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Travel to Angola — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorAngola
| Republic of Angola National name:
Republica de Angola President:
José Eduardo dos Santos (1979) Prime Minister: Fernando da Piedade
Dias dos Santos (2003)
Current government officials
Total area: 481,350 sq mi (1,246,699 sq
km) Population (2007 est.): 12,263,596
(growth rate: 2.2%); birth rate: 44.5/1000; infant mortality rate:
184.4/1000; life expectancy: 37.6; density per sq mi: 25
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Luanda, 2,297,200 Other large cities: Huambo, 171,000;
Lubango, 136,000 Monetary unit: New
Kwanza
Languages:
Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African
languages
Ethnicity/race:
Ovimbundu 37%, Kimbundu 25%, Bakongo 13%,
mestico (mixed European and Native African) 2%, European 1%, other
22%
Religions:
Indigenous 47%, Roman Catholic 38%, Protestant
15% (1998 est.) Literacy rate:
67.4% (2001 est.) Economic summary:
GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $80.95 billion; per capita $6,500. Real
growth rate: 16.3%. Inflation: 12.5%. Unemployment:
extensive unemployment and underemployment affecting more than
half the population (2001 est.). Arable land: 2.65%.
Agriculture: bananas, sugarcane, coffee, sisal, corn, cotton,
manioc (tapioca), tobacco, vegetables, plantains; livestock; forest
products; fish. Labor force: 6.573 million; agriculture 85%,
industry and services 15% (2007 est.). Industries: petroleum;
diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, feldspar, bauxite, uranium, and gold;
cement; basic metal products; fish processing; food processing,
brewing, tobacco products, sugar; textiles; ship repair. Natural
resources: petroleum, diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, copper,
feldspar, gold, bauxite, uranium. Exports: $43.23 billion
f.o.b. (2007 est.): crude oil, diamonds, refined petroleum products,
gas, coffee, sisal, fish and fish products, timber, cotton.
Imports: $11.41 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and
electrical equipment, vehicles and spare parts; medicines, food,
textiles, military goods. Major trading partners: U.S., China,
Taiwan, France, Chile (2006) Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 98,200 (2006); mobile cellular: 2.264 million (2006). Radio
broadcast stations: AAM 21, FM 6, shortwave 7 (2001).
Television broadcast stations: 6 (2000). Internet hosts:
3,337 (2007). Internet users: 85,000 (2005). Transportation: Railways: total: 2,761 km
(2006). Highways: total: 51,429 km; paved: 5,349 km; unpaved:
46,080 km (2001). Waterways: 1,300 km (2007). Ports and
harbors: Cabinda, Luanda, Soyo. Airports: 232 (2007). International disputes: many Cabinda exclave
secessionists have sought shelter in neighboring states
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Angola, more than three times the size of California, extends for more
than 1,000 mi (1,609 km) along the South Atlantic in southwest Africa. The
Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo are to the
north and east, Zambia is to the east, and Namibia is to the south. A
plateau averaging 6,000 ft (1,829 m) above sea level rises abruptly from
the coastal lowlands. Nearly all the land is desert or savanna, with
hardwood forests in the northeast.
Government
Angola underwent a transition from a one-party socialist state to a
nominally multiparty democracy in 1992.
History
The original inhabitants of Angola are thought to have been Khoisan
speakers. After 1000, large numbers of Bantu speakers migrated to the
region and became the dominant group. Angola derives its name from the
Bantu kingdom of Ndongo, whose name for its king is ngola.
Explored by the Portuguese navigator Diego Cão in 1482, Angola
became a link in trade with India and Southeast Asia. Later it was a major
source of slaves for Portugal's New World colony of Brazil. Development of
the interior began after the Berlin Conference in 1885 fixed the colony's
borders, and British and Portuguese investment fostered mining, railways,
and agriculture.
Peace Does Not Follow Independence
Following World War II, independence movements began but were sternly
suppressed by Portuguese military forces. The major nationalist
organizations were the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
(MPLA), a Marxist party; National Front for the Liberation of Angola
(FNLA); and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
(UNITA). After 14 years of war, Portugal finally granted independence to
Angola in 1975. The MPLA, which had led the independence movement, has
controlled the government ever since. But no period of peace followed
Angola's long war for independence. UNITA disputed the MPLA's ascendancy,
and civil war broke out almost immediately. With the Soviet Union and Cuba
supporting the Marxist MPLA, and the United States and South Africa
supporting the anti-Communist UNITA, the country became a cold war
battleground.
With the waning of the cold war and the withdrawal of Cuban troops in
1989, the MPLA began to make the transition to a multiparty democracy.
Despite shifting ideologies, the civil war continued, with UNITA's
charismatic rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, armed and sustained by his
control of approximately 80% of the country's diamond trade. Free
elections took place in 1992, with incumbent president José Eduardo
dos Santos and the MPLA winning the UN-certified election over Savimbi and
UNITA. Savimbi then withdrew, charging election fraud, and the civil war
resumed.
Four years of relative peace passed between 1994 and 1998, when the UN,
at a cost of $1.6 billion, oversaw the 1994 Lusaka peace accord. In 1997,
it was agreed that a coalition government with UNITA would be implemented.
But Savimbi violated the accord repeatedly by refusing to give up his
strongholds, failing to demobilize his army, and retaking territory. As a
result, the government suspended coalition rule in Sept. 1998, and the
country again plunged into civil war. Angola’s citizens continued to
suffer. The hostilities affected an estimated 4 million people, about a
third of the total population, and there were almost 2 million
refugees.P
Peace Is Achieved, but Domestic Suffering Continues
On Feb. 22, 2002, government troops killed Jonas Savimbi, and six weeks
later, on April 4, rebel leaders signed a cease-fire deal with the
government, signaling the end of 30 years of civil war. While peace
finally seemed secure, more than a half-million Angolans were faced with
starvation.
Angola is the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, yet
its people are among the continent's poorest. The corruption under the Dos
Santos government bears much of the blame. According to the International
Monetary Fund, more than $4 billion in oil receipts have disappeared from
Angola's treasury in the last six years.
In Aug. 2006, a peace deal was signed with separatist rebels from the
Cabinda region. That clash had been called Angola's “forgotten
war.” About 65% of Angola's oil comes from the region.
In Angola's first national elections in 16 years, held in Sep. 2008, the governing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) won about 82% of the vote. The opposition, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), took 10%. The landslide victory gave the MPLA a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
See also Encyclopedia: Angola.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Angola
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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