Lubango
Lubango | |
|---|---|
Municipality and city | |
 | |
| Country |  Angola |
| Province | Huila Province |
| Elevation | 1,720 m (5,640 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (WAT) |
Lubango is the capital city of the Angolan province of Huíla. Its last known population was 100,757. Until 1975, the city's official name was Sá da Bandeira. The city is regarded as the coldest city in Angola[citation needed], with registered temperatures of -2 °C.
History
Portuguese rule
In 1882 approximately one thousand of Portuguese settlers came from the island of Madeira to the area of current-day Lubango, Angola. These Portuguese farmers successfully developed the whole region and founded the settlement. The city, originally established in 1885 to serve colonists from the Madeira Islands, lies at an elevation of 1,760 metres in a valley of the Huíla Plateau and was surrounded by a scenic park spreading up the mountain slopes.
In 1885, about 40 Boer families from the north-west of South Africa settled at Grootfontein. Part of the Dorslandtrekker, they were heading towards the area currently known as Lubango, in Angola, which was claimed by Portugal. When that territory officially fell under Portuguese control due to the Conference of Berlin, they turned back and tried to establish the "Republic Upingtonia" at Grootfontein.
By 1910 there were over 1,700 ethnic Portuguese living in the settlement that was referred to as "Lubango". By 1923 the Moçâmedes Railway had connected the settlement to the town of Moçâmedes in the coast. The Portuguese government made it a city and renamed it "Sá da Bandeira", after Bernardo de Sá, 1st Marquess of Sá da Bandeira. Because the local semi-nomadic Nhaneka-Humbe tribe refused to live in the city, Sá da Bandeira was the only city in Portuguese Angola with a white majority. Once the major centre of Portuguese settlement in the hinterland of southern Angola, it was built in a Portuguese style of architecture, with a cathedral, commerce hall, industrial hall, and a secondary school, and, like every Portuguese city or town in the mainland and the overseas territories, it would have the Portuguese town hall, the hospital and the typical CTT post office, besides banking (most prominently the Banco Nacional Ultramarino - BNU), insurance and other services as well. The city developed as a notable agricultural and transportation centre, with its own airport and railway station, as well as major maintenance and repair facilities for them. In 1951, the Portuguese colony of Angola was officially rebranded the Overseas Province of Angola.[1]
After independence from Portugal
After Angola's Independence from Portugal due to the events of the April 25, 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, the city was once again renamed Lubango. During the Angolan Civil War (1975–2002), Lubango served as a major base of Cuban, SWAPO and government troops. Its once thriving economy plummeted.
In 2001, a chartered Sociedade de Aviacao Ligeira Beechcraft 1900 crashed into a mountain while attempting to land at Lubango. All but one of the seventeen people on board perished.
After the end of civil war in 2002, both Angola at large and the city of Lubango, resumed a process of notable economic growth and development within an environment of stability and peace.
Economy
Lubango's economy is based on agriculture, especially meat products, cereals, sisal, tobacco, fruits and vegetables produced in the surrounding fertile region. Food processing, leather tanning, and consumer goods industries dominate the industrial sector.
A number of Angolan banks like BAI or BPC offer good financial services and it is possible to receive funds from outside Angola by way of Electronic fund transfer into these banks. ATM's are available around the city but they disburse Kwanza which is the local currency. In the markets US Dollars or Kwanza both are acceptable.
The main shopping plaza in Lubango is a newly built Mall called "Milleneum" where most products of daily use as well as other products like cosmetics, shoes, clothes etc are available.
Transport
Lubango is the site of a major airport (Lubango Airport IATA code:SDD) and headquarters for a fighter bomber regiment of the Angolan Air Force. The airport receives daily flights from Luanda through TAAG, the Angolan airline and thrice a week from Windhoek, Namibia.
The town is served by the Moçâmedes Railway known as CFM. It is the junction for the branch railway to Chiange. Also the town is serviced by taxis (mostly shared) which run in circles around the city. One can hire personal taxis which are marked "PARTICULAR". Walking around town is also a good way to explore Lubango. Bus services are available from Lubito and the buses run by a firm called "SGO" are pretty comfortable.
Climate
With altitude of 1760m above sea level, Lubango is one of the highest cities in Angola. The climate is hot and humid during the day and cool to cold at night, the annual average temperature is 18°C, though there are extremes of 1°C to 34°C. June is the coldest month when frosts are possible. The heaviest rains are between January and March and the warmest months are October through to May.
| Climate data for Sá da Bandeira (Lubango) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 30 (86) |
30 (86) |
30 (86) |
28 (82) |
30 (86) |
28 (82) |
27 (81) |
30 (86) |
31 (88) |
34 (93) |
38 (100) |
31 (88) |
38 (100) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 25 (77) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
24 (75) |
24 (75) |
26 (79) |
28 (82) |
28 (82) |
26 (79) |
25 (77) |
26 (79) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 18 (64) |
18 (64) |
18 (64) |
18 (64) |
17 (63) |
15 (59) |
15 (59) |
18 (64) |
20 (68) |
20 (68) |
19 (66) |
18 (64) |
18 (64) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 12 (54) |
12 (54) |
12 (54) |
11 (52) |
9 (48) |
6 (43) |
6 (43) |
10 (50) |
12 (54) |
12 (54) |
12 (54) |
12 (54) |
11 (52) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 5 (41) |
5 (41) |
2 (36) |
3 (37) |
0 (32) |
−1 (30) |
−1 (30) |
0 (32) |
4 (39) |
3 (37) |
5 (41) |
3 (37) |
−1 (30) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 140 (5.5) |
150 (5.9) |
160 (6.3) |
90 (3.5) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
70 (2.8) |
110 (4.3) |
160 (6.3) |
920 (36.2) |
| Source: weatherbase.com [2] | |||||||||||||
Other facts
- Several Basters (children of African and Cape Colony Dutch descent) emigrated from Namibia to Angola and settled in Lubango, where they are known as the Ouivamo. Many of them were forced to return to Namibia between 1928 and 1930 by white South Africans.
- Marco Abreu, of the Angola national football team was born in Lubango in 1974.
See also
References
- ^ SáDaBandeiraAnosOuro.wmv, a film of Sá da Bandeira, Overseas Province of Angola, before 1975.
- ^ "Weatherbase: Historical weather for Sa da Bandeira, Angola". Retrieved February 13, 2010.