Angola on the move: Transport Routes, Communications and History - Angola em Movimento: Vias de Transportes, Comunicação e Processos Históricos

LONG-DISTANCE CARAVANS AND COMMUNICATION BEYOND THE KWANGO (c. 1850-1890) (p. 144-145)

Beatrix Heintze Much like other forms of travel the long journeys undertaken by caravans into the African interior served not just the immediate purpose to which they owed the legitimacy of their existence: to carry on trade and to explore strange lands and their peoples. Rather, such journeys involved a more or less intended mutual exchange, not just of goods, but of many other things, skills and knowledge as well. These acted as catalysts for manifold processes of appropriation and cultural innovation.

Beyond the Kwango this exchange of cultural "extras" included primarily language (particularly Kimbundu and Portuguese), cultivated plants (such as rice, tomatoes, onions), crafts and other skills (for instance tailoring, reading and writing), profane as well as religious objects, or rather the spread of their basic forms (such as jackets, shoes, armchairs, crucifixes, drums and magic remedies). However, it also included less pleasant extras such as disease (smallpox), parasites (sand fleas), possession spirits and much more. Such local and translocal exchange networks that both directly and indirectly catalysed cultural and other forms of change have existed since time immemorial, as archaeological finds in Central Africa have shown. However, in the 19th century the increased intensity of such caravan trade accelerated and intensified such processes over ever greater distances.

Less tangible are the other types of exchange goods: information, news and rumours, the importance of which up until now has been greatly underestimated. News and information regarding what had previously been unknown now travelled much more quickly, were available in more detailed form and were transmitted across cultural boundaries. Along with the local and translocal "traditional" means of communication (via messenger, emissary, markets, visits to relatives, etc.), the increased density and reach of these new modes of intercourse enabled a swifter and more reliable evaluation of information previously received and facilitated the gathering of further details or even the unmasking of a particular report as false. This in turn allowed the recipients to adjust effectively and flexibly to changed or changing conditions far away, giving them an advantage over others. Particularly when it came to matters of trade or foreign policy, reacting in the right way at the right time was a matter of survival, or at least offered the opportunity to implement "damage control" measures.

Nevertheless differentiating between news and rumour continued to be difficult. Even information that was initially accurate and reliable was often exaggerated or distorted in the course of its long journey via lengthy chains of transmission over great distances and ultimately arrived as little more than a rumour.1 This is why specific strategies and techniques designed to evaluate such reports became so important.

The sudden and drastic expansion in informational reach, which resulted from developments in long-distance caravan trade, increased the awareness that defensive strategies, such as the selective transmission of information, the spread of rumours or the strategic "planting" of false reports, were urgently needed. Political power centres such as Mussumba (musumb), the Lunda courts of Kaungula on the Lóvua, of the designated mwant yav Kibuinza Yanvo and of the Mwata Kumbana, or the important courts of Imbangala and Cokwe chiefs, which also became loci of information gathering and centres of informational politics, played a key role in the struggle to secure their own interests. However, the caravans passing through these political centres regarded them with a certain amount of ambivalence. As a centre for the exchange of all sorts of news and for the establishment of important long-term trade relations these places were well-liked. Yet caravans also avoided these places. There were particularly high tributes2 and a stay at such centres of information and power entailed an unpredictable amount of time that. It was not uncommon that caravans were "held hostage" until they agreed to comply with the demands of their hosts. Circumventing them, however, was not always possible, since those in power made every effort to prevent this.