CENPA-172b~03 |
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The Movement for Freedom in Mozambique - Page 2. w \j to their areas of origin several years later, but many of them died there and quite a few of those v/ho survived never returned. Part of the programme of "pacification" involved the encouragement of Christian missionary organizations to establish mission stations , especially in those areas where there had been the most resistance against Portuguese domination. Where Christian churches had already been doing work amongst the African peoples, the Portuguese government offered to cooperate and even subsidize the teaching of the Christian religion to the African people, in order that the Africans may stop opposing Portuguese imperialism. Therefore, it can be said, without fear of contrary idiction, that right at the beginning of Portuguese colonialism the Christian Church allowed itself to be identified with colonialism and imperialism. We are well av/are that the power structure of the time was more favourable to this connivance which the Christian Church allowed itself tc engage in with the Portuguese government. We point out this fact especially because so many liberal Christians today are blind to the fact that their own institutions were at least in part responsible for the ease with which colonialism and economic imperialism were established in Africa. Later on in this paper, we will discuss other more direct involvements of the Church with the Portuguese government in cooperating to make the control of the Mozambican people more feasible. After completing the conquest and "pacification" of the Mozambican people, the Portuguese government proceeded to establish a well-knit hierarchical structure of administrative units all over the country. At the top of the pyramidal system v/as the governor general, wielding his power from the capital city of Mozambique, first in the north and later from Lourenpo Marques in the south. Under the governor general v/ere the various district governors, below these were the district "intendentes" who supervised the work of administrators of circuits, who in turn had the duty of overseeing the work of "chefes de posto", each of whom directly controlled the daily lives of thousands of Africans in the country. To facilitate the work of the administrators and the 'bhefes de posto", the Portuguese government reestablished a small part of the traditional authority of a number of African chieftains. But in order to make certain that no one African ruler acquired sufficient power to ever challenge the white man, the Portuguese government split the various chiefdoms into small territories, each v/ith only a few thousand people. All African chiefs were to be responsible
Object Description
Description
Title | CENPA-172b~03 |
Filename | CENPA-172b~03.tiff |
Full text | The Movement for Freedom in Mozambique - Page 2. w \j to their areas of origin several years later, but many of them died there and quite a few of those v/ho survived never returned. Part of the programme of "pacification" involved the encouragement of Christian missionary organizations to establish mission stations , especially in those areas where there had been the most resistance against Portuguese domination. Where Christian churches had already been doing work amongst the African peoples, the Portuguese government offered to cooperate and even subsidize the teaching of the Christian religion to the African people, in order that the Africans may stop opposing Portuguese imperialism. Therefore, it can be said, without fear of contrary idiction, that right at the beginning of Portuguese colonialism the Christian Church allowed itself to be identified with colonialism and imperialism. We are well av/are that the power structure of the time was more favourable to this connivance which the Christian Church allowed itself tc engage in with the Portuguese government. We point out this fact especially because so many liberal Christians today are blind to the fact that their own institutions were at least in part responsible for the ease with which colonialism and economic imperialism were established in Africa. Later on in this paper, we will discuss other more direct involvements of the Church with the Portuguese government in cooperating to make the control of the Mozambican people more feasible. After completing the conquest and "pacification" of the Mozambican people, the Portuguese government proceeded to establish a well-knit hierarchical structure of administrative units all over the country. At the top of the pyramidal system v/as the governor general, wielding his power from the capital city of Mozambique, first in the north and later from Lourenpo Marques in the south. Under the governor general v/ere the various district governors, below these were the district "intendentes" who supervised the work of administrators of circuits, who in turn had the duty of overseeing the work of "chefes de posto", each of whom directly controlled the daily lives of thousands of Africans in the country. To facilitate the work of the administrators and the 'bhefes de posto", the Portuguese government reestablished a small part of the traditional authority of a number of African chieftains. But in order to make certain that no one African ruler acquired sufficient power to ever challenge the white man, the Portuguese government split the various chiefdoms into small territories, each v/ith only a few thousand people. All African chiefs were to be responsible |
Archival file | Volume11/CENPA-172b~03.tiff |