Between quilombos and aringas: experiences of workers in northern Mozambique in the 19th century

Abstract

Throughout the 19th century, it is possible to observe, in northern Mozambique (current Nampula province), the emergence of new social and political configurations, originally composed by runaways enslaved and freed Africans (libertos) and so-called at the Portuguese sources as “quilombos” and “aringas”. The objective of this article is to explore how the experiences of workers and the multiple forms of work organization existing in this context influenced the formation of these communities. Initially, I presented two communities – Missanga and Ampapa – and their relationship with the forms of work marked by the European slavery system and with local African dynamics, such as processes of the migration and of the long- distance trade. Secondly, I analyzed the formation of a third community – “aringa de Farelay” – and its connection with the new forms of labor relations resulting from the implementation of European colonialism. Finally, I discussed the use of the terms “aringas” and “quilombos” to identify these communities and possible approximations between the meanings given to these experiences of workers in the northern Mozambique and in the others geographic spaces.