791 they built a fort at
Quincollo on the Loje, and for a time they worked the mines of
Bembe. Until, however, the "scramble for Africa" began in 1884, they
possessed no fort or settlement on the coast to the north of Ambriz,
which was first occupied in 1855. At Sao Salvador, however, the
Portuguese continued to exercise influence. The last of the native
princes who had real authority was a potentate known as Dom Pedro
V. He was placed on the throne in 1855 with the help of a Portuguese
force, and reigned over thirty years. In 1888 a Portuguese resident
was stationed at Salvador, and the kings of Congo became pensioners of
the government.

Angola proper, and the whole coast-line of what now constitutes the
province of that name, was discovered by Diogo Cam during 1482 and
the three following years. The first governor sent to Angola was Paulo
Diaz, a grandson of Bartholomew Diaz, who reduced to submission the
region south of the Kwanza nearly as far as Benguella. The city of
Loanda was founded in 1576, Benguella in 1617. From that date the
sovereignty of Portugal over the coast-line, from its present southern
limit as far north as Ambriz (7 deg. 50' S.) has been undisputed save
between 1640 and 1648, during which time the Dutch attempted to expel
the Portuguese and held possession of the ports. Whilst the economic
development of the country was not entirely neglected and many useful
food products were introduced, the prosperity of the province was
very largely dependent on the slave trade with Brazil, which was not
legally abolished until 1830 and in fact continued for many years
subsequently.

In 1884 Great Britain, which up to that time had steadily refused
to acknowledge that Portugal possessed territorial rights north of
Ambriz, concluded a treaty recognizing Portuguese sovereignty over
both banks of the lower Congo; but the treaty, meeting with opposition
in England and Germany, was not ratified. Agreements concluded with
the Congo Free State, Germany and France in 1885-1886 (modified in
details by subsequent arrangements) fixed the limits of the province,
except in the S.E., where the frontier between Barotseland (N.W.
Rhodesia) and Angola was determined by an Anglo-Portuguese agreement
of 1891 and the arbitration award of the king of Italy in 1905 (see
AFRICA: _History)_. Up to the end of the 19th century the hold of
Portugal over the interior of the province was slight, though its
influence extended to the Con