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Photograph albums of prazos in Portuguese Mozambique
Title
[Photograph albums of prazos in Portuguese Mozambique].
Production
[Mozambique], [1917-1918]
Physical Description
94 photographs in 2 albums : silver gelatin prints, b & w ; photographs 9.2 x 15 cm (in 2 boxes)
Notes
Title devised by cataloger.
Photograph albums measure 20.7 x 32.5 cm. and smaller.
Manuscript captions in French below photographic prints.
Cover titles and manuscript inscriptions in French.
Provenance
Purchased from Librairie le Bail on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2009.
Access and use
This material is open for research.
Biographical / Historical Note
Société du Madal initially formed as a soap company in 1903 with Prince Albert I of Monaco (1848-1922) as its main shareholder. Between 1904 and 1916, Société du Madal evolved into a trading and plantation company and acquired "prazos," large semi-feudal estates leased by Portugal in its colony of Portuguese Mozambique (also known as Portuguese East Africa). In 1910, Norwegian industrial entrepreneur Christian Thams (1867-1948) and several other Norwegian investors formed Chr. Thams & Cie and acquired Société du Madal. The Mozambique government later nationalized Société du Madal and it became Grupo Madal, SARL, an agro-industrial and commercial company based in Quelimane, Mozambique.
Summary
Two photograph albums with images created by unidentified photographers that document the activities of Société du Madal and Chr. Thams & Cie. at prazos in Portuguese Mozambique, 1917-1918.
The smaller photograph album has the cover title, "Quelimane - Angoche - Mozambique - Porto Amélia - Ibo - Photographies, 1917-1918," and it contains 19 photographic prints. Photographs of company properties in Angoche (also known as António Enes), Ibo, Mozambique Island, Pemba (referred to as Porto Amélia), and Quelimane document company offices, shops, and residences. Images also document company activities including African employees sorting peanuts at Angoche and views of salt works at Ampapa on the Bay of Mozambique and at Condúcia Bay. Views of ships appear throughout the album, including iron barges at Quelimane and the whaleboat "Madah" at Ibo, as well as company vessels with eponymous names for locales, including the motorboat, "Angoche," and the sailing ship, "Mozambique."
The larger photograph album has the cover title, "Quelimane, Photographies des Prazos, 1917-1918," and it contains 75 photographic prints. Images document prazos in the district of Quelimane including plantations in Mahino, Madal, Tangalane, Cheringone, and Inhassunge. Views of a coconut plantation at Micahune in the prazo of Mahino include images of African workers plowing and weeding coconut fields, as well as decorticating husks from coconuts and washing, drying, packaging, and transporting copra. Views of structures related to the plantation include employee residences, a warehouse, a coconut dryer, a sawmill, dry docks, and a narrow-gauge railway, as well as damage to river piers following a cyclone. Other images show African workers transporting and threshing beans, grazing cattle, manufacturing bricks, and collecting their salaries. A small group of views of a coconut plantation at Olinda show African workers carrying a European man in a hammock litter.
Images of plantations collectively described as from the prazos of Madal, Tangalane, and Cheringone on the west bank of the River Rio Bon Sinais (also known as Rio de Quelimane) include Inhangulue, Ligogo, Marubune, Mingano, and Zalale. Images of Inhangulue include views of employee residences under construction and cattle herds, as well as discrete group portraits of African troops (known as Cypaes), as well as Mozambican tribal leaders and their assistants. Images of Ligogo include views of employee residences and a windmill. Images of a coconut plantation at Marubune include images of African workers drying copra, as well as images of warehouses, water wells, swine pens, and a motorboat. Images of a coconut plantation at Mingano include images of African workers drying copra and transporting it with donkeys, a dip tank for livestock, and oxen teams transporting wood. Images of a citrus plantation at Mundimo include recently planted citrus trees and employee housing. Images of Zalale show employee housing. Images of a coconut plantation at Matulune in the prazo of Inhassunge include discrete images of African workers preparing copra and beans, as well as a portrait of a Hereford bull.
Format
Images
Language
French
Added to Catalog
May 19, 2015
References
Société du Madal, Photograph Albums of Prazos in Portuguese Mozambique. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Cite as
Société du Madal, Photograph Albums of Prazos in Portuguese Mozambique. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Subjects
Genre/Form
Gelatin silver prints.
Photograph albums.
Photographs.
Also listed under
Chr. Thams & Cie., distributor.
Bookmark As
Citation
