Abstract
The Intertropical Convergence Zone annually moves south from equatorial latitudes, bringing rain to the Upper Zambezi Basin, though it adopts a puzzling northwest to southeast configuration. Long-term average rainfall has been roughly stable for centuries, but conditions in the Indian Ocean, rather than in the Atlantic Ocean, affect variations between years and decades. Written sources exist 1680s–1830s for Angola, whose rivers supply most of the waters reaching the floodplains of the Upper Zambezi. The quality and coverage of documents improve markedly from the 1840s, and further information comes from tree-rings from the mid-1790s and from oral traditions and testimonies. This chapter charts variations in rainfall and floods, but without attempting to link such changes closely to climatic drivers. A better understanding of weather patterns possibly sheds new light on other historical phenomena, and it might also assist in making better predictions for future economic planning and international negotiations.
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Notes
- 1.
Sharon E. Nicholson, ‘Spatial Teleconnections in African Rainfall: A Comparison of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Patterns,’ Holocene, 24, 12 (2014), 1846. See also: Sharon E. Nicholson, Chris Funk, and Andreas H. Fink, ‘Rainfall over the African Continent from the Nineteenth Through the Twenty-First Century,’ Global and Planetary Change, 165, (2018), 114, 119; Mark R. Jury, ‘The Coherent Variability of African River Flows: Composite Climate Structure and the Atlantic Circulation,’ Water SA, 29, 1 (2003), 4.
- 2.
Jean Maley, ‘Synthèse sur l’histoire de la végétation et du climat en Afrique centrale au cours du quaternaire recent,’ in Peuplements anciens et actuels des forêts tropicales, eds. Alain Froment and Jean Guffroy (Paris: IRD, 2003), 53–75.
- 3.
Frederick C. Selous, A Hunter’s Wanderings in Africa, Being a Narrative of Nine Years spent amongst the Game of the Far Interior of South Africa (London: Richard Bentley & Son. 1881), 392; Kabunda Kayongo, ‘The Social Evolution of the Barotse Society in the Nineteenth Century’ (Unpublished MA diss., University of Lund, 1983), 47–49; Paul Shaw, ‘The Desiccation of Lake Ngami: An Historical Perspective,’ Geographical Journal, 151, 3 (1985), 318–26; Lawrence S. Flint, ‘Historical Constructions of Postcolonial Citizenship and Subjectivity: The Case of the Lozi Peoples of Southern Central Africa’ (Unpublished PhD diss., University of Birmingham, 2004), 29.
- 4.
Joseph C. Miller, ‘The Significance of Drought, Disease and Famine in the Agriculturally Marginal Zone of West-Central Africa,’ Journal of African History, 23, 1 (1982), 17–61; Joseph C. Miller, Way of Death: Merchant Capitalism and the Angolan Slave Trade, 1730–1830 (London: James Currey, 1988); Jill R. Dias, ‘Famine and Disease in the History of Angola c. 1830–1930,’ Journal of African History, 22, 3, (1981), 349–78.
- 5.
No general publication resulted. For the purposes of this chapter, see: A.D. Roberts, ‘A Note on Drought, Flood, Famine, and Pestilence in and Around Zambia,’ African History Seminar (SOAS, 15 May 1974); A. Livneh, ‘Some Notes on Drought, Famine, and Pestilence in Rhodesia,’ African History Seminar (SOAS, 12 June 1974); William G. Clarence-Smith, ‘Drought in Southern Angola and Northern Namibia, 1837–1945,’ African History Seminar (SOAS, 12 June 1974); William G. Clarence-Smith, ‘Climatic Variations and Natural Disasters in Barotseland, 1847–1907,’ History Staff Seminars (University of Zambia, 1 June 1977).
- 6.
For example, see: Gwyn Prins, The Hidden Hippopotamus: Reappraisal in African History; the Early Colonial Experience in Western Zambia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 128; Meredith McKittrick, ‘Making Rain, Making Maps: Competing Geographies of Water and Power in Southwestern Africa,’ Journal of African History, 58, 2 (2017), 187–212.
- 7.
Peter Hutchinson, The Climate of Zambia (Lusaka: Zambia Geographical Association, 1974), 4, 9, 18.
- 8.
Nkosinathi G. Xulu, Hector Chikoree, Mary-Jane M. Bopape, and Nthaduleni S. Nethengwe, ‘Climatology of the Mascarene High and Its Influence on Weather and Climate over Southern Africa,’ Climate, 8, 86 (2020), 6; Chris J.C. Reason and Sandi Smart, ‘Tropical South East Atlantic Warm Events and Associated Rainfall Anomalies over Southern Africa,’ Frontiers in Environmental Science, 3 (2015), 10.
- 9.
Xulu et al., ‘Climatology of the Mascarene High,’ 1–11.
- 10.
Hutchinson, The Climate of Zambia, 9, 18–19.
- 11.
Joëlle L. Gergis and Anthony M. Fowler, ‘A History of ENSO Events Since A.D. 1525: Implications for Future Climate Change,’ Climatic Change, 92, 3 (2009), 343–87, esp. Fig. 5; Matthew D. Therrell, David W. Stahle, Lydia P. Ries, and Herman H. Shugart, ‘Tree-Ring Reconstructed Rainfall Variability in Zimbabwe,’ Climate Dynamics, 26, (2006), 677–85; Philip Gooding, email, 11 Mar. 2021.
- 12.
Reason and Smart, ‘Tropical South East Atlantic Warm Events,’ 2.
- 13.
Ibid., passim; Brian J. Huntley, ‘Angola in Outline: Physiography, Climate, and Patterns of Biodiversity,’ in Biodiversity of Angola: Science and Conservation, a Modern Synthesis, eds. Brian J. Huntley; Vladimir Russo; Fernanda Lages; and Nuno Ferrand (Cham: Springer Open, 2019), 26–28; Angola, O Clima de Angola (Luanda: Serviços Meteorológicos, 1955).
- 14.
Hutchinson, The Climate of Zambia, 4, 9, 18.
- 15.
See, among many works: Max Gluckman, The Economy of the Central Barotse Plain (Livingstone: Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, 1941); Eugene Hermitte, ‘An Economic History of Barotseland, 1800–1940’ (Unpublished PhD diss., Northwestern University, 1974), Prins, The Hidden Hippopotamus; Jack Hogan, ‘The Ends of Slavery in Barotseland, Western Zambia, c.1800–1925’ (Unpublished PhD diss., University of Kent, 2014); John Mendelsohn and B. Weber, Atlas e Perfil do Moxico, Angola—An Atlas and Profile of Moxico, Angola (Windhoek: Raison, 2015).
- 16.
Sakwiba Muyunda, ‘Agricultural Change in Sesheke District of Western Zambia, 1899–1964’ (Unpublished MA diss., University of Zambia, 2019).
- 17.
Some historical overviews include: Gerald L. Caplan, The Elites of Barotseland, 1878–1969: A Political History of Zambia’s Western Province (London: Christopher Hurst & Co., 1970); Mutumba Mainga, Bulozi Under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia (London: Longman. 1973); Hermitte, ‘An Economic History of Barotseland’; William G. Clarence-Smith, ‘Slaves, Commoners and Landlords in Bulozi, c. 1875 to 1906,’ Journal of African History, 20, 2 (1979), 219–34; Prins, The Hidden Hippopotamus; Kayongo ‘The Social Evolution of the Barotse Society;’ Flint, ‘Historical Constructions of Postcolonial Citizenship;’ Hogan ‘The Ends of Slavery in Barotseland.’
- 18.
Brett Hilton-Barber and Lee R. Berger, ‘Victoria Falls Seasonal Weather Calendar’ (2010): http://www.siyabona.com/explore-victoria-falls-seasonal-weather-calendar.html [Accessed: 20 Aug. 2020].
- 19.
Eugène Béguin, Les Ma-Rotse: Étude géographique et ethnographique du Haut-Zambèze (Lausanne: Librairie Benda, 1903), 37–38; Gluckman, The Economy of the Central Barotse Plain, 53–66; Hermitte, ‘An Economic History of Barotseland,’ 88–93; Flint, ‘Historical Constructions of Postcolonial Citizenship,’ 29.
- 20.
Lawrence S. Flint, ‘Contradictions and Challenges in Representing the Past: the Kuomboka Festival of Western Zambia,’ Journal of Southern African Studies, 32, 4 (2006), 701–17; Prins, The Hidden Hippopotamus, 115–23.
- 21.
Hermitte ‘An Economic History of Barotseland,’ 73–88.
- 22.
Muyunda, ‘Agricultural Change in Sesheke District,’ 32–34, 76.
- 23.
Ibid.; Hermitte ‘An Economic History of Barotseland,’ 74–76, 81–85, 150 (fn. 9), 342.
- 24.
Lawrence S. Flint, ‘Socio-ecological Vulnerability and Resilience in an Arena of Rapid Environmental Change: Community Adaptation to Climate Variability in the Upper Zambezi Valley Floodplain,’ Working Paper of the Research Institute for Humanities and Nature, Kyoto (2008): http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/resilience/files/WorkingPaper/WP2008-004.Flint.pdf [Accessed: 10 Aug. 2020].
- 25.
Hilton-Barber and Berger ‘Victoria Falls Seasonal Weather Calendar.’
- 26.
Henry Zimba, Banda Kawawa, Anthony Chabala, Wilson Phiri, Peter Selsam, Markus Meinhardt, and Imasiku Nyambe, ‘Assessment of Trends in Inundation Extent in the Barotse Floodplain, Upper Zambezi River Basin: A Remote Sensing-Based Approach,’ Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 15 (2018), 149–70; J.H. Chaplin, ‘On Some Aspects of Rainfall in Northern Rhodesia,’ Northern Rhodesia Journal, 2, 6 (1954–1955), 17–18.
- 27.
Journal des Missions Évangéliques, 69 (1894), 521–23; 70 (1895), 389–91; 71 (1896), 422–23.
- 28.
Murray Armor, ‘Notes on the Abnormal Flood Conditions Experienced in Barotseland During Recent Years’ (Unpublished paper by District Commissioner of Kalabo, n.d.). See also: Hogan, ‘The Ends of Slavery in Barotseland,’ 50.
- 29.
Angola, O Clima de Angola.
- 30.
Huntley, ‘Angola in Outline,’ 22–28; Judith Listowel, The Other Livingstone (Lewes: Julian Friedmann, 1974), 116, reporting Lázló Magyar’s observations from the 1850s.
- 31.
For partial figures, see: Kawawa Banda, emails, 8 and 11 Mar. 2021; Innocent C. Chomba, Victoria Ngwnya, and Mulema Mataa, First Field Data Campaign on the Barotse Floodplain: WASP/WeMAST Project Report (Lusaka: School of Mines, University of Zambia, 2019); Zimba, ‘Assessment of Trends in Inundation Extent;’ Elias A. Mohammed, ‘Hydrodynamics Flood Modelling in Barotse Floodplain, Zambia: Effectiveness of Digital Elevation Models’ (Unpublished MSc diss., Abba Minch University, Ethiopia, 2015), 25, 27; Eric Deneut, Charles K. Chileya, and Christophe Nativel, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the Improved Use of Priority Traditional Canals in the Barotse Sub-Basin of the Zambezi (Sunningdale: NIRAS, 2014), 53. For rivers of Southeast Angola, see: John Mendelsohn and Antonio Martins, ‘River Catchments and Development Prospects in South-Eastern Angola’ (2018), 32–34.
- 32.
John Mendelsohn, email, 30 Sept. 2020.
- 33.
Chaplin, ‘On Some Aspects of Rainfall,’ 2, 6 (1954–1955), 22, fn. 2.
- 34.
Hermitte, ‘An Economic History of Barotseland,’ 88–89; Prins, The Hidden Hippopotamus, 20; Hogan, ‘The Ends of Slavery in Barotseland,’ 50.
- 35.
José Pedro Gamito de Saldanha Matos, ‘Hydraulic-Hydrologic Model for the Zambezi River, Using Satellite Data and Artificial Intelligence Techniques’ (Unpublished PhD diss., École Polytechique Fédérale de Lausanne 2014), Appendices, A-215–A-217.
- 36.
Miller, ‘The Significance of Drought,’ 21, 46–51; Miller, Way of Death, 150 (Ngangela).
- 37.
Miller, ‘The Significance of Drought,’ 21, 46–51; Miller, Way of Death, 701 (Benguela). See also: Elias Alexandre da Silva Corrêa, História de Angola (Lisbon: Agência Geral das Colônias.) I, 111, and II, 13–14. This latter text was likely composed in the 1790s.
- 38.
José C. Curto, ‘Women Along the Catumbela River, 1797: Land Ownership, Agricultural Production, Labour and Trade,’ Canadian Journal of African Studies, 54, 3 (2020), 373–93. The author kindly let me see a pre-publication file.
- 39.
Flint, ‘Historical Constructions of Postcolonial Citizenship,’ 29.
- 40.
Lawrence Flint, emails 17–18 December 2020. For a list of rulers, see: Ibid., 278; Mainga, Bulozi under the Luyana Kings, 215.
- 41.
Miller, ‘The Significance of Drought,’ 21, 51–54. See also: Corrêa, História de Angola, I, 50–51 (fn. 3), II, 111, 118.
- 42.
J. van Reenen, Report of the Drought Investigation Commission of South West Africa, 1924 (Pretoria: Weather Bureau, 1949), 23.
- 43.
Roberts, ‘A Note on Drought,’ 1–2. For Kazembe, see: Richard F. Burton (ed.), The Lands of Cazembe: Lacerda’s journey to Cazembe in 1798; also journey of the pombeiros, P.J. Baptista and Amaro José, across Africa from Angola to Tette on the Zambeze; and a résumé of the journey of MM. Monteiro and Gamitto (London: John Murray, 1873), 78, 92–93.
- 44.
See: Richard H. Grove, ‘The Great El Niño of 1789–93 and Its Global Consequences: Reconstructing an Extreme Climate Event in World Environmental History,’ The Medieval History Journal, 10, 1–2 (2006), 75–98; Vinita Damodaran, Rob Allan, Astrid E.J. Ogilvie, Gaston R. Demarée, Joëlle Gergis, Takehiko Mikami, Alan Mikahil, Sharon E. Nicholson, Stefan Norrgård, and James Hamilton, ‘The 1780s: Global Climate Anomalies, Floods, Droughts, and Famines,’ in The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History, eds. Sam White, Christian Pfister, and Franz Mauelshagen (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), 517–50.
- 45.
Michael Garstang, Anthony D. Coleman, and Matthew Therrell, ‘Climate and the Mfecane,’ South African Journal of Science, 110, 5–6 (2014), 1–6.
- 46.
Nicholson, ‘Spatial Teleconnections in African Rainfall,’ 1841, 1846.
- 47.
Miller, ‘The Significance of Drought,’ 21.
- 48.
Curto, ‘Women along the Catumbela River,’ 1–5. See also: Antonio de Carvalho e Menezes, Memoria Geografica e Politica das Possessões Portuguezas n’Affrica Occidental, que diz respeito aos Reinos de Angola, Benguela, e suas dependencias (Lisbon: Typografia Carvalhense, 1834), 40–41; Tito Omboni, Viaggi nell’Africa Occidentale (Milan: Stabilimento Civelli e Comp., 1845), 80; G. Tams, Visit to the Portuguese Possessions in South-Western Africa (London: T. C. Newby, 1845), I, 80, 94, 101, 193–94, 199–200, 205–7, 214, and II, 78; Joaquim António de Carvalho e Menezes, Demonstração Geográphica e Política do Territorio Portuguez na Guiné Inferior, que abrange o Reino de Angola, Benguella, e suas dependencias; causas da sua decadencia e atrasamento, suas conhecidas producções, e os meios que se podem applicar para o seu melhoramento e utilidade geral da nação (Rio de Janeiro: Typ. Clássica de F. A. de Almeida, 1848), 80–81.
- 49.
Ralph Delgado, A Famosa e Histórica Benguela: Catálogo dos governadores, 1779–1940 (Lisbon: Edições Cosmos, 1940), 56, 91.
- 50.
Francisco Xavier Lopes, ‘O Dombe Grande da Quisamba,’ Annaes do Conselho Utramarino, Parte Não-Oficial, janeiro de 1859 a dezembro de 1861, 2 (1867), 180.
- 51.
José Joaquim Lopes de Lima and Francisco Maria Bordalo, Ensaios Sobre Statística das Possessões Portuguesas na África Occidental e Oriental, na Ásia Occidental, na China, e na Oceania (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional, 1844–1862), III, Part 2, 40.
- 52.
Delgado, A Famosa e Histórica Benguela, 27–28.
- 53.
Ralph Delgado, Ao Sul do Cuanza: Ocupação e aproveitamento do antigo reino de Benguela, 1483–1942 (Lisbon: author’s edition, 1944), 285, 588–89; Miller, ‘The significance of drought,’ 57.
- 54.
João Francisco Garcia, ‘Explorações no sertão de Benguella: Derrota que fez o Tenente de Artilheria João Francisco Garcia, commandante do novo estabelecimento da Bahia de Mossâmedes,’ Annaes Marítimos e Coloniaes, 4, 6 (1844), 240, 243–45.
- 55.
Therrell, Stahle, Ries, and Shugart, ‘Tree-Ring Reconstructed Rainfall Variability,’ Fig. 5a. The raw figures are at: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo-search/study/6297 [Accessed: 1 Apr. 2021].
- 56.
Sharon E. Nicholson, ‘The Nature of Rainfall Variability over Africa on Time Scales of Decades to Millennia,’ Global and Planetary Change, 26 (2000), 152.
- 57.
James Chapman, Travels in the Interior of South Africa, 1849–1863 (London: Bell and Daldy, 1868), I, 203.
- 58.
Ibid., II, 61–64.
- 59.
Selous, A Hunter’s Wanderings, 392. The Start Date for Sibitwane’s Reign is Uncertain.
- 60.
Shaw, ‘The Desiccation of Lake Ngami,’ 318–26.
- 61.
Mainga, Bulozi Under the Luyana Kings, 69. Derived from: David Livingstone, Livingstone’s Private Journals, 1851–1853, I. Schapera (London: Chatto and Windus), 163–64.
- 62.
Kayongo, ‘The Social Evolution of the Barotse Society,’ 55.
- 63.
António F. Ferreira da Silva Porto, Silva Porto e Livingstone: Manuscripto de Silva Porto encontrado no seu espólio (Lisbon: Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa, 1891); António F. Ferreira da Silva Porto, Silva Porto e a Travessia do Continente Africano, ed. G. de Sousa Dias (Lisbon: Agência Geral das Colonias, 1938); António F. Ferreira da Silva Porto, Viagens e Apontamentos de um Portuense em África: Excerptos do ‘diário’ de António Francisco Ferreira da Silva Porto, ed. G. de Sousa Dias (Lisbon: Agência Geral das Colonias, 1942); António F. Ferreira da Silva Porto, Viagens e Apontamentos de um Portuense em África: diário de António Francisco Ferreira da Silva Porto, ed. Maria-Emília Madeira Santos (Coimbra: Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra, 1986); António F. Ferreira da Silva Porto, The Lands of the Lui: The Upper Zambezi journals of António Francisco Ferreira da Silva Porto, 1847–1884, ed. Jack Hogan and Ana Rita Amaral (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming). My thanks to Rita Amaral and Jack Hogan for extracts of their draft of the Portuguese text.
- 64.
Ladislaus Magyar, Reisen in Süd-Afrika in den Jahren 1849 bis 1857 (Pest: Lauffer & Stolp, 1859); Listowel, The Other Livingstone.
- 65.
David Livingstone, Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (London: John Murray, 1857); David Livingstone and Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambezi and Its Tributaries, and the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858–1864 (London: John Murray, 1865); Francis Galton, The Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa (London: John Murray, 1853); Charles John Andersson, Lake Ngami, or, Explorations and Discoveries during Four Years’ Wanderings in the Wilds of South Western Africa (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1856); Charles John Andersson, The Okavango River: A Narrative of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1861); Thomas Baines, Explorations in South-West Africa, being an Account of a Journey in the Years 1861 and 1862 from Walvisch Bay, on the Western Coast, to Lake Ngami and the Victoria Falls (London: Longmans, Roberts and Green, 1864); Chapman, Travels in the Interior; W.E. Oswell, William Cotton Oswell, Hunter and Explorer: The Story of His Life (London: William Heinemann, 1900).
- 66.
Hogan, ‘The Ends of Slavery in Barotseland,’ 91–113.
- 67.
William G. Clarence-Smith, ‘A Note on Tsetse Fly and Rinderpest in Barotseland, 1850s–1900s,’ History Staff Seminars (University of Zambia, 1 June 1977).
- 68.
Silva Porto, Silva Porto e Livingstone, 43.
- 69.
Livingstone, Missionary Travels, 495.
- 70.
Adolphe Jalla, ‘History, Traditions and Legends of the Barotse Nation,’ Livingstone Museum, Livingstone, Zambia (1916: Typescript of 1909 published edition, with later additions), 33; Silva Porto, The Lands of the Lui, IV, 8 May 1864.
- 71.
Augusto S. Bastos, Monographia de Catumbella (Lisbon: Tipografia Universal, 1912), 13–14.
- 72.
Livingstone and Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition, 272; Chapman, Travels in the Interior I, 445, and II, 5, 61–64, 70, 304; Baines, Explorations in South-West Africa, 411–12.
- 73.
Therrell, Stahle, Ries, and Shugart, ‘Tree-Ring Reconstructed Rainfall Variability,’ Fig. 5a.
- 74.
Georgina H. Endfield and David J. Nash, ‘Missionaries and Morals: Climatic Discourse in Nineteenth-Century Central Southern Africa,’ Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 92, 4 (2002), 730.
- 75.
Silva Porto, The Lands of the Lui, IV, 14 May 1864; John Ford, The Role of the Trypanosomiases in African Ecology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 337.
- 76.
For a South African example, see: J.B. Peires, The Dead will Arise: Nongqawuse and the Great Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement of 1856–7 (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1989).
- 77.
Mainga, Bulozi Under the Luyana Kings, 90.
- 78.
Sharon E. Nicholson, ‘Historical and Modern Fluctuations of Lakes Tanganyika and Rukwa, and Their Relationship to Rainfall Variability,’ Climatic Change, 41, 1 (1999), 53–71; Chapter by Gooding, this volume.
- 79.
Dias, ‘Famine and Disease in the History of Angola,’ 354.
- 80.
Raúl J. Candeias da Silva, ‘Subsídios para a história da colonização do Distrito de Moçâmedes,’ Studia (Lisbon), 32, 371–78; 33, 341–72; 34, 481–534; 35, 421–39; 36, 293–390 (1971–1973), passim; Harri Siiskonen, Trade and Socioeconomic Change in Ovamboland (Helsinki: SHS, 1990), 123.
- 81.
Deepti Singh, Richard Seager, Benjamin I. Cook, Mark Cane, Mingfang Ting, Edward Cook, and Mike Davis, ‘Climate and the Global Famine of 1876–1878,’ Journal of Climate, 31, 23 (2018), 9445–67; Chapters by Gooding and Williamson, this volume.
- 82.
Jalla, ‘History, Traditions and Legends,’ 35–42. See also: Jalla and Jalla, Pionniers Parmi les Ma-Rotse, 328–29. This may have been associated with El Niño. See: Chapter by Warren, this volume.
- 83.
Gervas Clay, Your Friend Lewanika: The Life and Times of Lubosi Lewanika, Litunga of Barotseland, 1842–1916 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1968), 155.
- 84.
Journal des Missions Évangéliques, 77 (1902), II, 202.
- 85.
Silva Porto, The Lands of the Lui, VIII; Silva Porto, Silva Porto e Livingstone, 42.
- 86.
Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, Como eu atravessei África do Atlántico ao Mar Indico: Viagem de Benguella à contra-costa, atravès regiões desconhecidas (London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1881), I, 282, 296, 328.
- 87.
Silva Porto, The Lands of the Lui, VIII, 11 Oct. 1869, 18 Dec. 1869, 23 Dec. 1869.
- 88.
Therrell, Stahle, Ries, and Shugart, ‘Tree-Ring Reconstructed Rainfall Variability,’ Fig. 5a.
- 89.
Frederick C. Selous, ‘Journeys into the Interior of South Central Africa,’ Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 2nd series, 3, 3 (1881), 172; Emil Holub, Seven Years in South Africa: Travels, Researches, and Hunting Adventures, between the Diamond Fields and the Zambesi, 1872–1879 (London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1881), 273–77.
- 90.
Journal des Missions Évangéliques; Nouvelles du Zambèze (from 1898); Livingstone Museum, Manuscript Collection. The Paris archives of the society were closed in the late 1970s.
- 91.
Journal des Missions Évangéliques, 61 (1886), 175.
- 92.
For the Spiritans, see: William G. Clarence-Smith, Slaves, Peasants and Capitalists in Southern Angola, 1840–1926 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979); For the Mission Philafricaine, see: Alida Chatelain, Héli Chatelain, l’Ami de l’Angola, 1859–1908: Fondateur de la Mission Philafricaine, d’après sa correspondence (Lausanne: Mission Philafricaine, 1918); For the Plymouth Bretheren, see: Frederick S. Arnot, Missionary Travels in Central Africa (London: Holness, 1914); For the Jesuits, see: Gelfand Michael (ed.), Gubulawayo and Beyond: Letters and Journals of the Early Jesuit Missionaries to Zambesia, 1879–1887 (London: G. Chapman, 1968).
- 93.
E. Goetz, ‘The Rainfall of Rhodesia,’ Proceedings of the Rhodesian Scientific Association, 8, 3 (1909), 1–129.
- 94.
Caplan, The Elites of Barotseland.
- 95.
The main source is the Journal des Missions Évangéliques. For other Paris Mission materials, see: François Coillard, Sur le Haut Zambèze: Voyages et travaux de mission (Paris: Berger-Levrault 1899); Jalla, Pionniers parmi les Ma-Rotse; Jalla, ‘History, Traditions and Legends;’ E. Favre, François Coillard, Missionaire au Zambèze (Paris: Société des Missions Évangeliques, 1913), III; William Waddell’s Journal in Cambridge University Library. For other missions, see: Frederick S. Arnot, From Natal to the Upper Zambesi: First Year among the Barotsi, 3rd ed. (Glasgow: The Publishing Office, 1884); Frederick S. Arnot, Garenganze, or Seven Years’ Pioneer Mission Work in Central Africa (London: Hawkins, 1889); Arnot, Missionary Travels; Henri Depelchin and Charles Croonenberghs, Trois Ans dans l’Afrique Australe, 1879–1881 (Brussels: P. Imbreghts, 1882–1883); Joseph Spillmann (comp.), Vom Cap zum Sambesi: Die Anfänge der Sambesimission, aus den Tagebüchern des P. Terörde, S.J., und aus den Berichten der andern Missionäre (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder’sche Verlagshandlung, 1882); Gelfand, Gubulawayo and Beyond. For others, see: Hermenegildo Capello and Roberto Ivens, De Angola á Contra-Costa: Descripção de uma Viagem Atravez do Continente Africano (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional, 1886); Hermenegildo Capello and Roberto Ivens, Diários da Viagem de Angola à Contra-Costa, ed. Francisco de Assis de Oliveira Martins (Lisbon: Agência Geral das Colónias, 1951); [Henrique M. de] Paiva Couceiro, Relatorio de Viagem entre Bailundo e as Terras do Mucusso (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional, 1892); Edward C. Tabler, Trade and Travel in Early Barotseland: The Diaries of George Westbeech, 1885–1888, and Captain Norman MacLeod, 1875–1876; Illustrated with the Sketches of Lieutenant William Fairlie (London: Chatto & Windus, 1963)—for Westbeech; Emil Holub, Von der Capstadt ins Land der Maschukulumbe: Reisen im Südlichen Afrika in den Jahren 1883–1887 (Vienna: Alfred Hölder, 1890); Aurel Schulz and August Hammar, The New Africa: A Journey Up the Chobe and Down the Okavango Rivers; A Record of Exploration and Sport (London: William Heinemann, 1897); James Johnston, Reality Versus Romance in South Central Africa (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1893); Lionel Dècle, Three Years in Savage Africa (London: Methuen & Co., 1898). This section also draws on: Interview with N. Simalumba, 27 Apr. 1977; Therrell, Stahle, Ries, and Shugart, ‘Tree-Ring Reconstructed Rainfall Variability,’ 677–85; Bastos, Monographia de Catumbella, 23, 50–51. The latter citation is for southern Angola.
- 96.
Coillard, Sur le Haut Zambèze, 294–96.
- 97.
Archives Générales de la Congrégation du Saint-Esprit, Chevilly-la-Rue, Bulletin Général de la Congrégation du Saint-Esprit, 15, 42 (1890), 651.
- 98.
Journal des Missions Évangéliques, 66 (1891), 375.
- 99.
Journal des Missions Évangéliques, 68 (1893), 254. The links between smallpox and drought are understudied for precolonial Africa, although a wider, more global view may suggest correlation between incidences. Although other factors are almost always at play, drought may encourage migration, for work and food, spreading outbreaks across larger areas and among more people. See: Chapters by Gooding and Williamson, this volume.
- 100.
For an overview, see: Bastos, Monographia de Catumbella, 51. See also: Alfredo [A. Freire] de Andrade, Relatório da Viagem de Exploração Geographica no Districto de Benguela e Novo Redondo, 1898–1899 (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional, 1902); Alexandre Malheiro, Chronicas do Bihé (Lisbon: Livraria Ferreira, 1903); Alfredo [A. Freire] de Andrade, A Bacia Hydrographica do Rio Cuanza, desde a nascente á confluencia do Rio Gango (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional, 1905); Chatelain, Héli Chatelain; Le Philafricain.
- 101.
Livingstone Museum, MSS collection, ‘Rapport, Sesheke 1901’; Nouvelles du Zambèze, 8, 2 (1905), 53.
- 102.
Mainga, Bulozi under the Luyana Kings, 194–95.
- 103.
Clarence-Smith, ‘Climatic Variations and Natural Disasters.’
- 104.
Prins, The Hidden Hippopotamus, 60–70.
- 105.
Zambia, Totals of Monthly and Annual Rainfall for Selected Stations in Zambia (Lusaka: Department of Meteorology, 1972).
- 106.
Chaplin, ‘On Some Aspects of Rainfall,’ 2, 6 (1954–55), 16–23.
- 107.
Figures from: Zambia, Totals of Monthly and Annual Rainfall.
- 108.
Therrell, Stahle, Ries, and Shugart, ‘Tree-Ring Reconstructed Rainfall Variability,’ 677–85.
- 109.
Le Philafricain provides an almost yearly record. See also: Bastos, Monographia de Catumbella; Gladwyn Murray Childs, Umbundu Kinship and Character: Being a Description of Social Structure and Individual Development of the Ovimbundu of Angola, with Observations Concerning the Bearing on the Enterprise of Christian Missions of Certain Phases of the Life and Culture Described (London: International African Institute, 1949); F. Rudolph Lehmann, ‘Die Politische und Soziale Stellung der Häuptlinge im Ovamboland während der Deutschen Schutzherrschaft in Südwest-Afrika,’ Tribus, NS, 4–5 (1954–1955), 265–328; Jan-Bart Gewald, ‘Near Death in the Streets of Karibib: Famine, Migrant Labour, and the Coming of the Ovambo to Central Namibia,’ Journal of African History, 44, 2 (2003), 211–39; Maria da Conceição Neto, ‘In Town and Out of Town: A Social History of Huambo, Angola, 1902–1961’ (Unpublished PhD diss., SOAS University of London, 2012); and documents from the Spiritan Archives, many of which are reprinted in the Bulletin Général de la Congégation du Saint-Esprit. Again, these patterns may be linked to El Niño. See: Chapter by Ventura, this volume.
- 110.
Chaplin, ‘On some aspects of rainfall,’ 2, 6 (1954–55), 17.
- 111.
Zambia, Totals of Monthly and Annual Rainfall.
- 112.
Clay, Your Friend Lewanika, 155.
- 113.
Zambia, Totals of Monthly and Annual Rainfall; Chaplin, ‘On Some Aspects of Rainfall,’ 2, 6 (1954–55), 17.
- 114.
Laurel Van Horn, ‘The Agricultural History of Barotseland, 1840–1964,’ in The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa, eds. Robin Palmer and Neil Parsons (London: Heinemann, 1977), 144–69.
- 115.
Hogan, ‘The Ends of Slavery in Barotseland,’ 210–11.
- 116.
Ibid., Ch. 9; Clarence-Smith, ‘Slaves, Commoners and Landlords in Bulozi,’ 219–34.
- 117.
Parsons Corporation, ‘Final Report: The Water Resources of Barotse Province’ (Los Angeles, Unpublished).
- 118.
Flint, ‘Historical Constructions of Postcolonial Citizenship,’ 221.
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Acknowledgements
My thanks are due to the University of Zambia, which provided funding for research trips to Livingstone and Mongu, and the staff of the Livingstone Museum. The late Mrs. ‘Paddy’ Radunski, and Robin and Marguerite Derricourt, graciously put me up in Livingstone. During the pandemic, the following kindly supplied me with materials: Rita Amaral, Kawawa Banda, Innocent Chomba, José Curto, Lawrence Flint, Aida Freudenthal, Philip Gooding, Jack Hogan, Brian Huntley, John Mendelsohn, Elias Awol Mohammed, Richard Moorsom, Sharon Nicholson, Neil Parsons, Matthew Therrell, Estevam Thompson, Adrian Wood, and Henry Zimba.
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Clarence-Smith, W.G. (2022). Rainfall and Floods in the Upper Zambezi Basin, 1680s to 1910s. In: Gooding, P. (eds) Droughts, Floods, and Global Climatic Anomalies in the Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98198-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98198-3_5
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