Map of the Benguela Railway Line in Angola
Bunks, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Angola’s History | The Almost Complete Guide
First human settlements in Angola emerged during paleolithic era (Paleolithic – 6th century AD)
The area now known as Angola was settled by San hunter-gatherers who developed early societies across this region in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Bantu migration brought technological revolution to Angola (6th century – 15th century)
Bantu people arrived with metal working, ceramic, and agricultural technology, gradually displacing the San people. They established the Kongo Kingdom with Mbanza Congo as its capital city.
Descendants of these Bantu linguistic groups now make up 95% of Angola’s population.
Queen Nzinga Ana de Sousa Mbande Nzinga’s coalition was the last main resistance to Portuguese rule in Angola (1482 – 1654)
Diogo Cão was a Portuguese mariner whose arrival initiated Portuguese Kongo diplomatic and trade relations. Portuguese brought guns, steel, technology and Christianity, and the King of Congo offered ivory, minerals and human slaves.
Portuguese nobleman Paulo Dias de Novais founded Luanda in 1575.
Queen Nzinga from present day Northern Angola led resistance against Portuguese expansion. In 1635, she formed a coalition between the states of Matamba, Ndongo, Kongo, Kassanje, Dembos and Kissamas, forcing Portuguese troops to retreat. Dutch forces occupied Luanda in 1641, forming an alliance with Queen Nzinga’s coalition.
Portugal reinforced and Portuguese commander Salvador Correia de Sá recaptured Luanda in 1648, leading to the collapse of Nzinga’s alliance.
The Kingdom of Ndongo submitted to Portuguese control in 1671.
Hundreds of years later, Angola’s official language is Portuguese.
Slave trade extracts 200 years of wealth from Angola’s coast (1655 – 1951)
Portuguese colonial control centered on two coastal trading cities from 1655 to 1836: Luanda and Benguela.
An estimated 2,00,000 slaves were sold from Angola, with most heading to Brazil. In 1836, Portugal abolished slavery but that did not stop the slave trade.
Portugal maintained no effective control beyond inland. Independent kingdoms in Angola’s interior regions continued traditional governance and trade systems, particularly in the Bié and Bailundo regions of Angola.
The 1884 Berlin Conference forced Portugal to establish physical control over claimed territories or risk losing them. Military expeditions from 1884 to 1920 brought the Angolan interior under Portuguese administration while killing millions.
Portugal creates the Overseas Province of Angola, but rival movements launched an armed struggle against Portuguese rule (1951 – 1974)
After World War II, Portugal reclassified Angola from colony to overseas province, attempting to reduce international criticism in 1951.
Despite the classification changes, life in Angola remained the same. Portuguese authorities maintained racial segregation and invested little in higher education.
Armed resistance independence movements sprang up in 1961 with different ethnic and geographic power bases:
- The National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) formed in rural areas, gaining Bakongo supporters.
- National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) established northern strongholds among Ovimbundu people led by Jonas Savimbi.
- Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) captured elite support in urban areas.
Angola won independence after a sudden coup in Portugal (1974 – 1975)
A military coup on April 25, 1974, in Portugal led to rapid independence as Portuguese President António de Spínola drove immediate decolonization of all overseas territories.
The three groups were united in a provisional government. It lasted 72 days.
MPLA forces captured the capital city of Luanda on November 10, 1975, and declared Angola’s independence at midnight November 11. President Agostinho Neto established a one-party Marxist state.
The People’s Republic of Angola is created but the Soviet Union and US turned Angola into a Cold War battleground (1975 – 1991)
The MPLA was backed by the Soviet Union and its Cuban allies. South Africa launched a military response in October 1975, from Southern Angola backed by UNITA financed covertly by the US Central Intelligence Agency.
The fighting was ultimately a stalemate.
After over a decade of fighting and millions dead, representatives from Angola, Cuba, South Africa, the Soviet Union and the United States engaged in direct negotiations.
At the same time, the end of the Cold War removed superpower mega funding for both MPLA and UNITA military operations. Fighting would continue despite several cease fires and treaties but would be primarily led by Angolan combatants.
Peace deal and a contested election sparked urban killing (1991 – 1994)
The May 1991 Bicesse Accord mandated democratic elections under United Nations supervision. MPLA and UNITA agreed to combine forces into a 50,000-person national army.
Angola held its first elections in September 1992. MPLA won with 49% of votes to UNITA’s 40%. UNITA’s Jonas Savimbi rejected the results, returning his 25,000 troops to combat.
In 1992, MPLA forces killed 10,000 UNITA supporters in 48 hours in what became known as the Halloween massacre. Violence spread nationwide, causing 30,000 deaths.
A November 1994 Lusaka Protocol attempted to revive peace, integrate 5,500 UNITA members into government and disband the rebel UNITA army.
Death of Savimbi, UNITA leader ended 27 years of continuous warfare (1995 – 2002)
In 1995, UNITA resumed military operations which earned the group UN sanctions.
Government operations to eradicate the group continued until February 2002 when Angolan special forces killed Savimbi. In April, a final peace agreement was signed between UNITA and the Angolan government, ending the Angolan Civil War.
UNITA officially disbanded its military forces, and the government began resettling millions of displaced people. Over 800,000 died over the course of the Civil War.
According to Halo Trust, a British demining group, 88,000 Angolans have been casualties of landmines, though they concede getting exact numbers is impossible.
Oil wealth fueled reconstruction, but corruption slowed economic growth (2002 – 2017)
Angola’s oil production grew under a peaceful era, reaching 50% of GDP in 2024, 1.16 million barrels per day according to The International Trade Administration from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Petroleum exports generated $68 billion annually but 65% of Angolans lived in extreme poverty.
Angolan President José Eduardo do Santos was the country’s first president leading Angola from 1979 to 1992 as leader of the People’s Republic of Angola and the Republic of Angola through to Civil War.
Dos Santos held power by bribing supporters and economically crushing rivals. According to Human Rights Watch, under his rule, $32 billion in oil revenue disappeared from state accounts. He and his daughter Isabel, who he appointed to run the state-owned entity, became multibillionaires.
João Lourenço assumed Angola’s presidency in September 2017, ending José Eduardo dos Santos’s 38-year rule. Former president José Eduardo dos Santos died in Spain on July 8, 2022. Lourenço.
References:
AP News
Brookings
How do Tariffs Work
Halo Trust
Human Rights Watch
Mercer Cost of Living City Ranking 2024
Trade.gov
World Bank Gender Data Portal
