Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Index/Abstracts
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
  • Alerts
  • Other Publications
    • UWP

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
African Economic History
  • Other Publications
    • UWP
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
African Economic History

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Index/Abstracts
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
  • Alerts
  • Follow uwp on Twitter
  • Visit uwp on Facebook
Research ArticleArticle

Women, Land, and Power in the Zambezi Valley of the Eighteenth Century

EUGÉNIA RODRIGUES
African Economic History, February 2016, 43 (1) 19-56; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/aeh.43.1.19
EUGÉNIA RODRIGUES
*Eugénia Rodrigues is a researcher at the Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa (CH-UL, UID/HIS/04311/2013). Her research focuses on the history of early modern East Africa and the Indian Ocean, namely on the agrarian and social history of the Zambezi valley, gender, slavery, intercultural representations, and the history of science. Her publications include Portugueses e Africanos nos Rios de Sena: Os prazos da Coroa em Moçambique nos Séculos XVII e XVIII (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional–Casa da Moeda, 2013); Moçambique: Relações Históricas Regionais e com Países da CPLP (co-editor, Maputo: Alcance, 2011); Ilha de Moçambique (co-author, Maputo: Alcance, 2009); and A geração silenciada. A Liga Nacional Africana e a representação do branco em Angola na década de 30 (Porto: Afrontamento, 2003).
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF
Loading

Abstraite

Abstract

This article examines the issue of gender, landed property, and power in the Zambezi Valley, in modern Mozambique, during the eighteenth century. In the context of the Portuguese empire, mixed-race women had access to land, often vast territories, through inheritance practices and grants from the Portuguese crown. The possession of landed states enabled them to acquire jurisdiction over local populations. Mobilizing kinship and social networks, these women managed to control significant economic, social, and political resources. Colonial records allow us to explore how women disputed the role of head of household, acted on different economic fronts, accumulated assets, and controlled free and enslaved African labor. Women’s agency enabled them to build a remarkable power, the roots of which were founded in the structures of colonial and African societies. This article explores the social trajectories of three women who had to dispute the accumulation of wealth and power with their male relatives and negotiate their social and economic position with African and colonial authorities.

View Full Text

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

African Economic History: 43 (1)
African Economic History
Vol. 43, Issue 1
26 Feb 2016
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on African Economic History.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Women, Land, and Power in the Zambezi Valley of the Eighteenth Century
(Your Name) has sent you a message from African Economic History
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the African Economic History web site.
Citation Tools
Women, Land, and Power in the Zambezi Valley of the Eighteenth Century
EUGÉNIA RODRIGUES
African Economic History Feb 2016, 43 (1) 19-56; DOI: 10.3368/aeh.43.1.19

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Women, Land, and Power in the Zambezi Valley of the Eighteenth Century
EUGÉNIA RODRIGUES
African Economic History Feb 2016, 43 (1) 19-56; DOI: 10.3368/aeh.43.1.19
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
Bookmark this article

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Land, Colonial Society, and Donas
    • The Economic Agency of the Donas
    • Social Relations and the Construction of the Donas’ Power
    • Conclusion
    • Footnotes
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Officials, Commercial Interests, and Civil Aviation Policy Initiatives in Inter-War British West Africa
  • Christian Missionaries, Slavery, and the Slave Trade
  • Heinrich’s Chibuku Breweries and the Informalization of the African Beer Industry in Salisbury, Rhodesia, 1962–1979
Show more Article

Similar Articles

UWP

© 2023 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Powered by HighWire