Huambo

History

Huambo receives its name from Wambu, one of the 14 old Ovimbundu kingdoms of the central Angolan plateau. The Ovimbundu, an ethnic group that originally arrived from Eastern Africa, had founded their central kingdom of Bailundu as early as the 15th century. Wambu was one of the smaller kingdoms and was hierarchically under the king of Bailundu, though it enjoyed a considerable degree of independence. Whereas Bailundo is mentioned in some 18th and 19th-century chronicles in connection to a trading route linking it with Viye (Bie), Wambu was only really known with the advent of the construction of the Benguela Railway by the Portuguese. Though the kings of Bailundu and Wambu (particularly Ekuikui II and Katiavala I) opposed the penetration of the railway by ambushing workers and settlers, they were eventually subdued by the Portuguese Army and Huambo was officially founded on 8 August 1912 by the Governor-General of Angola Norton de Matos. The origin of Huambo and the economic importance it reached under Portuguese administration is very closely linked to the construction of the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela (Benguela Railway), which had started in the coastal town of Lobito in 1902. This railroad had been devised by the British entrepreneur Sir Robert Williams as the easiest and cheapest way to link the rich copper mines of Katanga, in Belgian Congo, with a point on the coast from which the mineral could be exported. The Lobito bay was admittedly the best natural seaport in the whole continent. The construction of the railway initially advanced with great difficulty, due to the ruggedness of the terrain, the prevalence of malaria and, to some extent, the resistance of the natives. Huambo was found to be a strategic place for many reasons. A benign climate (greatly due…

Geography

Situated in the Angolan central highlands, Huambo is located near the headwaters of the Cunene River. The elevation of Huambo is as it is on a high plateau. Huambo features a subtropical highland climate (Köppen: Cwb), with wet summers from October through April and dry winters between May and September. Despite its location in the tropics, due to its high altitude, Huambo features mild, spring-like temperatures throughout the course of the year, a characteristic common among cities with this climate. September is the warmest month with a mean of , and June is the coolest month with a mean of The city sees plentiful precipitation during the course of the year, averaging nearly of rain, although because of the dry season May to September receives significantly less precipitation, with June and July receiving no rain at all. Due to the higher altitude, temperatures in Huambo are only slightly higher than in the city of Pretoria located almost 2000 km further south-east. There is more sunshine in the winter (particularly June and July) than the summer, and Huambo receives 2273 hours of sunshine in total.

Most-observed species

• Southern Cordonbleu

  Uraeginthus angolensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  19
• Pied Crow

  Corvus albus Statius Muller, 1776 · Aves
  17
• Common Bulbul

  Pycnonotus barbatus (Desfontaines, 1789) · Aves
  14
• Yellow Bishop

  Euplectes capensis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  11
• White-browed Coucal

  Centropus superciliosus Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1829 · Aves
  11
• Variable Sunbird

  Cinnyris venustus (Shaw, 1799) · Aves
  11
• African Paradise-Flycatcher

  Terpsiphone viridis (Statius Muller, 1776) · Aves
  9
• Tawny-flanked Prinia

  Prinia subflava (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  9