Coffee and Colonialism in Angola, 1820-1960

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-84701-356-9
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer

Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 490 g

A new perspective on Angolan colonial and labour history in the 19th and 20th centuries, which explores how the cultivation of coffee, the country's most significant export, shaped one of the oldest commercial frontiers in sub-Saharan Africa.

After the Second World War, Angola became one of the world's largest coffee producers, supplying robusta beans that formed the backbone of popular blends and soluble products consumed by millions worldwide. But each cup of coffee made with Angolan robustas carried with it a legacy of land expropriation and coerced labour. Coffee and Colonialism delves into the systematic exploitation of black workers on white settler plantations in Angola, where labour practices often evoked memories of slavery.

This book traces the origins of Angola's coffee trade to the early nineteenth century, examining how the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade gave rise to a new export-driven economy. As global demand for coffee surged, Portuguese colonizers transformed a thriving peasant economy into a settler-dominated system that, while highly productive, was profoundly exploitative and inefficient. Drawing upon extensive archival research, this work provides a compelling analysis of the intersections between colonialism, labour, property, and global trade, uncovering the political economy underpinning one of Africa's most enduring commodity frontiers.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vos, Jelmer

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Kolonialismus, Imperialismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kolonialgeschichte, Geschichte des Imperialismus
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziale Ungleichheit, Armut, Rassismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of abbreviations

Introduction
1. Out of the Slave Trade
2. Coffee Frontier
3. 'Angola Writes New Chapter'
4. Paths Taken and Not Taken
5. Out of Slavery
6. 'Slaves on Their Own Land'
7. What Angolans Got for Their Coffee

Epilogue
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Vos, Jelmer
JELMER VOS is Senior Lecturer in Global History at the University of Glasgow. His publications include Kongo in the Age of Empire, 1860-1913: The Breakdown of a Moral Order (2015) and The Oxford Handbook of Commodity History, with J. Curry-Machado, J. Stubbs and W. G. Clarence-Smith (2024).