History

Before Europeans gained control of Africa during the colonial period, various societies in the Angola area established powerful kingdoms that traded iron and other products. Their economies were based on farming, raising cattle, hunting and fishing, and producing tools and household goods.

The Angolan coast was one of the first areas in Africa settled by Portuguese traders after their ships sailed the coastal waters near the end of the 15th century. Angola's capital, Luanda, was founded in 1576.

Until the end of the 19th century, Portugal actually ruled only parts of the coastal area and a small section of the interior of Angola. But through the slave trade, military penetration into the interior, and trading in textiles, guns, and other imported goods, the Portuguese had an impact on the entire region. They took about 7 million people from the Congo-Angola area away into slavery, and the area prospered through its slave trade with Brazil, another Portuguese possession. Some Angolan leaders tried to stop the slave trade in the 16th century but could not. Although some Angolan leaders, including Queen Nzinga in the 17th century, fought the Portuguese, others cooperated with them. By the time World War I began in 1914, Portugal had finally conquered all of Angola through a series of bloody wars. The Portuguese officially abolished slavery, but many Africans remained in forced labor.

Under colonial rule Portuguese farmers and businessmen controlled the Angolan economy, which depended largely on the production of coffee, cotton, and other crops. Large companies from South Africa, Europe, and the United States administered Angola's diamond and iron mines and the production of its petroleum, which was discovered in the 1950s.

Many African colonies became self-governing nations during the 1960s, but the Portuguese dictator, António Salazar, did not grant Angola independence. Angola went to war against Portugal in 1961 to gain its freedom, and violent guerrilla fighting lasted for 14 years. Such organizations as the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) fought for independence. South Africa and the United States provided military aid to UNITA, but with the help of Cuban troops and arms from the Soviet Union the MPLA forces won the war. Angola became independent on Nov. 11, 1975, and the country was plunged into civil war when the two groups proclaimed two rival republics. The MPLA gained control of the government, and its leader, Agostinho Neto, took office as Angola's first president. After his death in 1979, he was succeeded by José Eduardo dos Santos. From 1975 Angolans and Cubans fought the UNITA rebels. In 1988 South Africa agreed to grant independence to Namibia in exchange for the phased withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola. The withdrawal began in January 1989.

Because the agreement did not resolve Angola's internal problems, fighting continued between the MPLA and UNITA. Attempts to end the civil war failed until the end of the Cold War brought together United States and Soviet officials at talks between MPLA and UNITA mediated by Portugal. On May 25, 1991, the withdrawal of Cuban troops was completed. On May 31 the MPLA government and UNITA signed a cease-fire. The elections of September 1992 were won by the MPLA. Refusing to accept defeat, Jonas Savimbi's UNITA renewed the civil war, bringing any chance of economic development to a halt. About one fifth of the population had become displaced persons by 1994. The government and UNITA finally agreed to a peace treaty in November 1994. A United Nations peacekeeping force came to Angola to police the agreement. (See also Africa.) Population (1995 estimate), 11,558,000.