecture, with a cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
, commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
hall, industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
hall, and a secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
, and, like every Portuguese city or town in the mainland and the overseas territories, it would have the Portuguese town hall, the hospital and the typical CTT
CTT
thumb|200px|right|A CTT mail delivery vehiclethumb|200px|right|A CTT traditional mail boxCTT Correios de Portugal, S.A.—meaning Postal Services of Portugal, plc—is the national postal service of Portugal. The acronym CTT comes from Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones—Post, Telegraph and Telephone—the...
post office, besides banking (most prominently the Banco Nacional Ultramarino
Banco Nacional Ultramarino
Banco Nacional Ultramarino was a Portuguese bank with operations throughout the world, especially in Portugal's former overseas provinces. It ceased existence as an independent legal entity in Portugal following its merger with Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the government-owned savings bank, in...
- BNU), insurance and other services as well. The city developed as a notable agricultural and transportation centre, with its own airport and railway station, as well as major maintenance and repair facilities for them. In 1951, the Portuguese colony of Angola was officially rebranded the Overseas Province of Angola
Angola (Portugal)
Angola is the common name by which the Portuguese colony in southwestern Africa was known across different periods of time...
.
Post independence
After Angola's Independence from Portugal due to the events of the April 25, 1974 Carnation RevolutionCarnation 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...
, the city was once again renamed Lubango. 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), Lubango served as a major base of 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, SWAPO and government troops. Its once thriving economy plummeted.
In 2001, a chartered Sociedade de Aviacao Ligeira Beechcraft 1900
Beechcraft 1900
The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop airplane manufactured by the Beechcraft Division of the Raytheon Company . It was designed, and is primarily used, as a regional airliner...
crashed into a mountain while attempting to land at Lubango. All but one of the seventeen people on board perished.
After the end of civil war in 2002, both Angola at large and the city of Lubango, resumed a process of notable economic growth and development within an environment of stability and peace.
Economy
Lubango's economy is based on agricultureAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, especially meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
products, cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
s, sisal
Sisal
Sisal is an agave that yields a stiff fibre traditionally used in making twine, rope and also dartboards. The term may refer either to the plant or the fibre, depending on context...
, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s and vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s produced in the surrounding fertile region. Food processing, leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
tanning
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
, and consumer goods industries dominate the industrial sector.
A number of Angolan banks like BAI or BPC offer good financial services and it is possible to receive funds from outside Angola by way of Electronic fund transfer into these banks. ATM's are available around the city but they disburse Kwanza which is the local currency. In the markets US Dollars or Kwanza both are acceptable.
The main shopping plaza in Lubango is a newly built Mall called "Milleneum" where most products of daily use as well as other products like cosmetics, shoes, clothes etc are available.
Transport
Lubango is the site of a major airport (Lubango AirportLubango Airport
Lubango Mukanka Airport is an airport serving Lubango, the capital city of the Huíla Province in Angola.-Facilities:The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 10/28 with an asphalt surface measuring ....
IATA code:SDD) and headquarters for a fighter bomber regiment of the Angolan Air Force
Military of Angola
The Angolan Armed Forces are the military in Angola that succeeded Forças Armadas de Libertação de Angola following the abortive Bicesse Accord with UNITA in 1991. As part of the peace agreement, troops from both armies were to be demilitarized and then integrated. Integration was never completed...
. The airport receives daily flights from Luanda through TAAG, the Angolan airline and thrice a week from Windhoek, Namibia.
The town is served by the Moçâmedes Railway known as CFM. It is the junction for the branch railway to Chiange
Chiange
Chiange is a town and municipality in Huíla Province in Angola.It is terminus of a branch of the southern railway network, junctioning at Dongo....
. Also the town is serviced by taxis (mostly shared) which run in circles around the city. One can hire personal taxis which are marked "PARTICULAR". Walking around town is also a good way to explore Lubango. Bus services are available from Lubito and the buses run by a firm called "SGO" are pretty comfortable.
Climate
With altitude of 1760m above sea level, Lubango is one of the highest cities in Angola. The climate is hot and humid during the day and cool to cold at night, the annual average temperature is 18°C, though there are extremes of 1°C to 34°C. June is the coldest month when frosts are possible. The heaviest rains are between January and March and the warmest months are October through to May.The city is regarded as the coldest city in Angola, with registered temperatures of -2 °C.
Other facts
- Several Basters (children of African and Cape ColonyCape ColonyThe Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
DutchDutch peopleThe Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
descent) emigrated from Namibia to Angola and settled in Lubango, where they are known as the Ouivamo. Many of them were forced to return to NamibiaNamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
between 1928 and 1930 by white South Africans. - Marco AbreuMarco AbreuMarco Paulo Coimbra de Abreu is an Angolan footballer who plays for A.A. Avanca in the Portuguese fourth division, as a defender.-Football career:...
, of the Angola national football teamAngola national football teamThe Angola national football team, nicknamed Palancas Negras , is the national team of Angola and is controlled by the Federação Angolana de Futebol. Angola reached 45th in the FIFA Rankings in July 2002...
was born in Lubango in 1974.