Angola’s diaspora tourism strategy: remembrance and revival

There are at least 12 million Americans in the United States of Angolan descent, it is estimated.

This creates a vast potential for tourism along the route taken by their ancestors along the Kwanza River corridor, a route that is a candidate to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For millions of people who were enslaved and shipped to the Americas, the shores of Angola were the last sight of home.

Researching those traces is Afonso Vita, who has a doctorate in human geography from Portugal’s University of Coimbra. We meet him in Lisbon, a byway for many of the slaves from Angola.

"Angola is one of the African countries that lost more men, women and children during the slave trade," he says. "We have many places where we still find traces of the transatlantic traffic."

It was a business that flourished in Angola and in Portugal where we met up with Vita. He follows the path where the slaves were led to the ships. He stands in a square that served as a pillory, or pelourinho.

"Pelourinho are spaces where slaves were placed at that time of slavery. They were abused, sold. Those who behaved badly in the view of the colonist were punished," he says.

Countries across the globe benefitted from that people power.

"Africans built Europe, they built America, they even built Asia too," says Vita. "They arrived and influenced changes that are still taking place worldwide."

That global link is an opportunity for tourism and remembrance today. The President of Angola, João Lourenço, visited the Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC last year with the Tucker family, which is one of the slave families descended from Angolan slaves. The museum tour was given by Mary Elliott, Curator of American Slavery, herself a