This page covers the period of the Roque-Rodrigues family in North America, after the expulsion by the Soviet-funded terrorists of the whites who built Angola since the 15th century and the Lubango area in the previous century, 4 generations earlier. After slavery was abolished many Madeirans, fleeing religious persecution by the Catholic church on Madeira, were lured to Trinidad but found they were to cut sugar cane that the freed slaves had previously worked. Thousands moved on and settled in Illinois. Others of Madeiran origin moved to North America after the expulsions from Angola of 1975, or went to South Africa where reportedly 500,000 live today. The first settlers to the Lubango area in Southern Angola had come from the island of Madeira in 1885, followed by several waves, and were expected to give strenght to Portuguese claims to the unpopulated south of Angola to keep Germans from German South-West Africa (Namibia since 1989) at bay. 1886 was when the Treaty of Berlin had been signed by colonial powers, establishing demarcations, and pledging to eliminate the 1000 year-old Islamic slave trade and restore Africa to greatness. Contrary to the wishes of the Portuguese government far away, the Madeirans preferred trading to farming, and were taught by the South African Boers (farmers) also present in Southern Angola how to build transport wagons and run businesses. See the Angola page for the complete history of this region.
5) Roque Rodrigues family, post-Angola pictures, United States after 1975
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