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Arquivos dos Dembos /
Ndembu archives
Inscribed 2011
What are they
These archives consist of some 1160 manuscript items
from the late 17th century to the early 20th century
and record the long and different relationships among
the Ndembu peoples of northern Angola and with the
colonial Portuguese.
Why were they inscribed
The Ndembu archives are uniquely valuable to
scholarship in history, anthropology and linguistics as
they record the transformation of an essentially oral
southern African culture through the assimilation of the
Portuguese language.
Where are they
Arquivo Nacional de Angola, Luanda, Angola and
Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Lisbon, Portugal
These documents establish and reflect diverse relations
between the Portuguese colonial authorities of Angola,
including the governor in Luanda, and African chiefs, and
between them and the king of Kongo. The archives are
composed of originals, copies and drafts of official and
some private letters, wills, lists of products, receipts, bills
of exchange, certificates, vassalage acts, orders, prayers,
votive offerings, judicial cases and spelling books. Several
documents are certified with wax seals and seals on paper
either by Ndembu or Portuguese authorities.
The Ndembu archives bear witness to the long and
different relationships among African peoples and
Europeans. The archives are of great value because of
the long period they cover and because they were all
created in one area, the Ndembu (or Dembos) region
in northern Angola. They record variations within
African communities, their internal relations and their
connections with Portuguese colonial authorities
and individuals. Subjects covered include population
movements, slave trading, commercial relations, changes
� Examples of letters from the late 18th and 19th centuries from
the Ndembu archives. These letters, written in Portuguese, provide
evidence of the interactions between the Portuguese colonial officials
and the Ndembu people in northern Angola. One of these letters
mentions the installation of a military barracks.
in social and political hierarchies, religious practices, and
the teaching of written Portuguese by Ndembu people.
In addition, these archives have a special linguistic value,
as the records use Portuguese and mainly Kimbundu
words and expressions in documents created both by the
Ndembu and the Portuguese. In addition there are echoes
of Kikongo and some Latin expressions appear too.
The manuscripts were created and kept by Ndembu
chiefs in the north of Angola. The documents were
collected in Angola, in 1934, by Antonio Almeida, a
medical doctor and physical anthropologist, during a
study mission to the Ndembu area. They are now in the
Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Overseas Historical
Archive) in Lisbon. The Arquivo Nacional de Angola has
one codex of 184 written folios comprising the register
of letters from the colonial authorities to Ndembu
chiefs, dating from 1798 to 1854. Due to its contents it is
possible to understand that there was a fluent exchange
of correspondence between the colonial authorities
and Angolan chiefs. Unfortunately, the letters of
these Ndembu chiefs have not been found in the
colonial archives.
Arquivos dos Dembos / Ndembu archives 253