$Unique_ID{COW00141}
$Pretitle{259}
$Title{Angola
Glossary}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Donald P. Whitaker}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{portuguese
value
bank
kwanza
world
angolan
assimilado
lineages
status
}
$Date{1978}
$Log{}
Country:     Angola
Book:        Angola, A Country Study
Author:      Donald P. Whitaker
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1978

Glossary

     Angolan escudo (EscA)-Unit of currency during the Portuguese colonial
period; also used by the People's Republic of Angola until January 1977 when
it was replaced by the kwanza (q.v.). Designated by the symbol EscA, the
Angolan escudo was valued nominally at par with the Portuguese escudo but was
discounted on the free market. In the early 1960s the free market value
fluctuated between EscA30$50 and EscA35$00 for US$1; in 1970 it was valued at
EscA31$90 for US$1 and in 1973 at EscA36$00. The quoted value just before the
introduction of the kwanza was EscA31$57 for US$1 or EscA1 equaled US$0.0317.

     assimilado-Those Africans and mesticos (q.v.) considered by the colonial
authorities to have met certain formal standards indicating that they had
successfully absorbed (assimilated) Portuguese language and culture.
Individuals legally assigned to the status of assimilado assumed (in
principle) the privileges and obligations of Portuguese citizens and escaped
the burdens (e.g., that of forced labor) imposed upon most Africans
(indigenas-q.v.). The status of assimilado and its legal implications were
formally abolished in 1961.

     degredado-Exiled convict; refers to convicted criminals sent from
Portugal to Angola; degredados constituted a very substantial part of the
Portuguese who came to Angola from the sixteenth to the early twentieth
centuries.

     descent group-A unit the members of which are actually or putatively
descended from a common ancestor, in most cases exclusively (in principle)
through either males (patrilineal) or females (matrilineal). Where such units
still exist among Angolan peoples they are usually matrilineal lineages
(q.v.).

     GDP-Gross domestic product. The total value of goods and services
produced within a country's borders during a fixed period, usually one year.
Obtained by adding the value contributed by each sector of the economy in the
form of compensation of employees, profits, and depreciation (consumption of
capital). Subsistence production is included and consists of the imputed value
of production by the farm family for its own use and the imputed rental value
of owner-occupied dwellings. In countries lacking sophisticated data-gathering
techniques the total value of GDP is often estimated.

     indigena-An African (or mestico-q.v.) without assimilado (q.v.) status,
in Portuguese terms, unassimilated or uncivilized. Before the abolition of the
status (and the distinction between it and that of assimilado) in 1961,
roughly 99 percent of all Africans were indigenas.

     kwanza (kw)-Angolan currency unit that replaced the Angolan escudo (q.v.)
from January 8, 1977. The kwanza, named for the Cuanza (Kwanza) River,
consists of 100 lwei (lw), named for one of the river's tributaries. In late
1978 the kwanza was a nonconvertible currency, but exchange rates for
authorized transactions were established regularly with the buy-sell rate for
US$1 set at kw29.622 and kw30.214 respectively in mid-1978.

     lineage-A lineage is a descent group (q.v.), the members of which can, in
principle, trace their descent unilineally (through males from a common male
ancestor or through females from a common female ancestor). Lineages in
Angolan communities are generally matrilineal. In any system of lineages,
those of greater genealogical depth may include lineages of lesser depth,
lineages at each level having different social, political, and economic
functions.

     mestico-An individual of mixed white and African ancestry. Several
varieties, depending upon the nature and degree of mixture, were recognized by
the Portuguese and mesticos in the colonial era. Before 1961 most mesticos had
the status of assimilado (q.v.).

     musseque (sometimes seen as muceque)-A slumlike urban neighborhood
characteristic of Luanda and other large towns usually, but by no means
always, located on the outskirts of the urban center.

     World Bank-Name commonly used for the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which is part of the World Bank Group
(q.v.).

     World Bank Group-Consists of the World Bank (q.v.) and its two
financial affiliates, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the
International Development Association (IDA). IFC works with the private sector
in developing countries. IDA operates in the same sectors and with the same
policies as the World Bank but provides credits only to the poorer developing
countries and on easier terms than conventional World Bank loans.