Huíla is one of the 18 provinces of Angola, located in the south of the country, being the richest province in the southern Angolan portion. Its capital is the city and municipality of Lubango. According to the population projections of 2018, prepared by the National Statistics Institute, it has a population of 2,819,253 inhabitants and a size of 79 023 km², being the most populous province of Angola after Luanda.
Huíla comprises 14 municipalities:
Caconda, Cacula, Caluquembe, Chiange, Chibia, Chicomba, Chipindo, Cuvango, Humpata, Jamba, Lubango, Matala, Quilengues and Quipungo.
The European presence in the region began in 1627, following a Portuguese-Spanish expedition from the city of Mocamedes to the Huíla plateau, reaching the Serra da Chela, from where it was possible to see a vast valley dominated by the soba Calubango, from the country of Humbi-Onene.
Construction of fortresses
One of the greatest landmarks of colonization in Huíla occurred with the construction of the Alva Nova Fortress in 1682, after an agreement with the Galangues.
However, the colonial presence remained tense until the Galangue War (1768-1769), where the Portuguese defeated King Caconda, managing to force the resumption of the Fortress of Alva Nova (or Alba Nova, renamed Fortaleza de Caconda).
From 1845, Major João Francisco Garcia moved from the village of Mozambique to Huíla, already in charge of Huíla, in charge of installing a prison in Huíla.
Definitive colonial fixation
The colonial settlement came with two robust colonies formed in Huilan lands, the first, of Boers, called Colony of San Januário in Humpata; led by Jacobus Botha, in 1884 it had 325 boers installed in 60 houses, owning 50 cars (wagons) and about a thousand heads of cattle.
Officially inaugurated on February 19, 1882, its emergence occurred with the transfer of these from Cunene to Huíla, after the First Boer War, where 600 families headed for the lands of Damaralândia, some of whom died during the pilgrimage, known as the journeys to the headquarters land (Dorsland Trek).
Later they also formed a colony in the commune of Palanca.
These colonies, and the others developed, gave rise to an ethnic subgroup called Angola Bôeres.
The second robust wave of colonization occurred with the arrival of a Madeiran commission, led by José Augusto da Câmara Leme, who decided to embark on an expedition to Moçamedes and the Huíla plateau.
They arrived in Lubango on December 24, 1884, where the former muílas ombala was located. On January 19, 1885 the Colônia Sá da Bandeira was founded, with Câmara Leme being appointed head of the Lubango municipality on February 19, 1890, and; military commander of the municipality of Lubango, with the rank of 2nd line captain, on October 19, 1890. On September 2, 1901, the new district of Huíla, based in Lubango, was created by the dismemberment of the district of Moçamedes.
this settlement, by the same decree, elevated to the category of village, with the name of Vila de Sá da Bandeira.
On May 31, 1923 the Railroad of Moçamedes arrived in Lubango, marking a period of great economic turn for the provincial district of Huíla, insofar as it could communicate more efficiently with the coast.
War of Independence and Civil War
From the Liberation War to the independence of Angola and the subsequent Angolan Civil War, Huíla was directly affected, remaining free from fighting during relatively short periods of time.
Some of the biggest battles took place at the Cassinga Mine; it had been abandoned by Portuguese supervisors and fallen into decay during the Angolan Civil War.
Occupied by the Namibian People's Liberation Army (PLAN), the military wing of the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO), it was adopted as a base for insurgent attacks in South West Africa during the South African border war.
Its bases soon became a refugee camp. The South African troops with the support of the American launched a terrible attack, in the episode that went down in history as the battle of Cassinga, where the majority of the dead were civilians.
The presence of PLAN and Cuban military in Cassinga and the rest of Huila it attracted the attention of the South African Defense Force, which launched Operation Savana first and then Operation Rena. The province was still the site of more fighting during Operation Askari in December 1983.
Geography
It is limited to the north with the provinces of Benguela and Huambo, to the east with the provinces of Bié and Cuando-Cubango, to the south with the province of Cunene, and to the west with the province of Namibe.
Huíla has no coastline, being an inland province. The main geographical accidents are Serra da Chela, Serra da Galangue, the plateaus of Huíla and Humpata and Serra da Leba.
In the latter is the Tundavala Rift, one of the largest chasms in the African continent. The main watercourse of the province is the Cunene River, which crosses the territory from north to south.
Another important river is the Curoca, which flows west.
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