Our report, prepared in collaboration with the Angolan government, reveals the possibilities lurking in the dark past.
In the latest edition of Global Angola, we examine a tourism and economic development strategy targeting the Angolan community in the Americas. It is estimated that at least 12 million Angolan Americans live in the United States alone, representing enormous potential for tourism, knowledge transfer, and investment..
Over the centuries, millions of enslaved Angolans sailed west from the coast of Africa toward the American continent. Alfonso Vita, a researcher at the University of Coimbra, is an expert on the subject. We meet him in Lisbon, an important stop for slave ships.
“Angola is among the African countries that lost many men, women and children to the slave trade. Traces of transatlantic networks can still be found in many places. Pelourinhos were places where slaves were harbored and traded. To this day in downtown Lisbon: ‘They received ill treatment, and punished those who, according to the colonists, had behaved inappropriately.’ The Portuguese word can be roughly translated into Hungarian as column.
In the past it was slaves, today tourists travel between Africa and America
The slave trade proved to be a particularly thriving trade in Portugal, but not only they, but many other countries around the world also exploited forced labor. According to Vita, Europe, America and even Asia were largely built by Africans, and their appearance caused changes on other continents that are still felt today.
Former slave trade networks now have tourism opportunities. A good example is the Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, which even Angola’s president, João Lourenço, visited last year. The politician then invited the Tucker family to Angola, a family with proven Angolan ancestry.
President Lourenço was also taken on a tour around the museum by people whose ancestors included Angolan slaves.
African Americans were enslaved in a country that swore to freedom when it was founded. With the help of genetic research, we were able to find family connections. “This is my grandfather,” said Mary Elliott, one of the museum’s curators. “It’s an honor to be able to walk around here with you today. Because the memories here are all tied to me.”
The politics of memory has other nuances in Africa
This connection goes back to the Kwanzaa River. Portuguese colonists pushed into the interior of the country along the Kwanza River, which is about a thousand kilometers long. The river also became the central route for the slave trade. According to estimates, more than 6 million people were transported from here to different parts of the world.
Therefore, Angola wants to include the Kwanzaa Corridor on the UNESCO World Heritage List. According to a former official at the organization’s headquarters in Paris, this will be important because of the restoration of cultural relations.
“Connecting Africa and people on the other side of the planet means reconnecting cultures… The colonial system was massive, and its most specific effect was not political domination, but the erasure of memory, culture and identity. These things must be part of building Nation in all African countries.
