History of Angola

Angola was first settled by San hunter-gatherer societies before the northern domains came under the rule of Bantu states such as Kongo and Ndongo. In the 15th century, Portuguese colonists began trading, and a settlement was established at Luanda during the 16th century. Portugal annexed territories in the region which were ruled as a colony from 1655, and Angola was incorporated as an overseas province of Portugal in 1951. After the Angolan War of Independence, which ended in 1974 with an army mutiny and leftist coup in Lisbon, Angola achieved independence in 1975 through the Alvor Agreement. After independence, Angola entered a long period of civil war that lasted until 2002.

The area of present-day Angola was inhabited during the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, as attested by remains found in Luanda, Congo, and the Namibe desert. At the beginning of recorded history other cultures and people also arrived.

The first ones to settle were the San people. This changed at the beginning of the sixth century AD, when the Bantu, already in possession of metal-working technology, ceramics and agriculture began migrating from the north. When they reached what is now Angola they encountered the San and other groups. The establishment of the Bantu took many centuries and gave rise to a variety of groupings that took on different ethnic characteristics.

The first large political entity in the area, known to history as the Kingdom of Kongo, appeared in the thirteenth century and stretched from Gabon in the north to the river Kwanza in the south, and from the Atlantic in the west to the river Cuango in the east.

The wealth of the Kongo came mainly from agriculture. Power was in the hands of the Mani, aristocrats who occupied key positions in the kingdom and who answered only to the all-powerful King of the Kongo. Mbanza was the name given to a territorial unit administered and ruled by a Mani; Mbanza Congo, the capital, had a population of over fifty thousand in the sixteenth century.

The Kingdom of Kongo was divided into six provinces and included some dependent kingdoms, such as Ndongo to the south. Trade was the main activity, based on highly productive agriculture and increasing exploitation of mineral wealth. In 1482, Portuguese caravels commanded by Diogo Cão arrived in the Congo and he explored the extreme north-western coast of what today is Angola in 1484. Other expeditions followed, and close relations were soon established between the two states. The Portuguese brought firearms and many other technological advances, as well as a new religion (Christianity); in return, the King of the Congo offered plenty of slaves, ivory, and minerals.

The King of the Kongo soon converted to Christianity and adopted a similar political structure to the Europeans. He became a well-known figure in Europe, to the point of receiving missives from the Pope.

To the south of the Kingdom of the Kongo, around the river Kwanza, there were various important states. The most important of these was the Kingdom of Ndongo or Dongo, ruled by the ngolas (chief or king). At the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, Ngola Kiluange was in power. By maintaining a policy of alliances with neighbouring states, he managed to hold out against the foreigners for several decades but in the late 1620s was eventually beheaded in Luanda. Years later, the Ndongo rose to prominence again when Jinga Mbandi (Queen Jinga) took power in 1631. A wily politician, she kept the Portuguese in check with carefully prepared agreements. After undertaking various journeys she succeeded in 1635 in forming a grand coalition with the states of Matamba and Ndongo, Kongo, Kassanje, Dembos, and Kissamas. At the head of this formidable alliance, she forced the Portuguese to retreat.