Diamonds, development and conflict: The role of the mining sector in the politics of the late colonial state in angola, 1961-1974

Abstract

This article analyzes the relationship between the State and the diamond sector during Angola's "second colonial occupation". It starts in 1961 with the beginning of a struggle between various groups for colonial Angola control, and ends with the withdrawal of the Portuguese from the colony after the overthrow of the Estado Novo by a military coup in Lisbon in April 1974. During that time, Portuguese colonialism, while refusing political openness to nationalist movements, became embroiled in a series of legal and economic reforms that put the colony on a fast track for industrialization. However, the diamond sector remained essential to defending State power in a strategic but hostile area - an area that remains, for historical reasons, beyond the reach of formal State institutions.