Angola

The Republic of Angola is a state on the western coast of southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking (Portuguese-speaking) country in both total area and population (after Brazil) and the seventh-largest country in Africa. It is bordered by Namibia to the south, DR Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an exclave province of Cabinda, bordering the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and most populous city are Luanda.

Angola has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era. Its formation as a nation-state dates back to Portuguese colonization, which originally began with coastal settlements and trading posts founded in the 16th century. In the 19th century, European settlers gradually began to develop the hinterland. The Portuguese colony that became Angola did not have its current borders until the early 20th century due to resistance from local groups such as Cuamato, Kwanyama, and Mbunda.

After a long anti-colonial struggle, Angola gained independence in 1975 as a Marxist-Leninist one-party republic. That same year, the country plunged into a devastating civil war between the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), backed by the Soviet Union, and Cuba, the rebellious anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and supported by the United States and South Africa, as well as the militant organization Front for National Liberation of Angola (FNLA), supported by the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country has been under the control of the MPLA since its independence in 1975. After the end of the war in 2002, Angola developed into a relatively stable unitary presidential constitutional republic.

Angola has huge reserves of minerals and oil, and its economy has been one of the fastest-growing in the world, especially since the end of the civil war. However, economic growth is highly uneven, with most of the national wealth concentrated in a disproportionately small sector of the population and largely concentrated in China and the United States. The standard of living of most Angolans remains low; Life expectancy is one of the lowest in the world, and infant mortality is one of the highest. [8] Since 2017, the government of João Lourenço has made the fight against corruption its flagship, so much so that many people from the previous government are either imprisoned or awaiting trial. While these efforts were deemed legitimate by foreign diplomats, some skeptics view the actions as politically motivated.

Angola is a member of the United Nations, OPEC, the African Union, the Community of Portuguese Countries, and the Southern African Development Community. As of 2021, the population of Angola is estimated at 32.87 million. Angola is multicultural and multinational. Angolan culture reflects centuries of Portuguese rule, namely the predominance of the Portuguese language and the Catholic Church, combined with a variety of local customs and traditions.