The aim of this article is to trace the history of Ambriz between the 1840s and 1870s in order to illuminate the issues of political and economic order that mediated relations with the colonial power based in Luanda, as well as reveal the characteristics of trade made by African societies, especially those articulated by the port and the Lower Congo. Beyond a purely economic approach, we seek to understand the business activities in a dialogic relationship in which African sectors impose rules and standards, and these in turn reveal conceptions and forms of association whose logic extrapolates an essentially Eurocentric perspective.
Central West Africa; nineteenth century; Joachim John Monteiro; Ambriz; mines of Bembe