Huambo, formerly Nova Lisboa (
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
: ''New
Lisbon''), is the third-most populous city in
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
, after the capital city
Luanda
Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...
and
Lubango, with a population of 595,304 in the city and a population of 713,134 in the municipality of Huambo (Census 2014). The city is the capital of the province of
Huambo
Huambo, formerly Nova Lisboa (English: ''New Lisbon''), is the third-most populous city in Angola, after the capital city Luanda and Lubango, with a population of 595,304 in the city and a population of 713,134 in the municipality of Huambo (Cens ...
and is located about 220 km E from
Benguela and 600 km SE from
Luanda
Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...
. Huambo is a main hub on the ''Caminho de Ferro de Benguela (CFB)'' (the
Benguela Railway), which runs from the port of
Lobito
Lobito is a Municipalities of Angola, municipality in Angola. It is located in Benguela Province, on the Atlantic Coast north of the Catumbela Estuary. The Lobito municipality had a population of 393,079 in 2014.
History
The city was founded in ...
to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
's southernmost province,
Katanga. Huambo is served by the
Albano Machado Airport
The Albano Machado Airport is a public airport southeast of Huambo, the capital of Huambo Province, Angola. It was formerly named Nova Lisboa Airport, after the former name of the city.
Airlines and destinations
During July and August 1975, t ...
(formerly Nova Lisboa Airport).
History
Early history
Huambo receives its name from Wambu, one of the 14 old
Ovimbundu kingdoms of the central Angolan plateau. The Ovimbundu, an ethnic group that originally arrived from
Eastern Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the historica ...
, had founded their central kingdom of
Bailundu
The Kingdom of Bailundo, also known as Bailundu, Mbailundu or Mbalundu, is an Angolan Ovimbundu kingdom based in the modern-day province of Huambo, in the central highlands of Angola. It was one of the largest and most powerful Ovimbundu kingdo ...
as early as the 15th century. Wambu was one of the smaller kingdoms and was hierarchically under the king of Bailundu, though it enjoyed a considerable degree of independence.
Whereas Bailundo is mentioned in some 18th and 19th-century chronicles in connection to a trading route linking it with Viye (Bie), Wambu was only really known with the advent of the construction of the
Benguela Railway by the Portuguese. Though the kings of Bailundu and Wambu (particularly Ekuikui II and Katiavala I) opposed the penetration of the railway by ambushing workers and settlers, they were eventually subdued by the Portuguese Army and Huambo was officially founded on 8 August 1912 by the Governor-General of Angola
Norton de Matos Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
* Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
* Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, ...
.
![Huambo jardim](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Huambo_jardim.jpg)
The origin of Huambo and the economic importance it reached under Portuguese administration is very closely linked to the construction of the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela (
Benguela Railway), which had started in the coastal town of
Lobito
Lobito is a Municipalities of Angola, municipality in Angola. It is located in Benguela Province, on the Atlantic Coast north of the Catumbela Estuary. The Lobito municipality had a population of 393,079 in 2014.
History
The city was founded in ...
in 1902. This railroad had been devised by the British entrepreneur Sir
Robert Williams as the easiest and cheapest way to link the rich copper mines of
Katanga, in
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Colo ...
, with a point on the coast from which the mineral could be exported. The Lobito bay was admittedly the best natural seaport in the whole continent.
The construction of the railway initially advanced with great difficulty, due to the ruggedness of the terrain, the prevalence of malaria and, to some extent, the resistance of the natives. Huambo was found to be a strategic place for many reasons. A benign climate (greatly due to its high altitude, 1,700m) and the presence of abundant water resources in and around made of it an ideal spot to have a hub on the railway. Once this was achieved, the works progressed comparatively faster and the link with the Belgian Congo border was completed in 1929. By then Huambo had become the site of the most important railway workshop in Africa.
By the 1920s Huambo already was one of the main economic engines of
Portuguese Angola
Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa).
I ...
. It had some important food processing plants, served as the main exporting point for the Province's considerable agricultural wealth and was also known by its numerous educational facilities, especially the Agricultural Research Institute (currently part of the College of Agricultural Science).
In 1928 Huambo was renamed Nova Lisboa (New Lisbon, after
Lisbon the capital of
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
), indicating that the colonial administration intended making of it at some point the capital of the colony.
In 1966, the graduations in Veterinary Medicine, Agronomy and Forestry of the General University Studies of Angola (University of Angola, from 1968) are installed in Nova Lisboa.
In motorsports, by the late 1960s, the city of Nova Lisboa had become internationally renowned for its International Nova Lisboa 6 Hours sports car race. Until the independence of Angola in 1975, the city of Nova Lisboa expanded and its economic growth and development boomed, making it one of the most important urban centres in the then Portuguese
Overseas Province of Angola
Overseas may refer to:
* ''Overseas'' (album), a 1957 album by pianist Tommy Flanagan and his trio
* Overseas (band), an American indie rock band
* "Overseas" (song), a 2018 song by American rappers Desiigner and Lil Pump
* "Overseas" (Tee Grizzley ...
.
Post-independence
![Seventh-day Adventist church Huambo (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Seventh-day_Adventist_church_Huambo_%28cropped%29.jpg)
After independence from Portugal in 1975, Nova Lisboa was given back its original name – Huambo. The
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...
from 1975 until 2002 halted Angola's and Huambo's development, destroying a great part of its infrastructure.
Huambo became the site of the brutal
55 Day War and other battles during the bloody civil war between the
MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social dem ...
and
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
, that lasted from independence in 1975 until the death of rebel UNITA leader
Jonas Savimbi in 2002. The city was besieged, extensively damaged, and its civilians were massacred en-masse or fled the city.
Upon independence in 1975, Savimbi declared Huambo to be the capital of the
Democratic People's Republic of Angola
The Democratic People's Republic of Angola was a rival government to that of the People's Republic of Angola.
It was declared by the FNLA and UNITA in the city of Huambo. It was formed during the dawn of Angolan independence, in November 1975, th ...
, as UNITA's rival to the MPLA's
People's Republic of Angola
The People's Republic of Angola () was the self-declared socialist state which governed Angola from its independence in 1975 until 25 August 1992, during the Angolan Civil War.
History
The regime was established in 1975, after Portuguese A ...
. However, the
MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social dem ...
took the city back on 8 February 1976 with the help of Cuban troops, though most of the surrounding areas remained under UNITA control.
By mid-1976 the Cuban expeditionary force had established its most important structures in the Province of Huambo in the areas of São Pedro, Lufefena, and Cruzeiro, and strong garrisons in most of the other municipal capitals and main towns, but
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
had the control of nearly all of the territory in between.
Displaced people started concentrating in towns, seeking physical protection and humanitarian assistance. In this context, one of the first humanitarian agencies to arrive in the Province of Huambo was the
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
(ICRC) in 1979.
In 1984 the conflict escalated dramatically, and so did displacement into towns. A major relief operation was launched in the capitals of the Central Plateau and in a good number of the municipalities still accessible by plane. By then the largest part of the roads were controlled by
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
and heavily mined.
In May 1991 a peace agreement was reached between the MPLA and
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
.
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
agencies and
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s progressively moved in between mid-1991 and 1992. The situation gradually improved and general elections were called for in September 1992. But trouble set off as soon as the results of the polls were disseminated. Unrest arrived to Huambo very rapidly, as
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
considered the Province in a way as their political shrine. They concentrated in the town most of their leaders and a large section of their troops soon after the defeat in the elections was made public.
The city would still be formally under the control of the MPLA government, but tension progressively built-up due to increasing violent actions. By the end of 1992 all foreign aid agencies had withdrawn from Huambo. UNITA took full control of the town in the course of horrendous street-to-street battles that started just after Christmas 1992 and reached its climax by mid-January in 1993. Violent combats in and around Huambo lasted for 55 days, until the MPLA Government troops withdrew and UNITA gained full control of the city. Most other cities in the Central Plateau were also occupied by UNITA at the time.
The armed conflict flared up again in August 1994. A large offensive gave back to the Government the control of Huambo on 9 November, and soon after all other provincial capitals. The UNITA headquarters was then moved to Jamba in the province of Kuando Kubango.
The war ended formally on November 20, 1994 with the signature of the
Lusaka Protocol
The Lusaka Protocol, initialed in Lusaka, Zambia on October 31, 1994, attempted to end the Angolan Civil War by integrating and disarming UNITA and starting national reconciliation. Both sides signed a truce as part of the protocol on November 15 ...
. To a great extent this step meant a move towards normalcy, and was received in Huambo with moderate optimism.
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
moved again its headquarters soon after signing the protocol, this time to
Bailundo, some 50 km north of the provincial capital. This relocation raised serious concerns among most observers.
By 1995 free transit of people and goods was quite reestablished in the Province. By the end of the year the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
peacekeepers (UNAVEM III) had been deployed in Huambo, following the provisions of the
Lusaka Protocol
The Lusaka Protocol, initialed in Lusaka, Zambia on October 31, 1994, attempted to end the Angolan Civil War by integrating and disarming UNITA and starting national reconciliation. Both sides signed a truce as part of the protocol on November 15 ...
. 1996 and 1997 were years of relative improvement of the living conditions of civilians in Huambo, although return movements were only moderate, reconstruction slow and commercial activities didn't regain their past vigor.
After the
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
enforced sanctions against UNITA (29 October 1997), because of delays in the implementation of the Lusaka Protocol and reluctance to demilitarize and turn over its strongholds, insecurity in Huambo increased gradually, especially in the second half of 1998. In early December the Government launched an offensive aimed at taking the last strongholds held by UNITA in Huambo and
Kuito, this new war outbreak soon extending to other regions of the country.
Huge population displacements started once again from the rural areas to Huambo, Kuito and Caala. Large camps of internally displaced people were then installed in these cities as the Humanitarian Community was forced to retire out of UNITA-controlled areas, withdrawing completely by the end of the year and concentrating in Huambo, Caala, and later, Ukuma.
The security situation got extremely volatile. As Huambo and other major towns in the Plateau were being shelled from Bailundo and other positions still in possession of UNITA, two
C-130 Hercules aircraft chartered by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
with 23 people on board were shot down over Vila Nova (Dec. 26, 1998 and Jan. 2, 1999), as they were trying to evacuate to Luanda the last remains of the UNAVEM III mission in Huambo.
The Government retook the town of
Bailundo in October 1999.
Londuimbali,
Vila Nova and some other large towns in the Province were already under the rule of the Government, and in December 1999 the administration of the state had been reestablished in all municipal capitals. In this period the conventional war that the Province had known gave way to guerrilla warfare, UNITA still controlling most rural areas and randomly striking military or police installations of the Government, and often civilian communities too.
The exodus of civilians into Huambo and
Caála
Caála is a town and a municipality located 23 km west of the city of Huambo, in the namesake province in Angola. It was known as Vila Robert Williams while Angola was a Portuguese colony, after the famous railroad developer and mining magna ...
experienced a new boom.
21st century
![IAA_campus_view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/IAA_campus_view.jpg)
In early 2000 there were over 25,000 displaced people in the village of Caala, and over 40,000 in Huambo town. As international sanctions tightened around UNITA, their military actions in Huambo got more frequent and destructive, reaching a peak of violence by the end of 2000.
In October 2001 the Government launched a renewed offensive against UNITA from the North and the South of the Province, combining this time strict military action with what were known as ''operações de limpeza'', literally, cleansing operations which consisted in removing from rural areas large groups of population which were subsequently forced into a few, specific concentration points. The idea behind this strategy was depriving the guerrilla of the potential support it may still find in the villages they formerly controlled in the bush, making their natural habitat unlivable.
In the short term this resulted in renewed pressure over available resources in safe areas of the city and Province of Huambo, and in many cases in the death by starvation of groups trapped by the conflict or impeded to reach any of those zones. This point probably represents the climax in the hardship the rural civilian population went through in the Province of Huambo for the duration of the war.
The death of
Jonas Savimbi in February 2002 and the subsequent signature of a new cease-fire brought back tranquility to the Province, set the conditions for the present ongoing peace process, and the beginning of an era of development.
The advent of peace brought a new era of reconstruction and regeneration in Huambo, and across Angola.
Geography
Situated in the Angolan central highlands, Huambo is located near the headwaters of the
Cunene River
The Cunene (Portuguese spelling) or Kunene (common Namibian spelling) is a river in Southern Africa. It flows from the Angola highlands south to the border with Namibia. It then flows west along the border until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It ...
. The elevation of Huambo is as it is on a high plateau.
Climate
Huambo features a
subtropical highland climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Cwb''), with a
wet season
The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...
from October through April and a
dry season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...
between May and September. Despite its location in the tropics, due to its high altitude, Huambo features mild, spring-like temperatures throughout the course of the year, a characteristic common among cities with this climate. September is the warmest month with a mean of , and June is the coolest month with a mean of The city sees plentiful precipitation during the course of the year, averaging nearly of rain, although because of the dry season May to September receives significantly less precipitation, with June and July receiving no rain at all. Due to the higher altitude, temperatures in Huambo are only slightly higher than in city of
Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...
located almost 2000 km further south-east. There is more sunshine in the dry season (particularly June and July) than the wet season, and Huambo receives 2273 hours of sunshine in total.
Education and science
Huambo is home to two public higher education institutions, namely the
José Eduardo dos Santos University and the Higher Institute of Education Sciences of Huambo. There are also the headquarters of the Veterinary Research Institute and the Agricultural Research Institute, dedicated solely to research and extension.
Instituto de Investigação Agronómica (IIA)
Ciência Angola. 2014
Notable residents
*Lúcio Lara
Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto de Lara (April 9, 1929 – February 27, 2016), also known by the pseudonym Tchiweka, was a physicist-mathematician, politician, professor, anti-colonial ideologist and one of the founding members (and president) of t ...
(1929-2016) Angolan politician
* Gabriela Antunes (1937–2004) Angolan writer
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
*
Municipalities of Angola
Provincial capitals in Angola
1912 establishments in Angola
Populated places established in 1912