Chikunda, sometimes rendered as Achikunda , was the name given from the 18th century onwards to the armed retainers of the Afro-Portuguese owners of estates known as Prazos in Zambezia in Mozambique. They were used to defend the prazos and police their inhabitants. The chikunda of that period are often described as slaves, and originally some were chattel slaves, although the status of those that were soldiers, traders or administrators of parts of the prazo was that of a client or unfree dependent. The prazos Since the 16th century, the Portuguese Crown, which claimed ownership of the land in Mozambique, had leased crown lands in the Zambezi valley to Portuguese subjects under grants termed “prazos da coroa” (crown leases), nominally for three lives, with the aim of promoting development and enabling possible European settlement. In theory, a prazo grant could be cancelled if the lessee (or prazero ) did not occupy and develop the land, or later deserted it, although in practice the prazo grants were renewed and became hereditary.Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, p. 111. The prazo holder was responsible for administering justice in the land comprised in his grant and also collecting taxes from its inhabitants, out of which he was supposed to pay an annual rent to the crown, and to maintain sufficient armed retainers to keep the peace.Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, p. 121. The prazeros only rarely removed the local chiefs resident on their estates, preferring to retain them as subordinates, and few attempted to start commercial agriculture, but expropriated the surplus products of their peasants and also profited from the trade in ivory and slaves.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, p. 260. The prazos varied greatly in size and number, but in 1763 there were 22 in the captaincy of Sena and 54 in the captaincy of Tete, of which three extended over hundreds of square miles but others included only a few villages.Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, pp. 87-90. The early chikunda In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the term “chikunda” was not in general use for the armed retainers of a prazero , who could include chattel slaves.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 143. However, although many chattel slaves were acquired by capture or purchase to undertake agricultural work, mining or as house-servants or craftsmen on the prazos, it was normal from the mid-18th century for the retainers who became soldiers or administrators to offer themselves as voluntary unfree dependents in return for protection and a prospect of advancement and enrichment. By the mid-18th century, the term chikunda, which probably derives from the Shona verb meaning “to conquer”,Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda p. 268. was reserved for the armed clients of the prazo owners, and other designations were used for personal or household slaves.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 233-4. The chikunda of each prazo came from diverse backgrounds, because prazeros preferred recruits without local ties, but they developed a loyalty to the group to which they belonged. They were often recruited from areas of conflict or famine, offering themselves voluntarily or, in some cases, coming as captives.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda pp. 261, 263. In a survey of 1766, the two largest prazos were said to have around 700 and 500 chikunda. In early times, the chikunda were usually armed with bows and spears but, by the mid-18th century, some were armed with muskets.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda pp. 266-7. The chikunda usually lived in small fortified villages, often near the margins of the larger prazos. Each chikunda village was headed by the owner's deputy called a capitão, or headman. These villages generally produced food to support the chikunda and also made a contribution in cash or goods to their master. If the prazo owner was strong, the chikunda acted as a defence and police force, keeping order and collecting tribute, but under a weak owner or in times of famine, they could become little more than bandits, preying on local communities and disregarding their nominal patron.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 235-6, 240. Individuals were incorporated into the ranks of the chikunda through a ritual under which they swore lifelong loyalty to the prazero . However prosperous or anarchic they might become, the chikunda could only rarely become completely free of their patron, who guaranteed their status as warriors and their security.Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 2.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 237. Some chikunda did manage to break away from their masters, leave their prazo and hunt for ivory in the Shire valley, where they competed with Yao traders in the mid-18th century McCracken (2012), A History of Malawi, p. 18. Decline of the prazos The great Mozambique drought of 1794 to 1802 and subsequent droughts and smallpox epidemics lasting into the 1830s destroyed the agricultural economy of the Zambezia prazos, as the cultivators could not feed themselves, let alone produce surpluses to maintain the chikunda and prazeros . Many chikunda deserted their prazos and some formed armed bands seeking any means to survive, so worsening the situation created by drought.Lovejoy (2011), Transformations in Slavery, p. 138.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 253-4. Other former chikunda returned, or attempted to return, to their homelands and resume their old lives, or merged into the local peoples as peasants. A few used their military skills to become elephant hunters and, in the time of Ndebele incursions, they used their guns against the invaders.Isaacman (2003), Chikunda: Transfrontiersmen and Transnational Migrations, pp. 117-8, 121. Some bands of chikunda became elephant hunters, and travelled as far north as the area around Nkhotakota and the Luangwa valley in search of new herds to exploit. They married women from the local Chewa and Tumbuka peoples and their offspring soon lost their identity as chikunda.Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 16. Until 1868, the governors of Mozambique and Tete had few troops of their own and preferred to use the chikunda of any prazeros loyal to the Portuguese government or from any minor state opposed to whatever ruler they targeted, rather than using soldiers from metropolitan Portugal or Goa. These nominally loyal chikunda had been used with some success in the 1850s against slave trading by the Sultan of Angoche and the Pereira family, but two families continued to give the Portuguese governors trouble: the Vas dos Anjos in the Lower Shire and the da Cruz, who ruled a section of the middle Zambezi in Manica and Tete provinces, centred on the aringa of Massangano. The Vas dos Anjos were forced out of their aringa at Shamo, near the junction of the Shire and Zambezi in 1858, but were allowed to regroup further north up the Shire, near its confluence with the Ruo River; the da Cruz posed much more of a problem.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 311-13. The formal abolition of the institution of slavery in Mozambique 1875 and of the prazo system in 1878 had little immediate effect on the Afro-Goan and Afro-Portuguese families. Just as the formal abolition of the slave trade in 1830 had simply promoted a clandestine trade that lasted into the 20th century, so the abolition of slavery made no immediate change to the unfree status and situation of the peasants in the minor states.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 337, 399. 
Chikunda, sometimes rendered as Achicunda , was the name given from the 18th century onwards to the slave-warriors of the Afro-Portuguese estates known as Prazos in Zambezia , Mozambique. They were used to defend the prazos and police their inhabitants. Many of the chikunda were originally chattel slaves, raised to the status of soldiers, traders or administrators of parts of the prazo as a client or unfree dependent. The prazos Since the 16th century, the Portuguese Crown, which claimed ownership of the land in Mozambique, had leased crown lands in the Zambezi valley to Portuguese subjects under grants termed “prazos da coroa” (crown leases), nominally for three lives, with the aim of promoting development and enabling possible European settlement. In theory, a prazo grant could be cancelled if the lessee (or prazeiro ) did not occupy and develop the land, or later deserted it, although in practice the prazo grants were renewed and became hereditary.Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, p. 111. The prazo holder was responsible for administering justice in the land comprised in his grant and also collecting taxes from its inhabitants, out of which he was supposed to pay an annual rent to the crown, and to maintain sufficient armed retainers to keep the peace.Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, p. 121. The prazeiros only rarely removed the local chiefs resident on their estates, preferring to retain them as subordinates, and few attempted to start commercial agriculture, but expropriated the surplus products of their peasants and also profited from the trade in ivory and slaves.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, p. 260. The prazos varied greatly in size and number, but in 1763 there were 22 in the captaincy of Sena and 54 in the captaincy of Tete, of which three extended over hundreds of square miles but others included only a few villages.Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, pp. 87-90. The early chikunda In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the term “chikunda” was not in general use for the armed retainers of a prazeiro , who could include chattel slaves.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 143. However, although many chattel slaves were acquired by capture or purchase to undertake agricultural work, mining or as house-servants or craftsmen on the prazos, it was normal from the mid-18th century for the retainers who became soldiers or administrators to offer themselves as voluntary unfree dependents in return for protection and a prospect of advancement and enrichment. By the mid-18th century, the term chikunda, which probably derives from the Shona verb meaning “to conquer”,Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda p. 268. was reserved for the armed clients of the prazo owners, and other designations were used for personal or household slaves.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 233-4. The chikunda of each prazo came from diverse backgrounds, because prazeiros preferred recruits without local ties, but they developed a loyalty to the group to which they belonged. They were often recruited from areas of conflict or famine, offering themselves voluntarily or, in some cases, coming as captives.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda pp. 261, 263. At their height in the 17th century, individual prazeiros such as António Lobo da Silva could have upwards of 5000 chikunda, some reputedly owning as many as 15000.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Making the Chikunda p. 99, in Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Moderno Age edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Phillip F. Morgan. Yale University Press, New Haven and London In the mid-eighteenth century, the total chikunda population in Zambezia was estimated at 50000.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Idem. In a survey of 1766, the two largest prazos were said to have around 700 and 500 chikunda. In early times, the chikunda were usually armed with bows and spears but, by the mid-18th century, some were armed with muskets.Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda pp. 266-7. The chikunda usually lived in small fortified villages, often near the margins of the larger prazos. Each chikunda village was headed by the owner's deputy called a capitão, or headman. These villages generally produced food to support the chikunda and also made a contribution in cash or goods to their master. If the prazo owner was strong, the chikunda acted as a defence and police force, keeping order and collecting tribute, but under a weak owner or in times of famine, they could become little more than bandits, preying on local communities and disregarding their nominal patron.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 235-6, 240. Individuals were incorporated into the ranks of the chikunda through a ritual under which they swore lifelong loyalty to the prazeiro . However prosperous or anarchic they might become, the chikunda could only rarely become completely free of their patron, who guaranteed their status as warriors and their security.Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 2.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 237. Some chikunda did manage to break away from their masters, leave their prazo and hunt for ivory in the Shire valley, where they competed with Yao traders in the mid-18th century McCracken (2012), A History of Malawi, p. 18. Decline of the prazos The great Mozambique drought of 1794 to 1802 and subsequent droughts and smallpox epidemics lasting into the 1830s destroyed the agricultural economy of the Zambezia prazos, as the cultivators could not feed themselves, let alone produce surpluses to maintain the chikunda and prazeiros . Many chikunda deserted their prazos and some formed armed bands seeking any means to survive, so worsening the situation created by drought.Lovejoy (2011), Transformations in Slavery, p. 138.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 253-4. Other former chikunda returned, or attempted to return, to their homelands and resume their old lives, or merged into the local peoples as peasants. A few used their military skills to become elephant hunters and, in the time of Ndebele incursions, they used their guns against the invaders.Isaacman (2003), Chikunda: Transfrontiersmen and Transnational Migrations, pp. 117-8, 121. Some bands of chikunda became elephant hunters, and travelled as far north as the area around Nkhotakota and the Luangwa valley in search of new herds to exploit. They married women from the local Chewa and Tumbuka peoples and their offspring soon lost their identity as chikunda.Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 16. Until 1868, the governors of Mozambique and Tete had few troops of their own and preferred to use the chikunda of any prazeiros loyal to the Portuguese government or from any minor state opposed to whatever ruler they targeted, rather than using soldiers from metropolitan Portugal or Goa. These nominally loyal chikunda had been used with some success in the 1850s against slave trading by the Sultan of Angoche and the Pereira family, but two families continued to give the Portuguese governors trouble: the Vas dos Anjos in the Lower Shire and the da Cruz, who ruled a section of the middle Zambezi in Manica and Tete provinces, centred on the aringa of Massangano. The Vas dos Anjos were forced out of their aringa at Shamo, near the junction of the Shire and Zambezi in 1858, but were allowed to regroup further north up the Shire, near its confluence with the Ruo River; the da Cruz posed much more of a problem.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 311-13. The formal abolition of the institution of slavery in Mozambique 1875 and of the prazo system in 1878 had little immediate effect on the Afro-Goan and Afro-Portuguese families. Just as the formal abolition of the slave trade in 1830 had simply promoted a clandestine trade that lasted into the 20th century, so the abolition of slavery made no immediate change to the unfree status and situation of the peasants in the minor states.Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 337, 399. Chikunda states As economical and evironmental degradation coupled with upheaval and migration of peoples took its toll on the prazos, certain ex-chikunda took the initiative of fleeing north and northwest and establish their own states, modelled on the prazos. The most successful of these may have been José Rosário de Andrade, know as Kanyemba ("the ferocious"), who began assembling a private army in the 1870s and settled in the region of Bawa, two hundred kilometers west of Tete, from which he either traded with or raided the sorrounding countryside. In the 1880s, this warlord was said to have 10000 chikunda at arms.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Making the Chikunda p. 112, in Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Moderno Age edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Phillip F. Morgan. Yale University Press, New Haven and London Andrade died in the late nineteeth century, and by 1903 the Portuguese would defeat his state along with the rest of runaway chikunda forces.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Making the Chikunda p. 115, in Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Moderno Age edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Phillip F. Morgan. Yale University Press, New Haven and London
R
Achikunda
Achicunda
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armed retainers
slave-warriors
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owners of
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The chikunda of that period are often described as slaves, and originally some were
Many of the chikunda were originally
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although
raised to
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those that were
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was that of
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R
prazero
prazeiro
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prazeros
prazeiros
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prazeiro
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prazeros
prazeiros
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At their height in the 17th century, individual prazeiros such as António Lobo da Silva could have upwards of 5000 chikunda, some reputedly owning as many as 15000.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Making the Chikunda p. 99, in Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Moderno Age edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Phillip F. Morgan. Yale University Press, New Haven and London In the mid-eighteenth century, the total chikunda population in Zambezia was estimated at 50000.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Idem. In
R
prazero
prazeiro
R
prazeros
prazeiros
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prazeros
prazeiros
A
Chikunda states As economical and evironmental degradation coupled with upheaval and migration of peoples took its toll on the prazos, certain ex-chikunda took the initiative of fleeing north and northwest and establish their own states, modelled on the prazos. The most successful of these may have been José Rosário de Andrade, know as Kanyemba ("the ferocious"), who began assembling a private army in the 1870s and settled in the region of Bawa, two hundred kilometers west of Tete, from which he either traded with or raided the sorrounding countryside. In the 1880s, this warlord was said to have 10000 chikunda at arms.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Making the Chikunda p. 112, in Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Moderno Age edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Phillip F. Morgan. Yale University Press, New Haven and London Andrade died in the late nineteeth century, and by 1903 the Portuguese would defeat his state along with the rest of runaway chikunda forces.Isaacman and Peterson (2006), Making the Chikunda p. 115, in Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Moderno Age edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Phillip F. Morgan. Yale University Press, New Haven and London