Angola

Angolan history

Brief history of Angola summarized

A brief summary of the history of Angola, a country that was colonized by Portugal.

Old Angola

In the Middle Ages, what is now Angola was organized into kingdoms. The people lived from agriculture. Artisans made things out of metal and pottery. The Portuguese first arrived in Angola in 1483, but initially showed little interest in the area. The first Portuguese colony in Angola was not founded until 1575.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Angola was a source of slaves for the Portuguese. Many were transported to Brazil. However, the slave trade was abolished in 1836. Until the end of the 19th century, Portugal had little power over the interior of Angola, but in 1885 the European nations divided Africa among themselves. Portugal was forced to assert its right to Angola and to establish effective control over the interior zones. It was not until the 1920s that the Portuguese were in full control of Angola.

The Portuguese used forced labor on the plantations. That was until 1961, when there was a rebellion. As a result of the rebellion forced labor was abolished, but different groups in Angola started a guerrilla war against the Portuguese.

However, they also fought each other in the Angolan War of Independence. Angola finally became independent after a coup in Portugal in 1974.

Modern Angola

Angola became independent on November 11, 1975, but the Angolan civil war continued until 1991. In that year a ceasefire was agreed, but it was broken in 1992 and the civil war resumed. A second ceasefire was held in Angola in 1994, but was broken in 1998.

The long civil war finally ended with a ceasefire in 2002, but Angola was left devastated. Little by little the country was rebuilt. Angola was helped by its oil exports.

In 2010 a new constitution was introduced in Angola. Today Angola is still a poor country and highly dependent on oil exports. However, Angola’s economy is growing strongly. There are reasons to be optimistic about the future of Angola. Today the population of Angola is 29 million inhabitants.

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