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CitarIt could be argued that in one sense the Rhodesian War really began in 1890. Cecil Rhodes knew that the territory which later bore his name was not only suitable for European settlement, but rich in gold and other minerals as well. He obtained a mining concession, and formed the British South Africa Company to exploit it (the Company's crest, an Imperial lion firmly grasping an African elephant's tusk, was to remain the symbol of white Rhodesia right through to 1980). The Company sent a military-style Pioneer Column to occupy its claims. It reached its destination unopposed; but the Pioneers knew that armed conflict with the local Africans could not long be delayed. Imperialism was not new to Central Africa. The Shona-speaking groups who made up some 75 per cent of the African population of what came to be called Southern Rhodesia had their own history of inter-group struggles and dynastic warfare. It was they who had been responsible for the elaborate stone 'Zimbabwes' whose ruins were so impressive that later Europeans refused to believe that they had been built by Africans at all. (The carved stone 'Zimbabwe bird' from those ruins became a symbol for the later African nationalists). The wealth that these imposing buildings represented had been the bait which attracted two unsuccessful 16th-century Portuguese expeditions. The real menace, however, came from the south, in the form of the Mfecane or 'Crushing': a great disruptive wave of Southern Bantu groups fleeing northwards away from the Zulu menace in the early 19th century. They had adopted Zulu organisation, weapons and tactics, and were militarily superior to the Shona who lay in their path. In 1834 one group stormed the stone fortress of Great Zimbabwe and killed the last Shona emperor.

CitarPortugal was both the first and the last of the great European colonial powers. The discoveries inspired by Henry the Navigator in the 15th and early 16th centuries gave her an immense empire stretching from Brazil in the West to Macau in the Far East. Inevitably, many of these possessions were lost in the centuries which followed, but in 1960 the Portuguese Hag still Hew over vast expanses of territory in East, West and Southern Africa. It continued to fly there while the other European imperial powers were busy granting independence to their African colonies; and it was not until 1974-75 that it finally came down, ending some five centuries of involvement with Africa. This is not the place to discuss Portuguese colonial policy in detail, but some of its salient features need to be noted in order to understand the background to the African Liberation Wars. Firstly, from 1951 onwards, official Portuguese doctrine was that the overseas territories were not 'colonies' at all, but integral parts of Portugal. These 'overseas provinces' had special laws suited to their particular level of development, but they were ruled from Lisbon and formed part of a Portuguese-speaking and strongly Christian 'political and spiritual community'. This was the 'New State' created by Dr Salazar, the effective ruler of Portugal from 1928 until 1968. Dr Salazar always denied that this was totalitarian, but it was unquestionably right wing and authoritarian. There was a National Assembly, but it had little power; and any organised opposition was suppressed by the regime's secret police, the Policia International de Defesa do Estado, known as 'PIDE'.

CitarThe operational area of northern South-West Africa stretched the length of the 1,500km border with Angola and Zambia, covering a wide variety of terrain and vegetation. Southern Angola is very similar in terrain and vegetation, except that the Cunene River allows stronger vegetation along its course. The land to its west is largely rolling grassland once the southern hills are passed. Kaokoland in the west consists of a narrow strip of Namib desert along the coast and rough, hilly terrain inland. It is very dry, with the vegetation changing west to cast from sparse grasslands to dry forest. The Cunene River, the border with Angola, rises strongly during the rainy season, becoming dangerous to cross. Kaokoland is very isolated, and has a population of only 20,000. It has only one town, Opuwa, and very little infrastructure. What economic activity there is, centres on cattle farming. Owambo stretches along 450km of the border and is about 120km deep. It is exceptionally flat, with hardly any natural features higher than an average African anthill, and generally sandy with areas of very thick bush. What little rain there is — 500mm in a good year — fills innumerable shallow depressions called oshonas or Omurambas, putting large parts under water during the rainy season. Summer daytime temperatures are in the low 30s C (high 8os-low 90s F), dropping to the high 20s C (low 80s F) in winter, when the nights can bring low single figures. Owambo is the home region of the largest single population group — 610,000 Owambos out of a total population of 1,300,000. Some 300,000 of them live permanently in Owambo, others having moved south in search of work. The largest Owambo tribe, the Kwanjama, is also strongly represented in southern Angola, their original homelands having been split by one of the many unhappy colonial borders. There are three towns — Oshakati, Ondangwa, Ruacana — and some villages, but most Owambos live in family kraals. The population is concentrated in north-central Owambo, other parts being thinly populated.