Ekekete
Kingdom of Ekekete Ombala ya Eketete | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1799[a] - c.1900[b] | |||||||
| Status | Kingdom | ||||||
| Common languages | Umbundu Portuguese (minority) | ||||||
| Ethnic groups | Ovimbundu | ||||||
| Religion | Traditional Ovimbundu religion | ||||||
| Demonyms | Ekeketan, Eketetan, Quiquetan | ||||||
| Government | Traditional monarchy | ||||||
| |||||||
| Today part of |  Angola | ||||||
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The Kingdom of Ekekete[c] was a traditional Ovimbundu kingdom in the central highlands of Angola. It was one of a number of independent Ovimbundu kingdoms that existed in the Benguella Highlands before the establishment of effective Portuguese colonial rule. Merran McCulloch's ethnographic survey lists Eketete (Quiquete) among the independent chiefdoms of the Ovimbundu.[1] The earliest documentary date presently associated with the polity is 1799, although this represents an attestation rather than a known foundation date.[1]
The historical record for Ekekete is comparatively sparse. Unlike several of the larger Ovimbundu kingdoms, particularly Wambu, Ciyaka, and Bailundu, it does not possess a well-preserved chronological tradition of rulers. Gladwyn Murray Childs consequently placed Cikuma/Ekekete among the Ovimbundu kingdoms for which traditional histories were lacking.[2] Later traditions nevertheless associate the ruling families of Ekekete and Cikuma with Wambu Kalunga and with Jaga ancestry.[3]
History
Origins
The origins of Ekekete are uncertain. Ovimbundu traditions recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries associate the kingdom with the wider political expansion traditionally attributed to Wambu Kalunga, the founding ruler of the Wambu kingdom.
Childs noted that the royal families of Cikuma and Ekekete were traditionally said to have originated from Jaga stock through descendants of Wambu Kalunga, although he was unable to independently confirm the tradition.[3] Later studies similarly associate Ekekete with the family of Wambu Kalunga and place its origins within the wider formation of Ovimbundu states in the central highlands.[4]
The tradition has sometimes been interpreted as placing the formation of Ekekete in the 17th century. This chronology should be treated cautiously, however, since it derives from oral traditions recorded considerably later rather than from a contemporary 17th-century written record. Childs specifically distinguished Ekekete from several other Ovimbundu kingdoms for which more extensive traditions of origin and royal succession could be reconstructed.[2]
Eighteenth century
By the 18th century the central Angolan highlands contained a network of independent and tributary Ovimbundu political communities. The states varied considerably in size and political importance, and there was no single centralized Ovimbundu monarchy.[1]
Portuguese military activity in the region increased during the second half of the century. The campaigns of 1774–1776 were particularly important in the history of the central highlands and resulted in the destruction or subjugation of several political centers. The fortified capital of Cingolo, for example, was destroyed during the Portuguese campaigns.[4]
No source presently identified establishes that Ekekete itself was conquered or destroyed during the campaigns of 1774–1776. The campaigns are therefore better regarded as part of the wider political history of the region than as a documented event in the history of Ekekete.
First documentary attestation
The earliest documentary date presently associated with Ekekete is 1799. McCulloch's survey states that the political divisions of the Ovimbundu closely resembled those described in an account of the Benguella region made in 1799, and subsequently lists Eketete (Quiquete) among the independent Ovimbundu chiefdoms. The 1799 account is identified in the source literature as Alexandre José Botelho de Vasconcellos's Descrição da Capitania de Benguella, dated 1 August 1799.[1][5]
The use of 1799 as the beginning of the article's documented chronology does not imply that Ekekete was founded in that year. The kingdom may have existed for considerably longer, but the available evidence does not presently provide an earlier securely identifiable written reference to the polity. Later traditions concerning its origins therefore remain separate from the documentary chronology.
Nineteenth century
Ekekete continued to be recognized as an independent Ovimbundu kingdom during the 19th century. McCulloch lists Eketete (Quiquete) alongside Mbailundu, Viye, Wambu, Ciyaka, Ngalangi, Civula, Ndulu, Cingolo, Kalukembe and Sambu among the independent chiefdoms and kingdoms.[1]
The classification was based in part upon earlier Portuguese descriptions and upon information associated with European travelers in the region. László Magyar's travels through Ovimbundu territory between 1840 and 1857 were among the sources used in reconstructing the political organization of the highlands.[1]
The surviving evidence does not provide a continuous succession of Ekekete's rulers during this period. Nor does it provide a sufficiently detailed description of the kingdom's political institutions to reconstruct its internal administration with confidence.
Portuguese occupation
Portuguese authority over the central Angolan highlands expanded substantially during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The expansion was accompanied by military campaigns generally described in colonial sources as "pacification" campaigns. Studies of the Benguela plateau place the beginning of the major phase of these campaigns in the 1890s.[6]
The political organization described by McCulloch represents the Ovimbundu system prior to what he calls effective Portuguese occupation, which he places at approximately 1900. Eketete is included among the independent chiefdoms in this pre-occupation political system.[1]
The precise date on which Portuguese authority was imposed over Ekekete is unknown. No surviving source presently identified records a specific treaty, battle, deposition or act of annexation by which the kingdom ceased to be independent.
Territory
Ekekete formed part of the Ovimbundu homeland in the Benguella Highlands of west-central Angola. McCulloch describes the Benguella Highland as the principal homeland of the Ovimbundu and notes that the traditional political divisions broadly corresponded to this highland region.[1]
The precise historical boundaries of Ekekete are unknown. The available sources identify the kingdom as a distinct political unit but do not provide a sufficiently detailed description of its frontiers to reconstruct them with confidence.
Later descriptions of the Ovimbundu states associate Ekekete with the wider political landscape of central Angola and distinguish it from neighboring states including Cingolo, Cikuma, Kalukembe and Ciyaka.[2] These associations should not be interpreted as evidence for fixed borders between the kingdoms.
Modern administrative boundaries in Angola do not necessarily correspond to the territorial limits of the historical kingdom.
Government
Ekekete was governed as a traditional Ovimbundu monarchy headed by a ruler generally described in the literature using the title soba. The political organization of the Ovimbundu was decentralized, with individual kingdoms exercising authority over their own territories and maintaining relationships with neighboring states.[1]
McCulloch distinguishes the independent chiefdoms from smaller chiefdoms that were generally tributary to larger political units. Eketete appears in the former category.[1]
Little is known about the individual rulers of Ekekete. Childs's study of Ovimbundu chronology specifically identifies Cikuma/Ekekete as one of the kingdoms for which a reliable traditional royal chronology could not be established.[2]
Society and culture
The population of Ekekete belonged to the broader Ovimbundu cultural and linguistic complex. The Ovimbundu were divided into a number of regional and political communities, including the peoples associated with Ekekete, Wambu, Bailundu, Cingolo, Ndulu, Ciyaka and other kingdoms.[1]
Traditional Ovimbundu society was organized around kinship, agriculture, cattle keeping, trade and political allegiance to local rulers. Conditions varied considerably between individual kingdoms, and the available evidence is insufficient to identify practices that were unique to Ekekete.
Oral tradition played an important role in preserving the histories of Ovimbundu royal families. In the case of Ekekete, traditions concerning its ruling dynasty survived despite the absence of a detailed written chronology. The tradition connecting its royal family to Wambu Kalunga is one of the principal pieces of evidence concerning the kingdom's early history.[3]
Relations with neighboring kingdoms
Ekekete existed within a densely interconnected political landscape of Ovimbundu kingdoms. The neighboring states varied in their relationships with one another, ranging from alliance and dynastic connections to tributary relationships and warfare.
The traditions concerning Wambu Kalunga are particularly significant to the history of Ekekete. According to later accounts, descendants or relatives of Wambu Kalunga established several political communities, including Cingolo, Cikuma, Kalukembe, Elende, and Ekekete.[3]
These traditions indicate a shared political and dynastic background among several central Ovimbundu states, although the precise historical sequence of their formation remains uncertain.
Decline and end of independence
The independence of Ekekete came to an end during the expansion of Portuguese colonial authority over the central Angolan highlands. The precise date of its subjugation has not been established.
McCulloch's classification provides the most useful chronological boundary currently available: he lists Eketete among the independent chiefdoms and explains that the classification concerns the period before effective Portuguese occupation, which he places at approximately 1900.[1]
Accordingly, c. 1900 is used as the end date of Ekekete's independent political existence in this article. This date should not be interpreted as evidence that a specific conquest or abolition occurred in 1900. Rather, it represents the last period for which the available source explicitly places Ekekete within the independent Ovimbundu political system.
The traditional political structures of the Ovimbundu did not necessarily disappear immediately following the establishment of colonial rule. Traditional rulers and communities continued to exist under Portuguese authority, although their political sovereignty was substantially reduced.
Legacy
Ekekete remains one of the historical political communities associated with the Ovimbundu. The name continues to be used in ethnographic and cultural contexts for an Ovimbundu subgroup, alongside names associated with other former kingdoms such as Wambu, Ndulu, Cingolo and Kalukembe.
The limited surviving historical documentation has made Ekekete considerably less well known than some of the larger Ovimbundu kingdoms. Nevertheless, its inclusion in historical classifications of the independent Ovimbundu states demonstrates that it formed part of the decentralized political landscape of the central Angolan highlands before colonial occupation.[1]
Notes
References
Bibliography
- McCulloch, Merran (1952). The Ovimbundu of Angola: A Study of Social and Economic Conditions of a People of the Benguella Plateau. London: International African Institute.
- Childs, Gladwyn Murray (1970). "The Chronology of the Ovimbundu Kingdoms". The Journal of African History. 11 (2): 241–248.
- Neto, Maria da Conceição (2012). In Towns and Villages in Angola: The Political Economy of the Ovimbundu (PhD thesis). SOAS, University of London.
- Santos, Jéssica Evelyn Pereira dos (2019). Colonialismo no sertão pacificado: os povos do Planalto de Benguela sob o Terceiro Império Português, 1890–1954 (Master's thesis).
See also
References
- Childs, Gladwyn M. (1964), "The Kingdom of Wambu (Huambo): A Tentative Chronology", The Journal of African History, vol. 5, no. 3, Cambridge University Press, pp. 367–379, doi:10.1017/S0021853700005077, JSTOR 179973