Angola, Matala.
West of Matala lay the Lunda Kingdom. The Lunda Kingdom had not been completely wiped out by East Africa, because its territory straddled both banks of the Kwilu River. East Africa had merely taken the land on the eastern bank.
The heartland of the Lunda Kingdom had originally been on the western bank of the Kwilu River. Thus, after encountering the East African army, most Lunda people had fled directly across to the western bank. The Lunda Kingdom had not suffered heavy losses this time.
To the west of the Lunda Kingdom, Matala was one of the Portuguese settlements deepest in the interior of Angola.
As a Portuguese colonial stronghold, it possessed no exceptional mineral resources. Its chief advantages were its flat land and abundant rainfall, so the Portuguese had established plantation after plantation in Matala, chiefly growing palm trees and coffee.
Matala's plantations were mainly divided between two owners. The northern plantation belonged to Oliveira, while the southern plantation belonged to Adros. At that moment, the two men were riding through the plantations together on an inspection.
Native slaves toiled bitterly in the fields. Brands had been burned into their bodies, shackles hung from their ankles, and every forty or fifty of them were watched over by a white overseer.
Beneath the blazing sun, the white overseers held long whips, ready at any time to crack one across the backs of the native slaves sweating away in the fields, to keep them alert. Anyone caught loafing or playing tricks met an even more horrifying fate.
Crude wooden crosses stood along both sides of the road, each roughly two meters high. Hemp ropes were wound around their arms. Blackened by wind and sun, the crosses looked as though they had been stained with oil, but a closer look