Tômbua

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Tômbua
Tômbua (Angola)
Tômbua
Tômbua
Coordinates 15 ° 48 ′  S , 11 ° 51 ′  E Coordinates: 15 ° 48 ′  S , 11 ° 51 ′  E
Basic data
Country Angola

province

Namibe
Município Tômbua
ISO 3166-2 AO-NAM
Comuna Tômbua
Residents 200,000 (2014)
founding 1865
politics
mayor José Chindongo António

Tômbua (also Tômbwa , Tombwa , Tómbua , Tombua or Tomboa ) is a city and a district in Angola . Until 1975 the place was called Porto Alexandre . The city is located around the bay and the port of the same name at Baia dos Tigres ( Portuguese for Tiger Bay).

The Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário in Tômbua

history

Before the arrival of the Portuguese , the area was uninhabited, people only came here for occasional fishing. José Guerreiro de Mendonça from Olhão , who came here in 1860, is considered the first Portuguese to be here. More Portuguese from the Algarve were the first to settle here in 1861, coming from Moçâmedes , following an exploration of the region on behalf of the Portuguese royal family that same year. The place has been permanently settled since 1865, initially under the name Enseada do Leão . One of the founders is Manuel Baptista, who received the first fishing permit here in 1865. The coast only promised desert, but the rich fishing grounds offered an incentive to settle.

Under Norton de Matos , Governor of Angola from 1912 to 1915, new houses were built for settlers. All state-built houses could not be sold until 10 years after the handover at the earliest. In 1915, 60 Portuguese settlers lived in Porto Alexandre. After an initial initiative in 1920, the young Republic of Portugal began further colonization in the area in 1923. The only ten new settler families, mainly from Madeira Island , received newly built and fully furnished houses on site. The abundant fishing was also noticed by British and French ships, but they were deterred by the desert landscape around the small town. However, the rich harvest of the fishermen enabled the place to continue growing despite the adverse circumstances. In the years that followed, factories were set up to process fish oil and fish meal , which, thanks to its high quality, was mainly exported. In 1958/59 the Portuguese architect Nuno Teotónio Pereira developed a settlement around the port facility in the port of the Bay of Tômbua ( Baía dos Tigres ). In 1973 it consisted of 400 inhabited houses. In the course of the significant economic growth in Angola since the 1960s and especially during the early 1970s, Porto Alexandre continued to grow. The city soon became one of the more famous places in Angola. The football club Independente Clube de Porto Alexandre , which won the Angolan championship three times in a row from 1969 to 1971 , also contributed to this .

After Angola's independence in 1975, the Portuguese place name was replaced by the current name. As a result of the Angolan civil war (1975-2002), the place experienced significant setbacks. Since the peace treaty in 2002 and the government's reconstruction programs, Tômbua has been experiencing an economic and urban recovery. The district hopes that the resumption of fishing will provide important impetus for further development. The Tômbua fishery is also considered important at the national level, and Angola's most important fishing port even before Baía Farta .

Attractions

The old cinema of Porto Alexandre in Tômbua

Tombua is a small and quiet town, which itself shows little Attractions, but outside some attractions, including the only in the local Namib Desert occurring Welwitschia , an unusually striking desert plant. In the provincial capital Moçâmedes , 75 km away , agencies offer organized excursions through the Tômbua district.

Rock paintings have been found in five locations in Tômbua County . Together with the cave paintings of Citundo, Ulo and Caningiri, they represent the most important of their kind in Angola; an application for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List is in preparation.

Also worth seeing is the oasis and the surrounding rock formations of the Arco (Portuguese for arch), just outside the village of Tômbua. There are also grottos and prehistoric cave paintings.

Sports

The Independente Sport Clube , founded in 1928 by local fishermen, won the championship of the Portuguese colony Angola three times in a row from 1969. After independence in 1975 he made it to the finals in the national cup, the Taça de Angola . In 1999 he rose from the highest Angolan league, the Girabola . He plays his home games in the 3,000-seat Campo do Independente , and after the club's sports complex also Electro Clube .

administration

Tômbua is the seat of a district of the same name ( Município ) in the province of Namibe . The district has around 200,000 inhabitants (2014 estimate). From now on, the 2014 census should provide reliable population data.

The district of Tômbua is made up of two communities (Comunas):

environment

A Welwitschia mirabilis in the Namib Desert

A serious problem in the Tômbua district is the advancement of the Namib desert , which threatens agriculture and, through silting up and subsequent devastation, for example of cemeteries, is a serious impairment of social life in the district. Since the end of the civil war in 2002, u. a. Efforts were made with planting to curb the advance of the desert.

In December 2013 the government announced a new program to push back the advancing desert in Tômbua County. With the help of Israeli specialists, as part of the 900 million kwanzas (around 6.5 million euros ) project, wells are being drilled, new fields with 6 km long irrigation systems are being built, and a variety of agricultural equipment is being purchased to enable sustainable management. The project began in 2014 with the recording and quantification of soils and subsoils.

economy

Thanks to the rich fishing grounds off its coast, Tômbua has traditionally been an important fishing town. After fishing here came to a largely standstill during the Angolan civil war (1975-2002), the government has been promoting fishing and fish processing in the district for some time. For example, boats are given to young fishermen, some of whom come together in fishing cooperatives and receive further training opportunities, and investments in the cold chain and the district's industrial park are promoted.

The economic upswing in the district is meanwhile also noticeable in increased tax revenues.

Web links

Commons : Tômbua  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article of January 27, 2014 on the introduction of the new mayor of Tômbua , state news agency ANGOP , accessed on May 24, 2014
  2. ^ Paulo Salvador : Recordar Angola. 4th edition, Quetzal / Bertrand , Lisbon 2007, p. 174f ( ISBN 978-972-564-629-8 )
  3. ↑ Hetty Rochester Diaries 1915-1916 , accessed May 24, 2014
  4. ↑ Paulo Salvador: Recordar Angola - 2 ° volume 1st edition, Quetzal Editores, Lisbon 2006, p. 177ff ( ISBN 978-972-564-671-7 )
  5. ↑ Entry of the port of Baía dos Tigres in the Portuguese list of architectural monuments SIPA , accessed on May 24, 2014
  6. ↑ Photos of the 1971 championship of the Independente Porto Alexandre on a Portuguese blog, accessed on May 24, 2014
  7. ↑ Article of August 2, 2013 on the importance of tômbuas for the fishing industry in Angola , accessed on May 24, 2014
  8. ^ Joost De Raeymaeker: À Descoberta de Angola. 1st edition, Oficina do Livro, Alfragide 2012, p. 159f ( ISBN 978-989-741-009-3 )
  9. ^ Joost De Raeymaeker: À Descoberta de Angola. 1st edition, Oficina do Livro, Alfragide 2012, p. 37 ( ISBN 978-989-741-009-3 )
  10. ^ Joost De Raeymaeker: À Descoberta de Angola. 1st edition, Oficina do Livro, Alfragide 2012, p. 157 ( ISBN 978-989-741-009-3 )
  11. ↑ Article of January 14, 2014 about the preparations in Tômbua County for the 2014 census , state news agency ANGOP, accessed on May 24, 2014
  12. ↑ Article from December 3, 2013 about the 900 million program to combat the desert in Tômbua , state news agency ANGOP, accessed on May 24, 2014
  13. ↑ Article from April 25, 2014 about new boats for young fishermen in the district , state news agency ANGOP, accessed on May 24, 2014
  14. ↑ Article of April 14, 2014 about increased tax revenues in the Tômbua district , state news agency ANGOP, accessed on May 24, 2014