Once the major centre of Portuguese settlement in the hinterland of southern Angola which forcibly transplanted the cattle herding, agrarian based culture and economy of the indigenous people successfully living there prior to colonialism, it was built in a Portuguese style of architecture, with a cathedral, commerce hall, industrial hall, and a secondary school, and, like every Portuguese city or town in the mainland and the overseas territories, it would have the Portuguese town hall, the hospital and the typical CTT post office, besides banking (most prominently the Banco Nacional Ultramarino - BNU), insurance and other services primarily to suit the needs of the white population.