DAMBA

town, northwestern Angola. In a fertile area, it is a market centre for coffee, rice, and sugarcane. The Kongo peoples of the town's hinterland cultivate beans and cassava (manioc). About 1950 Damba was the site of an unsuccessful government-sponsored African resettlement project; the area was subsequently resettled with immigrants from Portugal and Cape Verde, who in turn abandoned the area prior to independence in 1975. Damba is on the principal highway running north-south through northwestern Angola. The town also has an airfield. Pop. (1970 prelim.) town, 27,931.