Product Code Database
Chikunda, sometimes rendered as Achicunda, was the name given from the 18th century onwards to the slave-warriors of the Afro-Portuguese estates known as in Zambezia, Mozambique. They were used to defend the prazos and police their inhabitants. Many of the chikunda were originally chattel slaves, raised to the status of soldiers, traders or administrators of parts of the prazo as a client or unfree dependent.
The prazo system based on agriculture broke down as a result of drought and disease in the early 19th century and was replaced by a small number of virtually independent states in the Zambezi valley that were based on the trade in slaves and ivory. The name ‘’’Achikunda’’’ was then applied to groups of professional soldiers in these minor states, who were rewarded with a share of the profits of those trades. Although these minor states were mainly in Mozambique, a small number extended their influence into what are now parts of Zambia and Malawi.
The minor states in and around the Zambezi River valley were brought under closer Portuguese control as a result of the Scramble for Africa, which required colonial powers to bring territories they claimed under their jurisdiction, the doctrine of "effective occupation". Between 1891 and 1902, the Mozambique Company took control of this area and the former roles of the chikunda in securing slaves and ivory and providing internal and external security for those states became redundant, although many ex-chikunda were involved in the Barue uprising of 1917 to 1918 against the Portuguese government. A few communities along the Zambezi and Luangwa River valleys preserve their chikunda heritage, although most former chikunda have merged into their host communities.
The Afro-Portuguese prazo holders, known locally from at least the early 17th century as “muzungos”, signifying a white man, boss or patron,Dicionário Online de Português were of diverse origin and, although most claimed at least some connection with metropolitan Portugal, many had original links with Portuguese India and all, after many generations of intermarriage with African women, were African in appearance and culture.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 127-9. By the mid-18th century, as the largely African prazo owners followed local customs of matrilineal inheritance, a number of women, known as the Zambezi donas, became owners of prazos and were succeeded by their daughters rather than their sons.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 228-30.Rodrigues (2006), As donas de prazos do Zambeze, pp 18-19, 25.
At their height in the 17th century, individual prazeiros such as António Lobo da Silva could have upwards of 5000 chikunda, some reputedly owning as many as 15000.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Making the Chikunda p. 99, in Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Moderno Age edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Phillip F. Morgan. Yale University Press, New Haven and London In the mid-eighteenth century, the total chikunda population in Zambezia was estimated at 50000.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Idem. In a survey of 1766, the two largest prazos were said to have around 700 and 500 chikunda. In early times, the chikunda were usually armed with bows and spears but, by the mid-18th century, some were armed with muskets.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda pp. 266-7. The chikunda usually lived in small fortified villages, often near the margins of the larger prazos. Each chikunda village was headed by the owner's deputy called a capitão, or headman. These villages generally produced food to support the chikunda and also made a contribution in cash or goods to their master. If the prazo owner was strong, the chikunda acted as a defence and police force, keeping order and collecting tribute, but under a weak owner or in times of famine, they could become little more than bandits, preying on local communities and disregarding their nominal patron.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 235-6, 240.
Individuals were incorporated into the ranks of the chikunda through a ritual under which they swore lifelong loyalty to the prazeiro. However prosperous or anarchic they might become, the chikunda could only rarely become completely free of their patron, who guaranteed their status as warriors and their security.Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 2.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 237. Some chikunda did manage to break away from their masters, leave their prazo and hunt for ivory in the Shire valley, where they competed with Yao traders in the mid-18th century McCracken (2012), A History of Malawi, p. 18.
The areas controlled by the main families far exceeded those of earlier prazos, and they maintained large numbers of armed chikunda, said to number several thousand, although estimates vary. Their military strength was based on a combination of strong defensive fortifications and European firearms, including breech-loading rifles later in the 19th century. Their centres were fortified towns, called aringas, which were a development of the traditional stockaded village. Each aringa consisted of a wooden stockade, supported by earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank, often with inner walls protecting the more important sections of the town. One large aringa, Massangano, had fortifications 1,300 metres long and 150 to 180 metres wide.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 253-4.
These mainly Afro-Goan families formed what were in effect small independent states, giving at best token allegiance to the Portuguese crown.Lovejoy (2011), Transformations in Slavery, p. 163.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 266, 276. From the 1840s, their leaders attempted to extend their influence, either by forcing neighbouring African chiefs to acknowledge their sovereignty or driving out those that resisted.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 306. Several of the less prominent families included the Rosário Andrade, whose head was known as Kanyembe and who operated along the Upper Zambezi west of Zumbo, now the westernmost town in Mozambique, and the Arujo Lobo, whose head was called Matakenya and who operated in the Luangwa River and Lower Shire River valleys.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 286. The chikunda of these two families had a reputation for exceptional savagery, never trading with local peoples but taking slaves and ivory by force, disrupting local agriculture and causing famine.Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 1. One economic reason behind their expansion was the increasing demand for ivory, which had already led to the depletion of elephant herds in many areas nearer the coast and to the search for new ivory sources inland: in areas that could supply little ivory, slaves were taken insteadIsaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, pp. 275-6.
The 19th century chikunda set themselves apart from the populations among which they were quartered by living in separate villages and using a mixed language among themselves, containing elements from the chikundas’ Shona and Mang'anja home languages, and also Sena language and Tonga terms from the local people, with some Portuguese phrases.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, pp. 264, 269-70. They disdained agriculture but took part in tax collection, trading, slave raiding and ivory hunting, as well as military duties and, although many came from Matrilineality, the chikunda observed Patrilineality and venerated the spirits of former chikunda, rather than their own ancestral spirits. To further distinguish themselves from local peasant farmers, chikunda had their own patterns of facial tattoos, filed their teeth and wore imported Calico cloth, whereas most local people wore Barkcloth.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, pp. 268-9.
Until 1868, the governors of Mozambique and Tete had few troops of their own and preferred to use the chikunda of any prazeiros loyal to the Portuguese government or from any minor state opposed to whatever ruler they targeted, rather than using soldiers from metropolitan Portugal or Goa. These nominally loyal chikunda had been used with some success in the 1850s against slave trading by the Sultan of Angoche and the Pereira family, but two families continued to give the Portuguese governors trouble: the Vas dos Anjos in the Lower Shire and the da Cruz, who ruled a section of the middle Zambezi in Manica Province and Tete provinces, centred on the aringa of Massangano. The Vas dos Anjos were forced out of their aringa at Shamo, near the junction of the Shire and Zambezi in 1858, but were allowed to regroup further north up the Shire, near its confluence with the Ruo River; the da Cruz posed much more of a problem.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 311-13.
After successes against Angoche and the Pereira and Vas dos Anjos families, the governor of Tete, Miguel Gouveia, assembled a force of chikunda from the prazos around Tete in July 1867 to attack Massangano, which was only a few days march away. However, Gouveia's force was ambushed by da Cruz chikunda while on route to Massangano: most of the government chikunda were massacred and Gouveia himself was executed by the da Cruz forces. Between November 1867 and May 1869, three more expeditions were sent against Massangano, with increasing numbers of troops from Portugal and Goa, artillery and assistance from the chikunda of the de Sousa state of Gorongosa. Each failed because of poor organisation, the effects of malaria on European soldiers and the desertion of local forces.Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, p. 33.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 314-15.
The expedition of November 1867, mounted in the rainy season, managed to blockade the Massangano aringa, but it ran out of supplies and ammunition, managing, however, to withdraw in good order. The next expedition of May 1868 managed to besiege Massangano and caused significant casualties among its defenders. However, the da Cruz chikunda counterattacked and routed the government forces, causing them heavy casualties. The last and largest expedition of May 1869 was partly defeated by its own size as there was insufficient river transport for the troops or their supplies. Da Cruz chikunda harassed those Portuguese forces that had to march overland to Massangano and their supply lines to such an extent that they could not invest the aringa. Once the Portuguese began to retreat, the chikunda made night attacks that caused the Portuguese forces to scatter with heavy losses. Although the da Cruz were subsequently left in peace for about 20 years, and recognised as effectively autonomous, they made little use of their military successes and never became more than a bandit state, based on the slave trade and the tolls it could impose on river traffic, as they occupied a sparsely populated and infertile area.Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, p. 33.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 315-6.
The formal abolition of the institution of slavery in Mozambique 1875 and of the prazo system in 1878 had little immediate effect on the Afro-Goan and Afro-Portuguese families. Just as the formal abolition of the slave trade in 1830 had simply promoted a clandestine trade that lasted into the 20th century, so the abolition of slavery made no immediate change to the unfree status and situation of the peasants in the minor states.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 337, 399.
In 1880 Manuel António de Sousa, who has previously married a member of the royal family of Barue, which was adjacent to his statelet in Gorongosa, occupied Barue after the death of its ruler. As Barue lay close to both the land route from Sena to Tete and the territory of the da Cruz family, the existence of an unfriendly ruler in Barue, particularly one in alliance with the da Cruz, could block any Portuguese attempts to link Angola and Mozambique. The de Sousa family had been allied with the Portuguese forces attacking Massangano, and the Portuguese government approved of Manuel António's occupation of Barue, although de Sousa did not recognise Barue as part of Mozambique. De Sousa built around thirty aringas in Barue and manned them with his chikunda. In 1884, he again made himself valuable to the government in helping to put down a revolt by supporters of the Vas dos Anjos, reportedly sending 10,000 of his chikunda against these rebelsNewitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 338-9.
The activities of the Rosário Andrade and Arujo Lobo families along the Upper Zambezi prompted the Portuguese government to lay claim to the Upper Zambezi valley . By the late 1870s, both these families had pledged a vague loyalty to the Portuguese Crown, and the Vas dos Anjos had been forced to submit to Portugal in 1884, leaving the da Cruz family at Massangano as the most prominent minor state in the area claimed by Portugal that insisted on its complete independence from the Portuguese Crown. Following the Berlin Conference, this could leave the da Cruz territory open to a British takeover, if it accepted British protection and there were indications it might do so.Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, pp. 33-5.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 344.
Manuel António de Sousa then left for Lisbon where, in March 1888, he participated in arrangements that later led to the formation of the Mozambique Company. However, his plans for expansion were soon frustrated by the British South Africa Company, which also laid claim to the Mazoe area.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 340-1.
The 1891 treaty prevented the chikunda of the Rosário Andrade and Arujo Lobo families from raiding in the areas of the Luangwa River and Kafue River valleys that were now British territory or selling slaves to the Mthwakazi after it was conquered by the British South Africa Company in 1893. In Zambezia, the cipais, or armed police, of the Mozambique Company gradually asserted control of the area comprised in the company's charter, taking over the chikunda's police and tax gathering roles, but it took until 1902 before the last of the chikunda states came completely under Portuguese controlIsaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, pp. 280-1.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 368.
One of the last such states was the so-called Military Republic of Maganja da Costa. The Maganja da Costa District had become the stronghold of the Afro-Portuguese Alves da Silva family after the final banning of the legal slave trade in 1830, and contained a number of aringas manned by the family's chikunda.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 253-4, 306 After the deaths of João Bonifacio Alves da Silva in 1861 and of his brother Victorino Romão in 1874, the territory they had controlled evolved into a form of chikunda republic, with effective power devolved to the captains of each aringa. However, by the early 1890s, this chikunda statelet was in decline, following the suppression of the illicit slave trade. In 1897, the Portuguese raised an armed force from its own chikunda to extend colonial rule in the Zambezi valley, and after this was done, Maganja da Costa was itself occupied by Portuguese forces in 1898, when its independence ended.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 370-1 A chieftaincy established by the Caetano Pereira family north of the Zambezi was occupied in 1902, and Barue, which had regained independence in 1891, was occupied by Portuguese forces, also in 1902.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 367-8, 381.
Some of the displaced chikunda resorted to banditry, favouring the areas on either side of the Mozambican borders with the Rhodesias. Although Barue had returned to Portuguese rule in 1902, a succession dispute broke out in 1917, when as many as 15,000 former chikunda revolted against the Portuguese and created aringas in Barue and the Zambezi valley. However, the Portuguese raised a much larger force, mainly of auxiliaries from the Nguni people peoples, that broke the back of the rebellion by the end of 1917, although fighting on a smaller scale continued through 1918.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 417-9. Even before the Barue Revolt, the chikunda ceased to exist as an active institution and most merged into the general population, but their descendant's identification as chikunda has been preserved in a number of remote communities around the confluence of the Zambezi and Luangwa rivers.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, p. 281.
Other former chikunda, together with many Sena people, entered southern Nyasaland after the Portuguese invasion and conquest of Barue in 1901 and 1902 and the introduction by the Portuguese authorities of a system of forced labour there.Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, pp. 18-19. The name chikunda or Kunda people was mistakenly applied at that time as an ethnic designation applied to all these people from the Zambezi valley of what is now the Zambezia province of Mozambique and parts of Zambia who had migrated into the Lower Shire valley, regardless of whether they came from chikunda families or not, and many did not. These people were later more correctly called the Sena people from their dominant ethnic group.McCracken (2012), A History of Malawi, p. 20.
|
|
