Humbe is a town and commune in the municipality of

Ombadja Ombadja (known as Santa Clara until 1975) is municipality in Cunene Province, Angola. Its seat is the village of Xangongo (known in colonial times as Roçadas). It occupies 12,264 square kilometers and has about 304,964 inhabitants . It is border ...

, province of Cunene, Angola. It also used to be the location of a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

mission station A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and ...

in southern

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, located approx. 10 km northeast of Xangongo, in the tribal area of the

tribe of the

Ovambo Ovambo may refer to: *Ovambo language, Bantu language of Namibia **Ovambo people, Bantu people of Namibia *Ovamboland, former Bantustan in South West Africa (now Namibia) *Ovambo sparrowhawk The Ovambo or Ovampo sparrowhawk, also known as Hilge ...

s. It was located on a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Kunene River The Cunene (Portuguese spelling) or Kunene (common Namibian spelling) is a river in Southern Africa. It flows from the Angola highlands southwards to the border with Namibia. It then flows in a westerly direction along the border until it reaches ...

, flowing into this river from the north. Humbe was established in ca. 1882, after the Catholics had made a failed attempt to establish themselves near the Finnish mission station of

Olukonda Olukonda is a settlement in the Oshikoto Region in the north of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Olukonda electoral constituency. During colonial time of German South West Africa the missionary station and settlement was known as the ' ...

Ondonga Ondonga is a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in what is today northern Namibia. Its capital is Ondangwa, and the kingdom's palace is at Onambango. Its people call themselves ''Aandonga''. They speak the Ndonga dialect. The Ondonga kingdom ...

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan and later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Ovambos, in South West Africa (present-day Namibia). The apartheid government stat ...

, in 1879, and then in Omaruru,

Hereroland Hereroland was a Bantustan and later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Hereros, in South West Africa (present day Namibia), intended by the apartheid-era government to be a self-governing h ...

, further south in

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

in 1882. The attempts of the Portuguese to subjugate the Ovambos of Ombadja and

Oukwanyama Oukwanyama (''Uukwanyama'' in the neighbouring Oshindonga dialect) is a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in what is today northern Namibia and southern Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Centr ...

were initially unsuccessful, and 1904 they suffered a massive defeat at the Cunene river. In response, the Portuguese established

Forte Roçadas Forte or Forté may refer to: Music *Forte (music), a musical dynamic meaning "loudly" or "strong" *Forte number, an ordering given to every pitch class set *Forte (notation program), a suite of musical score notation programs *Forte (vocal gro ...

in 1906 in what is now Xangongo, not far from Humbe.Peltola 1958, p. 136.

References

Sources

* Populated places in Cunene Province Communes in Cunene Province Catholic mission stations in Ombadja {{Angola-geo-stub