Soyo
| Soyo | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Coordinates | 6 ° 8 ′ S , 12 ° 22 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Angola | ||
| Zaire | |||
| Município | Soyo | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | AO-ZAI | ||
| Comuna | Soyo | ||
| height | 12 m | ||
| surface | 5572 km² | ||
| Residents | 267,000 (2019) | ||
| density | 47.9 Ew. / km² | ||
| politics | |||
| mayor | Lúcia Maria Tomás | ||
 The loading port on the island of Kuanda near Soyo
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Soyo (before independence Santo António do Zaire ) is a city in the Angolan province of Zaire and a major port on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Congo .
Soyo is located in the second largest oil producing region in the country with a daily production of 700,000 barrels.
history
Early history
Soyo (original spelling Sonho , pronounced Sonjo ) was a province of the Kingdom of Congo , which stretched 100 kilometers inland from the mouth of the Congo River to the Loze River . It was already an administrative unit whose leader or governor called himself mwene Soyo or Lord of Soyo when the Portuguese appeared in this part of Africa in 1482 under Diogo Cão . In 1491 the leader Soyos was the first to be baptized in the Kingdom of the Congo.
Soyo was usually ruled by a member of the Congo royal family in the 16th century, probably appointed by the king for a limited period. The leader at the time of the appearance of the Portuguese, baptized as Manuel, is said to have been an uncle of the ruling king. Soyo was allowed to expand within the Congo and conquer other areas for royal rule. For example, Nzinga a Kuwu , the king of Congo ruling in 1491, allowed Soyo's territory to expand in line with the spread of his leaders' baptism. This expansion allowed Soyo to control several sub-provinces including Pambala, Kima and Tubii, along the Congo River, and Lovata (among others) on the Atlantic coast.
Soyo's port of Mpinda, located close to the mouth of the Congo River, became an important trading port of the Congo in the 16th century. A Portuguese community settled here and traded in slaves, ivory and copper from the port. A royal investigation in Congo in 1548 found that 4,000 slaves were shipped annually from Mpinda to the island of São Tomé and on to Brazil.
In the early 1590s, Miguel was made a count when Álvaro II (of Congo) introduced European nobility names and titles. However, it did not quite match Álvaro's ambitions and a prolonged period of tension between Soyo and Congo resulted in the recognition of Miguel as a more or less independent leader.
Later kings, however, withdrew and continued to appoint their own candidates in Soyo. Paulo, installed in Soyo by King Pedro II, served a long time from 1621 to 1641. Paulo, a relative of the installing King Pedro II, however, played something like the family's partisans and was often involved in the complicated civil wars, plagued the Congo in the 1620s and 1630s.
independence
Daniel da Silva replaced Paulo in 1641 and came into direct opposition to the newly enthroned King Garcia II , who tried to depose him. Daniel resisted and claimed the right of the Counts of Soyo to be elected by their own nobility. Military attempts by Garcia to subjugate Daniel failed in 1641, 1643, 1645 and 1656, with some heavy losses. This is primarily because the royal armies could not attack the wooden fortifications of Soyos, called Nfinda Ngula, near the capital.
As Soyo became more independent, its rulers assumed the title of prince and, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, eventually became a grand prince. Soyo was actively involved in the politics of the Congo during and after the reign of Garcia II, especially as a defender of the Kimpanzu branch of the family. The Counts of Soyo supported them and gave them protection. B. 1656, when a conspiracy by the sons of Pedro II failed to depose Garcia.
In 1670 the Portuguese governor tried to take over the Congo, which was in a civil war, and invaded Soyo. After a first victory, the Portuguese troops of Soyo were devastated in the Battle of Kitombo in Nfinda Ngula near the capital. Victory Day, October 18th, St. Luke, was celebrated as an important holiday.
It was not until two centuries later, when Portugal began to occupy what is now Angola in endless wars, that Soyo was also occupied and the city was renamed Santo António do Zaire.
present
Since large-scale oil deposits were discovered off the coast of northwestern Angola towards the end of the colonial period, Santo António do Zaire has become a center of oil production alongside Cabinda . On April 5, 1974, the previous small town ( Vila ) was elevated to a city ( Cidade ).
After independence in 1975, the city dropped its Portuguese place name and has been called Soyo again since then. Today it is seen as one of the most important bases for Angola's oil production.
economy
In 2013, Angola's first liquefied gas plant was opened in Soyo . It is one of the world's most modern plants for processing liquefied natural gas ( LNG). There are also tanks for 88,000 m³ propane , 59,000 m³ butane and 108,000 m³ condensate . This includes three docking points for loading and a fleet of seven LNG tankers. The companies Sonangol (22.8%), Chevron (36.4%), BP (13.6%), ENI (13.6%) and Total (13.6% ) are involved in the investment of 10 billion US dollars. ) involved.
administration
Soyo is the seat of a district of the same name ( Município ) in the province of Zaire . The district covers 5,572 km² and has around 267,000 inhabitants (2019 estimate). The 2014 census showed 227,175 inhabitants.
Four communities (Comunas) make up the Soyo district:
- Pedra de Feitiço
- Quêlo
- Soyo
- Sumba
Sports
The football club Académica Petróleo do Kwanda , founded in 1987, is based in Soyo. He plays his home games in the 10,000-seat Estádio do Imbondeiro stadium . The club played in the top division of Angola, in Girabola , until he was relegated to the second division ( Gira Angola ) at the end of the 2012 season. In April 2014, the club's president Avelino da Graça announced the goal of bringing the club back to Girabola in 2015 with financial, administrative and sporting efforts.
sons and daughters of the town
- José Joana André (* 1963), manager and politician
Web links
- Soyo data from Falling Rain Genomics
- Soyo County profile on the 2014 Census Official Website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article from April 2014 on the collapse of the bridge between Soyo and Luanda , state news agency ANGOP , accessed on April 29, 2014
- ^ René Pélissier : Les guerres grises. Résistance et revoltes en Angola (1845–1951) , Orgeval / Montamets: self-published, 1978
- ↑ Article of April 11, 2012 of the news portal www.portaldeangola.com, accessed on April 29, 2014
- ↑ Angola LNG sells the first batch of LPG ots.at , January 28, 2014, accessed on June 18, 2019.
- ↑ Population statistics citypopulation.de , accessed on June 18, 2019.
- ^ Profile of the Académica Petróleo do Kwanda on www.fussballzz.de, accessed on April 29, 2014
- ↑ Final table of the 2012 season on the Liga Girabola website , accessed on April 29, 2014
- ↑ Article of April 19, 2014 by the state news agency ANGOP , accessed on April 29, 2014