Angola: Country Or Portuguese Province?

Angola is a country in southwestern Africa. It was a Portuguese colony from the 16th century until it gained independence in 1975.

The Portuguese first landed in what is now northern Angola in 1482, encountering the Kingdom of the Congo. They gradually took control of the coastal area through a series of treaties and wars throughout the 16th century. Their interest in Angola quickly turned to the slave trade, and by the 19th century, Angola was the largest source of slaves for the Americas. Portugal secured administrative control over the interior in the early 20th century.

Angola became an overseas province of Portugal in 1951 and gained full independence as the People's Republic of Angola in 1975.

Angola's colonial history

Angola is a country in west-central Southern Africa. It is a former Portuguese colony and was incorporated as an overseas province of Portugal in 1951.

Early History

The area of present-day Angola was inhabited during the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. The first settlers were the San people, who were hunter-gatherers. This changed in the 6th century AD when the Bantu people, who already possessed metal-working technology, ceramics, and agriculture, began migrating from the north.

The first large political entity in the area was the Kingdom of Kongo, which appeared in the 13th century. It stretched from Gabon in the north to the Kwanza River in the south and was ruled by the Mani, aristocrats who answered to the all-powerful King of the Kongo. The wealth of the Kongo came mainly from agriculture, and trade was the main activity.

Portuguese Colonisation

In 1482, Portuguese caravels commanded by Diogo Cão arrived in the Congo. Other expeditions followed, and close relations were soon established between the two states. The Portuguese brought firearms and technological advancements, as well as Christianity, and in return, the King of the Congo offered slaves, ivory, and minerals.

The Portuguese established a settlement at Luanda during the 16th century, and the Portuguese colony of Angola was founded in 1575. Luanda was granted city status in 1605.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Portugal ruled along the coast and engaged in military conflicts with the Kingdom of Kongo. In the 18th century, Portugal gradually managed to colonise the interior highlands.

Slave Trade

The slave trade was a major part of Angola's colonial history. The Imbangala and the Mbundu tribes were active slave hunters and were the main providers of slaves to the market in Luanda. These slaves were bought by Brazilian traders and shipped to America, including the Portuguese colony of Brazil.

The slave trade was abolished in Angola in 1836, but it continued illegally for many years. It was not until 1850 that Luanda was one of the largest Portuguese cities in the Portuguese Empire outside of mainland Portugal.

Independence

After World War II, Portugal continued to treat its African colonies, including Angola, as overseas provinces. This prompted the emergence of three Angolan independence movements. A military coup in Portugal in 1974 established a military government that agreed to hand power to a coalition of the three movements. However, ideological clashes led to armed conflict between the movements, and Angola achieved independence in 1975 through the Alvor Agreement.

Angola is now a relatively stable constitutional republic with one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Angola's independence

Angola is a country in west-central Southern Africa, and the second-largest Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country in the world.

The Portuguese first landed in what is now northern Angola in 1482, and by the 16th century, they had established a series of treaties and wars to gain control of the coastal area. Their interest in Angola quickly turned to the slave trade, and by the 19th century, Angola was the largest source of slaves for the Americas. Portugal secured administrative control over the interior of Angola in the early 20th century.

As decolonisation progressed in Africa after World War II, Portugal continued to treat its African colonies as overseas provinces. This led to the emergence of three Angolan independence movements, and the Angolan War of Independence (1961-1974). The war was fought between Angolan nationalist forces and Portugal, and began as an uprising against the Portuguese imposition of forced cultivation of cotton. As resistance spread, multiple factions developed, and the war became a branch of the wider Portuguese Colonial War.

The war ended when a peaceful coup in Lisbon in April 1974 overthrew Portugal's Estado Novo dictatorship. The new regime agreed to grant independence to its African colonies without delay, and the Alvor Accords were signed between the Portuguese government, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA).

The MPLA, backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba, defeated the FNLA's bid to seize Luanda by force, and then turned on UNITA, chasing its representatives out of Luanda. The MPLA declared itself the government of independent Angola in November 1975, and managed to win recognition from many African countries. UNITA and the FNLA set up a rival government in Huambo, and called on South African forces to eject the MPLA from Luanda.

The civil war that followed Angola's independence lasted until 2002, and the country has since emerged as a relatively stable constitutional republic.

Angola's civil war

Angola is a country in west-central Southern Africa. It is a republic and was formerly a Portuguese colony.

Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975, after a protracted anti-colonial struggle from 1961 to 1974. However, the country descended into a civil war the same year, between three competing movements: the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba; the insurgent National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, an originally Maoist and later anti-communist group supported by the United States and South Africa; and the militant organisation National Liberation Front of Angola, backed by Zaire.

The Angolan Civil War was a power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, the communist MPLA and the anti-communist UNITA. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975 and continued, with interludes, until 2002.

The MPLA and UNITA had different roots in Angolan society and mutually incompatible leaderships, despite their shared aim of ending colonial rule. The MPLA was primarily an urban-based movement in Luanda and its surrounding area, largely composed of Mbundu people. By contrast, UNITA, an offshoot of the FNLA, was mainly composed of Ovimbundu people, Angola's largest ethnic group, from the Bié Plateau.

The war can be divided roughly into three periods of major fighting – from 1975 to 1991, 1992 to 1994 and from 1998 to 2002 – with fragile periods of peace. By the time the MPLA achieved victory in 2002, between 500,000 and 800,000 people had died and over one million had been internally displaced. The war devastated Angola's infrastructure and severely damaged public administration, the economy, and religious institutions.

The Angolan Civil War was notable due to the combination of Angola's violent internal dynamics and the exceptional degree of foreign military and political involvement. The war is widely considered a Cold War proxy conflict, as the Soviet Union and the United States, with their respective allies Cuba and South Africa, assisted the opposing factions.

The conflict became closely intertwined with the Second Congo War in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo and the South African Border War. Land mines still litter the countryside and contribute to ongoing civilian casualties.

Angola's economy

Angola is a country in west-central Southern Africa and is no longer a province of Portugal. Angola's economy is among the fastest-growing in the world, especially since the end of its civil war in 2002. However, economic growth is highly uneven, with most of the nation's wealth concentrated in a disproportionately small part of the population.

Angola's other natural resources include diamonds, gold, copper, forest products, fisheries, iron ore, coffee, and fruits. Diamonds are the third-largest export, after petroleum products, and the government is trying to attract foreign investment in this sector.

Agriculture and forestry are areas of potential opportunity for the country. Angola's fertile land is abundant but under-exploited, and the country now depends on expensive food imports. Smallholder and plantation agriculture dramatically dropped during the civil war but began to recover after 2002.

Angola's financial system is maintained by the National Bank of Angola. The country's currency is the Angolan kwanza.

Angola's biggest trade partner and export destination is China, followed by the European Union, the United States, India, and the United Arab Emirates.

Angola's demographics

Angola is a country in west-central Southern Africa, with a population of around 37.2 million as of 2023. The country is officially known as the Republic of Angola and is the seventh-largest country in Africa. It is bordered by Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and the Atlantic Ocean. Angola has a diverse population, with several ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages. The three largest ethnic groups are the Ovimbundu (37%), Ambundu (25%), and Bakongo (11%). Other groups include the Chokwe, the Ovambo, the Ganguela, and the Xindonga. There is also a significant population of people of mixed European and African descent (7%), as well as a small percentage of whites, mostly of Portuguese descent (1%).

Angola has a young population, with around 48% of its people under the age of 15 as of 2022. The country has a low standard of living, with low life expectancy and high infant mortality rates. The population is predominantly Christian, with Catholicism being the largest denomination, followed by various forms of Protestantism. Literacy rates are fairly low, with around 71% of the population over the age of 15 able to read and write in Portuguese. Angola has a fast-growing economy, driven mainly by its vast mineral and petroleum reserves. However, economic growth is uneven, with wealth concentrated in a small portion of the population.

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