Ambriz is a village and municipality in Bengo Province , Angola. It is located 127 km from the town of Caxito . It borders the municipality of N'zeto , Zaire Province , to the north and the municipality of Dande to the south.
159-615: In southwestern Africa , Portuguese Angola was a historical colony of the Portuguese Empire (1575–1951), the overseas province Portuguese West Africa of Estado Novo Portugal (1951–1972), and the State of Angola of the Portuguese Empire (1972–1975). It became the independent People's Republic of Angola in 1975. In the 16th and 17th century Portugal ruled along the coast and engaged in military conflicts with
318-770: A confederation of seafaring peoples contributed to the New Kingdom 's collapse in 1069 BC, commencing the Third Intermediate Period . Egypt's collapse liberated the more Egyptianised Kingdom of Kush in Nubia, who manoeuvred into power in Upper Egypt and conquered Lower Egypt in 754 BC to form the Kushite Empire . The Kushites ruled for a century and oversaw a revival in pyramid building , until they were driven out of Egypt by
477-557: A principality into a major power on the trade route between Rome and India through conquering its unfortunately unknown neighbours, gaining a monopoly on Indian Ocean trade in the region. Aksum's rise had them rule over much of the regions from Lake Tana to the valley of the Nile , and they further conquered parts of the ailing Kingdom of Kush , led campaigns against the Noba and Beja peoples, and expanded into South Arabia . This led
636-616: A Berber tribe originally from Yafran (also known as Ifrane ) in northwestern Libya , as well as the city of Ifrane in Morocco . Under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province then named Africa Proconsularis , following its defeat of the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War in 146 BC, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya . The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote
795-647: A disastrous defeat at the Battle of Kitombo when they tried to invade Kongo in 1670. Control of most of the central highlands was achieved in the 18th century. Further reaching attempts at conquering the interior were undertaken in the 19th century. However, full Portuguese administrative control of the entire territory was not achieved until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1884, the United Kingdom , which up to that time refused to acknowledge that Portugal possessed territorial rights north of Ambriz , concluded
954-710: A former Italian colony, gained independence. In 1956, Tunisia and Morocco won their independence from France. Ghana followed suit the next year (March 1957), becoming the first of the sub-Saharan colonies to be granted independence. Over the next decade, waves of decolonization took place across the continent, culminating in the 1960 Year of Africa and the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963. Portugal's overseas presence in sub-Saharan Africa (most notably in Angola , Cape Verde, Mozambique , Guinea-Bissau , and São Tomé and Príncipe) lasted from
1113-509: A handful of African countries succeeded in obtaining rapid economic growth prior to 1990. Exceptions include Libya and Equatorial Guinea, both of which possess large oil reserves. Ambriz The population of Ambriz totals 20,000, of whom the majority are Bakongo ; there are also Portuguese descendants, and people of mixed Portuguese-African ancestry. The population includes people of the Ovimbundu and Kimbundu ethnic groups. Fishing
1272-483: A huge increase of the European population. The white population increased from 44,083 in 1940 to 172,529 in 1960. With around 1,000 immigrants arriving each month. On the eve of the end of the colonial period, the ethnic European residents numbered 400,000 (1974) (excluding enlisted and commissioned soldiers from the mainland) and the mixed race population was at around 100,000 (many were Cape Verdian migrants working in
1431-564: A land (e.g., in Celtica from Celtae , as used by Julius Caesar ). The later Muslim region of Ifriqiya , following its conquest of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire's Exarchatus Africae , also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lies to the west of Egypt, while "Asia" was used to refer to Anatolia and lands to the east. A definite line was drawn between
1590-446: A legislative assembly. Portuguese Angola was a territory covering 1,246,700 km, an area greater than France and Spain put together. It had 5,198 km of terrestrial borders and a coastline with 1,600 km. Its geography was diverse. From the coastal plain, ranging in width from 25 kilometres in the south to 100–200 kilometers in the north, the land rises in stages towards the high inland plateau covering almost two-thirds of
1749-518: A major enemy of Castile , invaded many Portuguese overseas possessions, including Luanda. The Dutch ruled Luanda from 1640 to 1648 as Fort Aardenburgh. They were seeking black slaves for use in sugarcane plantations of Northeastern Brazil ( Pernambuco , Olinda and Recife ), which they had also seized from Portugal. John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen , conquered the Portuguese possessions of Saint George del Mina , Saint Thomas, and Luanda on
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#17327939423031908-698: A millennium. Towards the end of the ancient period, northern Ethiopia and Eritrea bore the Kingdom of D'mt beginning in 980 BC. In modern-day Somalia and Djibouti there was the Macrobian Kingdom , with archaeological discoveries indicating the possibility of other unknown sophisticated civilisations at this time. After D'mt's fall in the 5th century BC the Ethiopian Plateau came to be ruled by numerous smaller unknown kingdoms who experienced strong south Arabian influence , until
2067-625: A monopoly on gold heading north and salt heading south, despite not controlling the gold fields themselves, located in the forest regions . It is probable that Wagadu's dominance on trade allowed for the gradual consolidation of many polities into a confederated state , whose composites stood in varying relations to the core, from fully administered to nominal tribute-paying parity. Based on large tumuli scattered across West Africa dating to this period, it has been stipulated that relative to Wagadu, there were further simultaneous and preceding kingdoms that have unfortunately been lost to time. At
2226-586: A native Libyan tribe, an ancestor of modern Berbers ; see Terence for discussion. The name had usually been connected with the Phoenician word ʿafar meaning "dust", but a 1981 hypothesis has asserted that it stems from the Berber word ifri (plural ifran ) meaning "cave", in reference to cave dwellers. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania ,
2385-487: A peaceful and mutually profitable relationship with the rulers and nobles of the Kongo Kingdom. Kings such as João I and Afonso I studied Christianity and learned Portuguese , in turn Christianising their nation and sharing the benefits from the slave trade. The Portuguese established small trading posts on the lower Congo , in the area of the present Democratic Republic . A more important trading settlement on
2544-649: A pragmatic hearts and minds policy, the military conflict in Angola was effectively won for the Portuguese. In June 1972, the Portuguese National Assembly approved a new version of its Organic Law on Overseas Territories , in order to grant its African overseas territories a wider political autonomy and to tone down the increasing dissent both internally and abroad. It changed Angola's status from an overseas province to an autonomous state with authority over some internal affairs, while Portugal
2703-431: A professional class protest of Portuguese Armed Forces captains against the 1973 decree law Dec. Lei n. 353/73 . These events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens, overwhelmingly white but some mestiço (mixed race) or black, from Portugal's African territories, creating hundreds of thousands destitute refugees — the retornados . On 11 November 1975 Angola became a sovereign state in accordance with
2862-625: A smaller pro-independence guerrilla organisation established in the East, supported the MPLA. Until 1970, the combined guerrilla forces of MPLA and UNITA in the East Front were successful in pressuring Portuguese Armed Forces (FAP) in the area to the point that the guerrillas were able to cross the Cuanza River and could threaten the territory of Bié , which included an important urban centre in
3021-468: A transition from " informal imperialism " – military influence and economic dominance – to direct rule. Imperial rule by Europeans continued until after the conclusion of World War II , when almost all remaining colonial territories gradually obtained formal independence. Independence movements in Africa gained momentum following World War II, which left the major European powers weakened. In 1951, Libya,
3180-640: A treaty recognising Portuguese sovereignty over both banks of the lower Congo. However, the treaty, meeting with opposition there and in Germany , was not ratified. Agreements concluded with the Congo Free State , the German Empire and France in 1885–1886 fixed the limits of the province, except in the south-east, where the frontier between Barotseland ( north-west Rhodesia ) and Angola was determined by an Anglo-Portuguese agreement of 1891 and
3339-462: A truce with the pro-independence African guerrillas in an effort to promote peace talks and independence. The military-led coup returned democracy to Portugal, ending the unpopular Colonial War where hundreds of thousands of Portuguese soldiers had been conscripted into military service, and replacing the authoritarian Estado Novo (New State) regime and its secret police which repressed elemental civil liberties and political freedoms . It started as
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#17327939423033498-791: Is not always to be taken literally. Africa is considered by most paleoanthropologists to be the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, with the Human species originating from the continent. During the mid-20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as seven million years ago ( Before present , BP). Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to have evolved into modern humans, such as Australopithecus afarensis radiometrically dated to approximately 3.9–3.0 million years BP, Paranthropus boisei (c. 2.3–1.4 million years BP) and Homo ergaster (c. 1.9 million–600,000 years BP) have been discovered. After
3657-825: Is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Arabian Plate and the Gulf of Aqaba to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos . It contains 54 fully recognised sovereign states , eight cities and islands that are part of non-African states , and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition . This count does not include Malta and Sicily , which are geologically part of
3816-534: Is the traditional activity and low-scale agricultural activity. In the past, Ambriz had an oil and gas platform assembly yard (PETROMAR), which was destroyed during warfare in 1992. The base is being reconstructed. In 2007, an Angolan-Portuguese company announced plans to build a biodiesel plant to be fueled by palm oil. The village has a small port and an airport with an unpaved runway. 7°51′S 13°07′E / 7.850°S 13.117°E / -7.850; 13.117 This Angola location article
3975-400: Is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia . At about 30.3 million km (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth 's land area and 6% of its total surface area. With nearly 1.4 billion people as of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of the world's human population . Africa's population is the youngest among all
4134-671: The 11th dynasty , based in Thebes , conquered the others to form the Middle Kingdom of Egypt , with the 12th dynasty expanding into Lower Nubia at the expense of Kerma . In 1700 BC, the Middle Kingdom fractured in two, ushering in the Second Intermediate Period . The Hyksos , a militaristic people from Palestine , invaded and conquered Lower Egypt, while Kerma coordinated invasions deep into Egypt to reach its greatest extent. In 1550 BC,
4293-646: The 18th dynasty expelled the Hyksos , and established the New Kingdom of Egypt . Using the advanced military technology the Hyksos had brought, the New Kingdom conquered the Levant from the Canaanites , Mittani , Amorites , and Hittites , and extinguished Kerma , incorporating Nubia into the empire, and sending the Egyptian empire into its golden age. Internal struggles, drought, famine, and invasions by
4452-666: The Alvor Agreement and the newly independent country was proclaimed the People's Republic of Angola . In the 20th century, Portuguese Angola was subject to the Estado Novo regime. In 1951, the Portuguese authorities changed the statute of the territory from a colony to an overseas province of Portugal. Legally, the territory was as much a part of Portugal as Lisbon but as an overseas province enjoyed special derogations to account for its distance from Europe. Most members of
4611-685: The Benin Empire . Towards the end of the 3rd century AD, a wet period in the Sahel created areas for human habitation and exploitation that had not been habitable for the best part of a millennium, with the Kingdom of Wagadu , the local name of the Ghana Empire , rising out of the Tichitt culture , growing wealthy following the introduction of the camel to the western Sahel, revolutionising
4770-526: The Cold War , and neocolonialism . Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and a large and young population make Africa an important economic market in the broader global context. Africa has a large quantity of natural resources and food resources, including diamonds , sugar , salt , gold , iron , cobalt , uranium , copper , bauxite , silver , petroleum , natural gas , cocoa beans , and tropical fruit . The continent
4929-904: The Congo Basin , the Empire of Kitara in the African Great Lakes , the Luba Empire in the Upemba Depression , the Kilwa Sultanate in the Swahili coast by crowding out Azania , with Rhapta being its last stronghold by the 1st century AD, and forming various city states constituting the Swahili civilisation . These migrations also prefaced the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in the Zambezi basin . After reaching
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5088-613: The Congo River system, and the Kwando and Cubango Rivers , both of which drain generally southeast to the Okavango Delta . As the land drops from the plateau, many rapids and waterfalls plunge downward in the rivers. Portuguese Angola had no sizable lakes, besides those formed by dams and reservoirs built by the Portuguese administration. The Portuguese authorities established several national parks and natural reserves across
5247-684: The Cuanza basin in the 1950s, in the Congo basin in the 1960s, and in the exclave of Cabinda in 1968. The Portuguese government granted operating rights for Block Zero to the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco , in 1955. Oil production surpassed the exportation of coffee as Angola's largest export in 1973. By the early 1970s, a variety of crops and livestock were produced in Portuguese Angola. In
5406-746: The Ekoi civilisation rose circa 2nd century AD, and are most notable for constructing the Ikom monoliths and developing the Nsibidi script . Pre-colonial Africa possessed as many as 10,000 different states and polities. These included small family groups of hunter-gatherers such as the San people of southern Africa; larger, more structured groups such as the family clan groupings of the Bantu peoples of central, southern, and eastern Africa; heavily structured clan groups in
5565-495: The Estado Novo regime's establishment. While these changes were taking place, a few guerrilla nuclei stayed active inside the territory, and continued to campaign outside of Angola against Portuguese rule. The idea of having the independence movements take part in the political structure of the revamped territory's organization was absolutely unthinkable (on both sides). However, the Portuguese authorities were unable to defeat
5724-617: The Fatimids , Almoravids , Almohads , Ayyubids , Mamluks , Kongo , Mwene Muji , Luba , Lunda , Kitara , Aksum , Ethiopia , Adal , Ajuran , Kilwa , Sakalava , Imerina , Maravi , Mutapa , Rozvi , Mthwakazi , and Zulu . Slave trades created various diasporas , especially in the Americas . From the late 19th century to early 20th century, driven by the Second Industrial Revolution , most of Africa
5883-631: The Horn of Africa ; the large Sahelian kingdoms ; and autonomous city-states and kingdoms, such as those of the Akan ; Edo , Yoruba , and Igbo people in West Africa; and the Swahili coastal trading towns of Southeast Africa. By the 9th century AD, a string of dynastic states, including the earliest Hausa states, stretched across the sub-Saharan savannah from the western regions to central Sudan. The most powerful of these states were Ghana , Gao , and
6042-747: The Isthmus of Suez in Egypt. Other migrations of modern humans within the African continent have been dated to that time, with evidence of early human settlement found in Southern Africa, Southeast Africa, North Africa, and the Sahara . The size of the Sahara has historically been extremely variable, with its area rapidly fluctuating and at times disappearing depending on global climatic conditions. At
6201-696: The Kanem-Bornu Empire . Ghana declined in the eleventh century, but was succeeded by the Mali Empire , which consolidated much of western Sudan in the thirteenth century. Kanem accepted Islam in the eleventh century. In the forested regions of the West African coast, independent kingdoms grew with little influence from the Muslim north. The Kingdom of Nri , which was ruled by the Eze Nri ,
6360-472: The Kingdom of Dahomey , and the Oyo Empire ) adopted different ways of adapting to the shift. Asante and Dahomey concentrated on the development of "legitimate commerce" in the form of palm oil , cocoa , timber and gold, forming the bedrock of West Africa's modern export trade. The Oyo Empire, unable to adapt, collapsed into civil wars. The Scramble for Africa was the conquest and colonisation of most of Africa by seven Western European powers driven by
6519-463: The Kingdom of Kongo , but in the 18th century Portugal gradually managed to colonise the interior highlands. Other polities in the region included the Kingdom of Ndongo , Kingdom of Lunda , and Mbunda Kingdom . Full control of the entire territory was not achieved until the beginning of the 20th century, when agreements with other European powers during the Scramble for Africa fixed the colony's interior borders. The history of Portuguese presence on
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6678-479: The League of Nations and wrote a scathing report describing the labor system as "virtually state serfdom ", that did not allow Africans time to produce their own food. In addition, when their wages were embezzled and they were denied access to the colonial judicial system. From the mid-1950s until 1974, iron ore was mined in Malanje , Bié , Huambo , and Huíla provinces, and production reached an average of 5.7 million tons per year between 1970 and 1974. Most of
6837-439: The Mauro-Roman Kingdom and its numerous successor polities in the Maghreb, namely the kingdoms of Ouarsenis , Aurès , and Altava . The Vandals ruled Ifriqiya for a century until Byzantine reconquest in the early 6th century AD. The Byzantines and the Berber kingdoms fought minor inconsequential conflicts, such as in the case of Garmul , however largely coexisted. Further inland to the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa were
6996-485: The National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( MPLA ) began to organize strategies and action plans to fight Portuguese rule and the remunerated system which affected many of the native African people from the countryside, who were relocated from their homes and made to perform compulsory work, almost always unskilled hard labour, in an environment of economic boom . Organised guerrilla warfare began in 1961,
7155-405: The New World , mainly to Brazil , but also to North America. According to Oliver and Atmore, "for 200 years, the colony of Angola developed essentially as a gigantic slave-trading enterprise". Portuguese sailors, explorers, soldiers and merchants had a long-standing policy of conquest and establishment of military and trading outposts in Africa with the conquest of Muslim-ruled Ceuta in 1415 and
7314-512: The Noba caused their disintegration into Makuria , Alodia , and Nobatia in the 5th century AD. The Romans managed to hold on to Egypt for the rest of the ancient period. In the Horn of Africa , there was the Land of Punt , a kingdom on the Red Sea , likely located in modern-day Eritrea or northern Somaliland . The Ancient Egyptians initially traded via middle-men with Punt until in 2350 BC when they established direct relations. They would become close trading partners for over
7473-430: The Nok culture from 1500 BC in modern-day Nigeria , the Daima culture around Lake Chad from 550 BC, Djenné-Djenno from 250 BC in modern-day Mali , and the Serer civilisation in modern-day Senegal , which built the Senegambian stone circles from the 3rd century BC. There is also detailed record of Igodomigodo , a small kingdom founded presumably in 40 BC, which would later go on to form
7632-399: The Ovambo kingdoms , most of which were later conquered. The 1884 Berlin Conference regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa, and is seen as emblematic of the "scramble". In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries between the European empires , which provided the impetus for the colonisation. The later years of the 19th century saw
7791-405: The Portugal national football team . Since the 1960s, with the latest developments on commercial aviation , the highest ranked football teams of Angola and the other African overseas provinces of Portugal, started to compete in the Taça de Portugal (the Portuguese Cup). Other facilities and organizations for swimming , nautical sports , tennis and wild hunting became widespread. Beginning in
7950-414: The Portuguese Army in the Angolan theatre, the independence guerrilla movements were never fully defeated. From 1966 to 1970, the pro-independence guerrilla movement MPLA expanded their previously limited insurgency operations to the East of Angola. This vast countryside area was far away from the main urban centres and close to foreign countries where the guerrillas were able to take shelter. The UNITA,
8109-440: The Portuguese Empire a sort of federal structure , conferring some degree of autonomy to the "states". In fact, the structural changes and increase in autonomy were extremely limited. The government of the "State of Angola" was the same as the old provincial government, except for some cosmetic changes to personnel and titles. As in Portugal itself, the government of the "State of Angola" was entirely composed of people aligned with
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#17327939423038268-404: The Punic Wars against the expansionary Roman Republic , however momentum in these wars was not linear, with Carthage initially experiencing considerable success in the Second Punic War following Hannibal 's infamous crossing of the alps into northern Italy . Their defeat and subsequent collapse of their empire would produce two further polities in the Maghreb; Numidia , which had assisted
8427-419: The Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (Portuguese: Governo revolucionário de Angola no exílio , GRAE) in Kinshasa in an attempt to claim on the international scene the sole representation of forces fighting Portuguese rule in Angola. In 1966, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( UNITA ) also started pro-independence guerrilla operations. Despite the overall military superiority of
8586-447: The Romans in 30 BC. The Crisis of the Third Century in the Roman Empire freed the Levantine city state of Palmyra , which conquered Egypt ; their brief rule ended when they were reconquered by the Romans . In the midst of this, Kush regained independence from Egypt, and they would persist as a major regional power until, having been weakened from internal rebellion amid worsening climatic conditions, invasions by Aksum and
8745-494: The Sanhaja in modern-day Algeria , a broad grouping of three groupings of tribal confederations , one of which is the Masmuda grouping in modern-day Morocco , along with the nomadic Zenata ; their composite tribes would later go onto shape much of North African history . In the western Sahel the rise of settled communities occurred largely as a result of the domestication of millet and of sorghum . Archaeology points to sizable urban populations in West Africa beginning in
8904-488: The Sao civilisation flourished for over a millennium beginning in the 6th century BC, in territory that later became part of present-day Cameroon and Chad . Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze , copper , and iron , with finds including bronze sculptures, terracotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewellery, highly decorated pottery, and spears. Nearby, around Lake Ejagham in south-west Cameroon ,
9063-419: The Sassanid Empire and the Himyarite Kingdom in Arabia. The Maghreb and Ifriqiya were mostly cut off from the cradle of civilisation in Egypt by the Libyan desert , exacerbated by Egyptian boats being tailored to the Nile and not coping well in the open Mediterranean Sea . This caused its societies to develop contiguous to those of Southern Europe , until Phoenician settlements came to dominate
9222-417: The Second Industrial Revolution during the era of " New Imperialism " (1833–1914): Belgium , France , Germany , United Kingdom , Italy , Portugal and Spain . In 1870, 10% of the continent was formally under European control. By 1914, this figure had risen to almost 90%; the only states retaining sovereignty were Liberia , Ethiopia , Egba , Aussa , Senusiyya , Mbunda , the Dervish State , and
9381-404: The Zambezi , the Bantu continued southward, with eastern groups continuing to modern-day Mozambique and reaching Maputo in the 2nd century AD. Further to the south, settlements of Bantu peoples who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen were well established south of the Limpopo River by the 4th century AD, displacing and absorbing the Khoisan . By the Chari River south of Lake Chad
9540-419: The presidential system of rule. However, few of them have been able to sustain democratic governments on a permanent basis—per the criteria laid out by Lührmann et al. (2018), only Botswana and Mauritius have been consistently democratic for the entirety of their post-colonial history. Most African countries have experienced several coups or periods of military dictatorship . Between 1990 and 2018, though,
9699-780: The trans-Saharan trade that linked their capital and Aoudaghost with Tahert and Sijilmasa in North Africa. Soninke traditions likely contain content from prehistory, mentioning four previous foundings of Wagadu , and holds that the final founding of Wagadu occurred after their first king did a deal with Bida , a serpent deity who was guarding a well, to sacrifice one maiden a year in exchange for assurance regarding plenty of rainfall and gold supply. Wagadu's core traversed modern-day southern Mauritania and western Mali , and Soninke tradition portrays early Ghana as warlike, with horse-mounted warriors key to increasing its territory and population, although details of their expansion are extremely scarce. Wagadu made its profits from maintaining
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#17327939423039858-410: The tropic of Cancer , in the northern temperate zone . In the other extreme of the continent, southern Namibia , southern Botswana , great parts of South Africa , the entire territories of Lesotho and Eswatini and the southern tips of Mozambique and Madagascar are located below the tropic of Capricorn , in the southern temperate zone . Africa is highly biodiverse ; it is the continent with
10017-424: The written word . During the colonial period , oral sources were deprecated by European historians, which gave them the impression Africa had no recorded history. African historiography became organized at the academic level in the mid-20th century, and saw a movement towards utilising oral sources in a multidisciplinary approach, culminating in the General History of Africa , edited by specialists from across
10176-459: The 16th and 19th centuries. In West Africa, the decline of the Atlantic slave trade in the 1820s caused dramatic economic shifts in local polities. The gradual decline of slave-trading, prompted by a lack of demand for slaves in the New World , increasing anti-slavery legislation in Europe and America, and the British Royal Navy's increasing presence off the West African coast, obliged African states to adopt new economies. Between 1808 and 1860,
10335-420: The 16th century to 1975, after the Estado Novo regime was overthrown in a military coup in Lisbon . Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, under the white minority government of Ian Smith , but was not internationally recognized as an independent state (as Zimbabwe ) until 1980, when black nationalists gained power after a bitter guerrilla war . Although South Africa
10494-425: The 1920s, Portugal's administration showed an increasing interest in developing Angola's economy and social infrastructure. In the 1930s, the Portuguese estimated that there were around 5,000 Mucubal , occupying an area two-thirds the size of Portugal. Between 1939 and 1943, Portuguese army operations against the Mucubal, who they accused of rebellion and cattle-thieving, resulted in hundreds of Mucubal killed. During
10653-409: The 1920s, it became incorporated into the larger colony (later the overseas province ) of Portuguese Angola. The two colonies had initially been contiguous, but later became geographically separated by a narrow corridor of land, which Portugal ceded to Belgium, allowing the Belgian Congo access to the Atlantic Ocean. Following the decolonisation of Portuguese Angola with the 1975 Alvor Agreement ,
10812-449: The 1950s, and the proportion of the age group that went on to secondary school in the early 1970s was an all-time record high enrollment. Primary school attendance was also growing substantially. In general, the quality of teaching at the primary level was acceptable, even with instruction carried on largely by black Africans who sometimes had substandard qualifications. Most secondary school teachers were ethnically Portuguese, especially in
10971-414: The 1950s, motorsport was introduced to Angola. Sport races were organized in cities like Nova Lisboa , Benguela , Sá da Bandeira and Moçâmedes . The International Nova Lisboa 6 Hours sports car race became noted internationally. Football became very popular in Angola during the 20th century. Football was mostly spread to Angola by the Portuguese people who settled in the colonies. This was mostly due to
11130-549: The 1960s, the Portuguese mainland had four public universities, two of them in Lisbon (which compares with the 14 Portuguese public universities today). In 1968, the Estudos Gerais Universitários de Angola was renamed Universidade de Luanda ( University of Luanda ). From the 1920s onward, city and town expansion and modernization included the construction of several sports facilities for football , rink hockey , basketball , volleyball , handball , athletics , gymnastics and swimming . Several sports clubs were founded across
11289-423: The 1st and 4th cataracts of the Nile . The 4th dynasty oversaw the height of the Old Kingdom , and constructed many great pyramids . Under the 6th dynasty power gradually decentralised to the nomarchs, culminating in the disintegration of the kingdom, exacerbated by drought and famine, thus commencing the First Intermediate Period in 2200 BC. This shattered state would last until 2055 BC when
11448-585: The 2nd century BC Mauretania fought alongside Numidia's Jugurtha in the Jugurthine War against the Romans after he had usurped the Numidian throne from a Roman ally. Together they inflicted heavy casualties that quaked the Roman Senate , with the war only ending inconclusively when Mauretania's Bocchus I sold out Jugurtha to the Romans. At the turn of the millennium, they both would face
11607-746: The 4th millennium BC the Congo Basin was inhabited by the Bambenga , Bayaka , Bakoya , and Babongo in the west, the Bambuti in the east , and the Batwa who were widely scattered and also present in the Great Lakes region ; together they are grouped as Pygmies . On the later-named Swahili coast there were Cushitic -speaking peoples, and the Khoisan (a neologism for the Khoekhoe and San ) in
11766-416: The 4th millennium BC, which had crucially developed iron metallurgy by 1200 BC, in both smelting and forging for tools and weapons. Extensive east-west belts of deserts , grasslands , and forests from north to south were crucial for the moulding of their respective societies and meant that prior to the accession of trans-Saharan trade routes , symbiotic trade relations developed in response to
11925-526: The African continent. Algeria is Africa's largest country by area, and Nigeria is its largest by population. African nations cooperate through the establishment of the African Union , which is headquartered in Addis Ababa . Africa straddles the equator and the prime meridian . It is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to the southern temperate zones. The majority of
12084-704: The Assyrians in 663 BC in reprisal for their expansion towards the Assyrian Empire . The Assyrians installed a puppet dynasty that later gained independence and once more unified Egypt , until they were conquered by the Achaemenid Empire in 525 BC. Egypt regained independence under the 28th dynasty in 404 BC but they were reconquered by the Achaemenids in 343 BC. The conquest of Achaemenid Egypt by Alexander
12243-535: The Atlantic coast was erected at Soyo in the territory of the Kongo Kingdom. It is now Angola's northernmost town, apart from the Cabinda exclave . In 1575, the settlement of Luanda was established on the coast south of the Kongo Kingdom. In the 17th century the settlement of Benguela , even farther to the south. From 1580 to the 1820s, well over a million people from present-day Angola were exported as slaves to
12402-573: The British West Africa Squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard. Action was also taken against African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade, for example against "the usurping King of Lagos ", deposed in 1851. Anti-slavery treaties were signed with over 50 African rulers. The largest powers of West Africa (the Asante Confederacy ,
12561-659: The Great in 332 BC marked the beginning of Hellenistic rule and the installation of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. The Ptolemaics lost their holdings outside of Africa to the Seleucids in the Syrian Wars , expanded into Cyrenaica and subjugated Kush in the 3rd century BC. In the 1st century BC, Ptolemaic Egypt became entangled in a Roman civil war , leading to its conquest by
12720-581: The Iberian peninsula during the eleventh century. The Banu Hilal and Banu Ma'qil were a collection of Arab Bedouin tribes from the Arabian Peninsula who migrated westwards via Egypt between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Their migration resulted in the fusion of the Arabs and Berbers, where the locals were Arabized , and Arab culture absorbed elements of the local culture, under
12879-563: The Persian prophet Mani to consider Aksum as one of the four great powers of the 3rd century AD alongside Persia , Rome , and China . In the 4th century AD Aksum's king converted to Christianity and Aksum's population, who had followed syncretic mixes of local beliefs , slowly followed. The end of the 5th century saw Aksum allied with the Byzantine Empire , who viewed themselves as defenders of Christendom , balanced against
13038-708: The Portuguese Government of the Estado Novo regime under Marcelo Caetano , the corporatist and authoritarian regime established by António de Oliveira Salazar that had ruled Portugal since the 1930s, was overthrown in the Carnation Revolution , a military uprising in Lisbon . In May of that year, the Junta de Salvação Nacional (the new revolutionary government of Portugal) proclaimed
13197-479: The Portuguese cabinet on recommendation of the Overseas Minister. The governor-general had both executive and legislative authority. A Government Council advised the governor-general in the running of the province. The functional cabinet consisted of five secretaries appointed by the Overseas Minister on the advice of the governor. A Legislative Council had limited powers and its main activity was approving
13356-402: The Portuguese. In order to gain the confidence of the local rural populations, and to create conditions for their permanent and productive settlement in the region, the Portuguese authorities organised massive vaccination campaigns, medical check-ups, and water, sanitation and alimentary infrastructure as a way to better contribute to the economic and social development of the people and dissociate
13515-660: The Prime Minister's office in Lisbon, authority extended down to the most remote posts of Angola through a rigid chain of command . The authority of the government of Angola was residual, primarily limited to implementing policies already decided in Europe. In 1967, Angola also sent a number of delegates to the National Assembly in Lisbon. The highest official in the province was the governor-general, appointed by
13674-575: The Romans in the Second Punic War, Mauretania , a Mauri tribal kingdom and home of the legendary King Atlas , and various tribes such as Garamantes , Musulamii , and Bavares . The Third Punic War would result in Carthage's total defeat in 146 BC and the Romans established the province of Africa , with Numidia assuming control of many of Carthage's African ports. Towards the end of
13833-833: The Sahara region was becoming increasingly dry and hostile. Around 3500 BC, due to a tilt in the Earth's orbit , the Sahara experienced a period of rapid desertification. The population trekked out of the Sahara region towards the Nile Valley below the Second Cataract where they made permanent or semi-permanent settlements. A major climatic recession occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and Eastern Africa . Since this time, dry conditions have prevailed in Eastern Africa and, increasingly during
13992-522: The Saharan climate started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace. This climate change caused lakes and rivers to shrink significantly and caused increasing desertification . This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and encouraged migrations of farming communities to the more tropical climate of West Africa. During the first millennium BC, a reduction in wild grain populations related to changing climate conditions facilitated
14151-873: The War of Liberation , erupted in the North of the territory when UPA rebels based in Republic of the Congo massacred both white and black civilians in surprise attacks in the countryside. After visiting the United Nations , rebel leader Holden Roberto returned to Kinshasa and organised Bakongo militants. Holden Roberto launched an incursion into Angola on 15 March 1961, leading 4,000 to 5,000 militants. His forces took farms, government outposts, and trading centres, killing everyone they encountered. At least 1,000 whites and an unknown number of blacks were killed. Commenting on
14310-793: The agricultural, commercial and industrial town of Silva Porto . In 1970, the guerrilla movement decided to reinforce the Eastern Front by relocating troops and armament from the North to the East. In 1971, the Portuguese Armed Forces started a successful counter-insurgency military campaign that expelled the three guerrilla movements operating in the East to beyond the frontiers of Angola, the Frente Leste . The last guerrillas lost hundreds of soldiers and left tons of equipment behind, disbanding chaotically to neighbouring countries or, in some cases, joining or surrendering to
14469-422: The arbitration award of King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy in 1905. During the period of Portuguese colonial rule of Angola, cities, towns and trading posts were founded, railways were opened, ports were built, and a Westernised society was being gradually developed, despite the deep traditional tribal heritage in Angola which the minority European rulers were neither willing nor interested in eradicating. From
14628-527: The campaign, 3,529 were taken prisoner, 20% of whom were women and children, and imprisoned in concentration camps . Many died in captivity from undernourishment, violence and forced labor . Around 600 were sent to Sao Tome and Principe . Hundreds were also sent to a camp in Damba , where 26% died. In 1951, the Portuguese Colony of Angola became an overseas province of Portugal. In the late 1950s
14787-404: The company saw no benefit to mechanizing its operations, because local labour was so inexpensive. Work was done with shovels into the 1970s. Even the voluntary contract workers, or contratados, were exploited and had to build their own housing and often cheated of their wages. However Diamang, which was exempt from taxes and grew affluent in the 1930s also realized that in a remote area like Lunda,
14946-550: The continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere , with a substantial portion and a number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere . Most of the continent lies in the tropics, except for a large part of Western Sahara , Algeria , Libya and Egypt , the northern tip of Mauritania , and the entire territories of Morocco , Ceuta , Melilla , and Tunisia , which in turn are located above
15105-463: The continent as a whole has trended towards more democratic governance. Upon independence an overwhelming majority of Africans lived in extreme poverty . The continent suffered from the lack of infrastructural or industrial development under colonial rule, along with political instability. With limited financial resources or access to global markets, relatively stable countries such as Kenya still experienced only very slow economic development. Only
15264-424: The continent most vulnerable to climate change . The history of Africa is long, complex, and varied, and has often been under-appreciated by the global historical community . In African societies the oral word is revered, and they have generally recorded their history via oral tradition , which has led anthropologists to term them oral civilisations, contrasted with literate civilisations which pride
15423-461: The continent's south. The Bantu expansion constituted a major series of migrations of Bantu peoples from central Africa to eastern and southern Africa and was substantial in the settling of the continent. Commencing in the 2nd millennium BC, the Bantu began to migrate from Cameroon to central, eastern, and southern Africa, laying the foundations for future states such as the Kingdom of Kongo in
15582-478: The continent. Africa, particularly Eastern Africa , is widely accepted to be the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade , also known as the great apes . The earliest hominids and their ancestors have been dated to around 7 million years ago, and Homo sapiens (modern human) are believed to have originated in Africa 350,000 to 260,000 years ago. Africa is also considered by anthropologists to be
15741-419: The continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Based on 2024 projections, Africa's population will reach 3.8 billion people by 2099. Africa is the least wealthy inhabited continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead of Oceania . Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography , climate , corruption , colonialism ,
15900-561: The country, with an average altitude of between 1,200 and 1,600 metres. Angola's two highest peaks were located in these central highlands. They were Moco Mountain (2,620 m) and Meco Mountain (2,538 m). Most of Angola's rivers rose in the central mountains. Of the many rivers that drain to the Atlantic Ocean, the Cuanza and Cunene were the most important. Other major streams included the Kwango River , which drains north to
16059-428: The earliest instances of agriculture in human history. Its cultivation would gradually spread across Africa, before spreading to India around 2000 BC. People around modern-day Mauritania started making pottery and built stone settlements (e.g., Tichitt , Oualata ). Fishing, using bone-tipped harpoons , became a major activity in the numerous streams and lakes formed from the increased rains. In West Africa,
16218-543: The end of the Ice ages , estimated to have been around 10,500 BC, the Sahara had again become a green fertile valley, and its African populations returned from the interior and coastal highlands in sub-Saharan Africa , with rock art paintings depicting a fertile Sahara and large populations discovered in Tassili n'Ajjer dating back perhaps 10 millennia. However, the warming and drying climate meant that by 5,000 BC,
16377-400: The entire territory, among them were some of the largest and oldest sports organizations of Angola, like Sporting Clube de Luanda , established in 1920 as a branch of Sporting Clube de Portugal . Several sportsmen, especially football players, that achieved wide notability in Portuguese sports were from Angola. José Águas , Rui Jordão and Jacinto João were examples of that, and excelled in
16536-422: The establishment of bases in present-day Morocco and the Gulf of Guinea . The Portuguese had Catholic beliefs and their military expeditions included from the very beginning the conversion of foreign peoples. In the 17th century, conflicting economic interests led to a military confrontation with the Kongo Kingdom. Portugal defeated the Kongo Kingdom in the Battle of Mbwila on 29 October, 1665, but suffered
16695-642: The evolution of Homo sapiens approximately 350,000 to 260,000 years BP in Africa, the continent was mainly populated by groups of hunter-gatherers . These first modern humans left Africa and populated the rest of the globe during the Out of Africa II migration dated to approximately 50,000 years BP, exiting the continent either across Bab-el-Mandeb over the Red Sea , the Strait of Gibraltar in Morocco, or
16854-660: The expansion of farming communities and the rapid adoption of rice cultivation around the Niger River. By the first millennium BC, ironworking had been introduced in Northern Africa. Around that time it also became established in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, either through independent invention there or diffusion from the north and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years, and by 500 BC, metalworking began to become commonplace in West Africa. Ironworking
17013-553: The fact that immigration to the colonies was encouraged, both Angola and Mozambique saw an influx of Portuguese migrants. People started to follow teams that were from the Portuguese mainland. In the latter half of the 20th century, Portugal would recruit many players form Angola. Miguel Arcanjo was one such player who played in Portugal. The colonial players would help Portuguese teams win many championships. 15th century 16th century Africa Africa
17172-415: The government of Angola were from Portugal, but a few were Angolan. Nearly all members of the bureaucracy were from Portugal, as most Angolans did not have the necessary qualifications to obtain positions. The government of Angola, as it was in Portugal, was highly centralised. Power was concentrated in the executive branch , and all elections where they occurred were carried out using indirect methods. From
17331-506: The growth and expansion of Aksum in the 1st century BC. Along the Horn's coast there were many ancient Somali city-states that thrived off of the wider Red Sea trade and transported their cargo via beden , exporting myrrh , frankincense , spices , gum , incense , and ivory , with freedom from Roman interference causing Indians to give the cities a lucrative monopoly on cinnamon from ancient India . The Kingdom of Aksum grew from
17490-544: The guerrillas as a whole during the Portuguese Colonial War , particularly in Portuguese Guinea , and suffered heavy casualties in the 13 years of conflict. Throughout the colonial war Portugal faced increasing dissent, arms embargoes and other punitive sanctions from most of the international community . The war was becoming even more unpopular in Portuguese society due to its length and costs,
17649-443: The historical process is largely a communal one, with eyewitness accounts, hearsay , reminiscences, and occasionally visions , dreams, and hallucinations, crafted into oral traditions . Time is sometimes mythical and social, and truth generally viewed as relativist . Oral tradition can be exoteric or esoteric . It speaks to people according to their understanding, unveiling itself in accordance with their aptitudes, and
17808-601: The incursion, Roberto said, "this time the slaves did not cower". They massacred everything. The effective military in Angola were composed of approximately 6,500 men: 5,000 black Africans and 1,500 white Europeans sent from Portugal. After these events the Portuguese Government , under the dictatorial Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar and later Marcelo Caetano , sent thousands of troops from Europe to perform counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations. In 1963 Holden Roberto established
17967-559: The iron ore was shipped to Japan , West Germany , and the United Kingdom , and earned almost US$ 50 million a year in export revenue. During 1966–67 a major iron ore terminal was built by the Portuguese at Saco, the bay just 12 km North of Moçâmedes (Namibe). The client was the Compania Mineira do Lobito , the Lobito Mining Company, which developed an iron ore mine inland at Cassinga . The construction of
18126-572: The kingdoms of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt in northeast Africa . Around 3100 BC Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt to unify Egypt under the 1st dynasty , with the process of consolidation and assimilation completed by the time of the 3rd dynasty who formed the Old Kingdom of Egypt in 2686 BC. The Kingdom of Kerma emerged around this time to become the dominant force in Nubia , controlling territory as large as Egypt between
18285-513: The largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna . However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental issues , including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity , and pollution . These entrenched environmental concerns are expected to worsen as climate change impacts Africa . The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Africa as
18444-616: The last 200 years, in Ethiopia . The domestication of cattle in Africa preceded agriculture and seems to have existed alongside hunter-gatherer cultures. It is speculated that by 6,000 BC, cattle were domesticated in North Africa. In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many animals, including the donkey and a small screw-horned goat that was common from Algeria to Nubia . Between 10,000 and 9,000 BC, pottery
18603-465: The latter being noted for its production of foodstuffs and rubber. The colonial power, Portugal, becoming ever richer and more powerful, would not tolerate the growth of these neighbouring states and subjugated them one by one, enabling Portuguese hegemony over much of the area. During the period of the Iberian Union (1580–1640), Portugal lost influence and power and made new enemies. The Dutch ,
18762-519: The mine installations and a 300 km railway were commissioned to Krupp of Germany and the modern harbour terminal to SETH, a Portuguese company owned by Højgaard & Schultz of Denmark. The small fishing town of Moçâmedes hosted construction workers, foreign engineers and their families for two years. The Ore Terminal was completed on time within one year and the first 250,000 ton ore carrier docked and loaded with ore in 1967. The Portuguese discovered petroleum in Angola in 1955. Production began in
18921-660: The most genetically diverse continent as a result of being the longest inhabited. In the 4th and 3rd millennia BC Ancient Egypt , Kerma , Punt , and the Tichitt Tradition emerged in North , East and West Africa , while from 4000 BC until 1000 AD the Bantu expansion was substantial in laying the foundations for societies and states in Central , East , and Southern Africa . Some African empires include Wagadu , Mali , Songhai , Sokoto , Ife , Benin , Asante ,
19080-399: The most lucrative trading locations in the Gulf of Tunis . Phoenician settlements subsequently grew into Ancient Carthage after gaining independence from Phoenicia in the 6th century BC, and they would build an extensive empire and a strict mercantile network, all secured by one of the largest and most powerful navies in the ancient Mediterranean . Carthage would meet its demise in
19239-591: The north, cassava , coffee , and cotton were grown; in the central highlands, maize was cultivated; and in the south, where rainfall is lowest, cattle herding was prevalent. In addition, there were large plantations run by Portuguese that produced palm oil , sugarcane , bananas , and sisal . These crops were grown by commercial farmers, primarily Portuguese, and by peasant farmers, who sold some of their surplus to local Portuguese traders in exchange for supplies. The commercial farmers were dominant in marketing these crops, however, and enjoyed substantial support from
19398-439: The official religion, built mosques, and brought to Gao Muslim scholars, including al-Maghili (d.1504), the founder of an important tradition of Sudanic African Muslim scholarship. By the eleventh century, some Hausa states – such as Kano , Jigawa , Katsina , and Gobir – had developed into walled towns engaging in trade, servicing caravans , and the manufacture of goods. Until the fifteenth century, these small states were on
19557-465: The opportunities afforded by north–south diversity in ecosystems. Various civilisations prospered in this period. From 4000 BC, the Tichitt culture in modern-day Mauritania and Mali was the oldest known complexly organised society in West Africa, with a four tiered hierarchical social structure. Other civilisations include the Kintampo culture from 2500 BC in modern-day Ghana ,
19716-399: The overseas province's Portuguese government in the form of technical assistance , irrigation facilities, and financial credit. They produced the great majority of the crops that were marketed in Angola's urban centres or exported for several countries. Fishing in Portuguese Angola was a major and growing industry. In the early 1970s, there were about 700 fishing boats , and the annual catch
19875-434: The overseas territories profited from this new educational developments and change in policy at Lisbon . Starting in the early 1950s, the access to basic, secondary and technical education was expanded and its availability was being increasingly opened to both the African indigenes and the ethnic Portuguese of the territories. Education beyond the primary level became available to an increasing number of black Africans since
20034-478: The periphery of the major Sudanic empires of the era, paying tribute to Songhai to the west and Kanem-Borno to the east. Slavery had long been practiced in Africa. Between the 15th and the 19th centuries, the Atlantic slave trade took an estimated 7–12 million slaves to the New World. In addition, more than 1 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa between
20193-500: The population from the guerrillas and their influence. On 31 December 1972, the Development Plan of the East ( Plano de Desenvolvimento do Leste ) included in its first stage 466 development enterprises (150 were completed and 316 were being built). Nineteen health centres had been built and 26 were being constructed. 51 new schools were operating and 82 were being constructed By 1972, after the Frente Leste , complemented by
20352-599: The predecessor to the African Union. The nascent countries decided to keep their colonial borders, with traditional power structures used in governance to varying degrees. Afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of what was then known as northern Africa , located west of the Nile river, and in its widest sense referring to all lands south of the Mediterranean , also known as Ancient Libya . This name seems to have originally referred to
20511-477: The provincial budget. Finally, an Economic and Social Council had to be consulted on all draft legislation, and the governor-general had to justify his decision to Lisbon if he ignored its advice. In 1972, the Portuguese National Assembly changed Angola's status from an overseas province to an autonomous state with authority over some internal affairs; Portugal was to retain responsibility for defense and foreign relations. In 1973, elections were held in Angola for
20670-476: The region developed a slave trade with the help of local Imbangala and Mbundu peoples, who were notable slave hunters . Trade was mostly with the Portuguese colony of Brazil in the New World . Brazilian ships were the most numerous in the ports of Luanda and Benguela. By this time, Angola, a Portuguese colony, was in fact more like a colony of Brazil, another Portuguese colony. A strong Brazilian influence
20829-480: The same fate as Carthage and be conquered by the Romans who established Mauretania and Numidia as provinces of their empire, while Musulamii , led by Tacfarinas , and Garamantes were eventually defeated in war in the 1st century AD however weren't conquered. In the 5th century AD the Vandals conquered north Africa precipitating the fall of Rome . Swathes of indigenous peoples would regain self-governance in
20988-529: The same year that a law was passed to improve the working conditions of the largely unskilled native workforce, which was demanding more rights. In 1961, the Portuguese Government indeed abolished a number of basic legal provisions which discriminated against black people, like the Estatuto do Indigenato (Decree-Law 43: 893 of 6 September 1961). However, the conflict, conversely known as the Colonial War or
21147-556: The short-lived Republic of Cabinda unilaterally declared its independence. However, Cabinda was soon overpowered and re-annexed by the newly proclaimed People's Republic of Angola and never achieved international recognition . Portuguese explorers and settlers founded trading posts and forts along the coast of Africa beginning in the 15th century, and reached the Angolan coast in the 16th. Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias de Novais founded Luanda in 1575 as "São Paulo de Loanda", and
21306-495: The slave trade was abolished in 1836. In 1844, Angola's ports were opened to legal foreign shipping. By 1850, Luanda was one of the most developed cities outside Mainland Portugal in the Portuguese Empire : it was full of trading companies, exporting (together with Benguela ) palm and peanut oil, wax, copal , timber, ivory, cotton, coffee, and cocoa, among many other products. Maize, tobacco, dried meat and cassava flour also began to be produced locally. The Angolan bourgeoisie
21465-401: The south where the white population was more established. All of these cities had European majorities from 50% to 60%. The capital of the territory was Luanda, officially called São Paulo de Luanda. Other cities and towns were: The exclave of Cabinda was to the north. Portuguese Congo (Cabinda) was established a Portuguese protectorate by the 1885 Treaty of Simulambuco . Sometime during
21624-490: The supply of workers was not inexhaustible and so the workers there were somewhat better treated than on some of the other mines or on the sugar plantations . On the whole, African laborers performed brutal work in poor conditions for very little pay that they were frequently cheated of. The American sociologist Edward Ross visited rural Angola in 1924 on behalf of the Temporary Slavery Commission of
21783-676: The territory of contemporary Angola lasted from the arrival of the explorer Diogo Cão in 1484 until the decolonization of the territory in November 1975. Over these five centuries, several different situations existed. When in 1484 Diogo Cão and other explorers reached the Kongo Kingdom at the end of the 15th century, its present territory comprised a number of separate peoples, some organized as kingdoms or tribal federations of varying sizes. The Portuguese were interested in trade, principally in slave trade . They therefore maintained
21942-483: The territory). The total population was around 5.9 million at that time. Luanda grew from a town of 61,208 with 14.6% of those inhabitants being white in 1940, to a major cosmopolitan city of 475,328 in 1970 with 124,814 Europeans (26.3%) and around 50,000 mixed race inhabitants. Most of the other large cities in Angola had around the same ratio of Europeans at the time, with the exception of Sá da Bandeira ( Lubango ), Moçâmedes ( Namibe ) and Porto Alexandre ( Tombua ) in
22101-401: The territory: Bicauri , Cameia , Cangandala , Iona , Mupa , Namibe and Quiçama . Iona was Angola's oldest and largest national park, it was proclaimed as a reserve in 1937 and upgraded to a national park in 1964. Angola was a territory that underwent a great deal of progress after 1950. The Portuguese government built dams, roads, schools, etc. There was also an economic boom that led to
22260-425: The two continents by the geographer Ptolemy (85–165 CE), indicating Alexandria along the Prime Meridian and making the isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea the boundary between Asia and Africa. As Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of "Africa" expanded with their knowledge. Other etymological hypotheses have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa": In African societies,
22419-433: The unifying framework of Islam. Following the breakup of Mali, a local leader named Sonni Ali (1464–1492) founded the Songhai Empire in the region of middle Niger and the western Sudan and took control of the trans-Saharan trade. Sonni Ali seized Timbuktu in 1468 and Jenne in 1473, building his regime on trade revenues and the cooperation of Muslim merchants. His successor Askia Mohammad I (1493–1528) made Islam
22578-399: The urban centers. Two state-run university institutions were founded in Portuguese Africa in 1962 by the Portuguese Ministry of the Overseas Provinces headed by Adriano Moreira —the Estudos Gerais Universitários de Angola in Portuguese Angola and the Estudos Gerais Universitários de Moçambique in Portuguese Mozambique —awarding a wide range of degrees from engineering to medicine. In
22737-461: The vast countryside, which taught black Africans in Portuguese language and culture. As a consequence, each of the missions established its own school system, although all were subject to ultimate control and support by the Portuguese. In mainland Portugal, the homeland of the colonial authorities who ruled in the territory from the 16th century until 1975, by the end of the 19th century the illiteracy rates were at over 80 percent and higher education
22896-474: The west coast of Africa. After the dissolution of the Iberian Union in 1640, Portugal reestablished its authority over the lost territories of the Portuguese Empire . The Portuguese started to develop townships, trading posts, logging camps , and small processing factories. From 1764 onwards, there was a gradual change from a slave-based society to one based on production for domestic consumption and export. Portuguese Brazil became independent in 1822, and
23055-462: The wet phase ushered in an expanding rainforest and wooded savanna from Senegal to Cameroon . Between 9,000 and 5,000 BC, Niger–Congo speakers domesticated the oil palm and raffia palm . Black-eyed peas and voandzeia (African groundnuts), were domesticated, followed by okra and kola nuts . Since most of the plants grew in the forest, the Niger–Congo speakers invented polished stone axes for clearing forest. Around 4,000 BC,
23214-426: The worsening of diplomatic relations with other United Nations members, and the role it played as a factor in the perpetuation of the Estado Novo regime. It was this escalation that would lead directly to the mutiny of members of the Portuguese armed forces in the Carnation Revolution of April 1974 – an event that would lead to the independence of all of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. On 25 April 1974,
23373-418: Was rapidly conquered and colonised by European nations , save for Ethiopia and Liberia . European rule had significant impacts on Africa's societies , and colonies were maintained for the purpose of economic exploitation and extraction of natural resources. Most present states emerged from a process of decolonisation following World War II , and established the Organisation of African Unity in 1963,
23532-446: Was also exercised by the Jesuits in religion and education. The philosophy of war gradually gave way to the philosophy of trade. The great trade routes and the agreements that made them possible were the driving force for activities between the different areas; warlike states become states ready to produce and to sell. In the Brazilian Highlands , Planalto or high plains, the most important states were those of Bié and Bailundo ,
23691-405: Was born. From the 1920s to the 1960s, strong economic growth, abundant natural resources and development of infrastructure, led to the arrival of even more Portuguese settlers from the metropole . Diamond mining began in 1912, when the first gems were discovered by Portuguese prospectors in a stream of the Lunda region , in the northeast. In 1917, the Companhia de Diamantes de Angola ( Diamang )
23850-401: Was established around the ninth century, making it one of the oldest kingdoms in present-day Nigeri. The Nri kingdom is famous for its elaborate bronzes , found at the town of Igbo-Ukwu . The Kingdom of Ife , historically the first of these Yoruba city-states or kingdoms, established government under a priestly oba ('king' or 'ruler' in the Yoruba language ), called the Ooni of Ife . Ife
24009-450: Was fully established by roughly 500 BC in many areas of East and West Africa, although other regions did not begin ironworking until the early centuries AD. Copper objects from Egypt , North Africa, Nubia, and Ethiopia dating from around 500 BC have been excavated in West Africa, suggesting that Trans-Saharan trade networks had been established by this date. From 3500 BC, nomes (ruled by nomarchs ) coalesced to form
24168-484: Was granted the concession for diamond mining and prospecting in Portuguese Angola. Diamang had exclusive mining and labor rights in a huge concession in Angola and used this monopoly to become the colony's largest commercial operator and also its leading revenue generator. Its wealth was generated by African laborers, many of whom were forcibly recruited to work on the mines with Lunda's aggressive state-company recruitment methods (See also chivalo/ shibalo ). as late as 1947,
24327-474: Was independently invented in the region of Mali in the savannah of West Africa. In the steppes and savannahs of the Sahara and Sahel in Northern West Africa, people possibly ancestral to modern Nilo-Saharan and Mandé cultures started to collect wild millet , around 8,000 to 6,000 BC. Later, gourds , watermelons , castor beans , and cotton were also collected. Sorghum was first domesticated in Eastern Sudan around 4,000 BC, in one of
24486-406: Was more than 300,000 tons. Including the catch of foreign fishing fleets in Angolan waters, the combined annual catch was estimated at over 1 million tons. The Portuguese territory of Angola was a net exporter of fish products, and the ports of Moçâmedes , Luanda and Benguela were among the most important fishing harbours in the region. Non-urban black African access to educational opportunities
24645-444: Was noted as a major religious and cultural centre in West Africa and for its unique naturalistic tradition of bronze sculpture. The Ife model of government was adapted by the Oyo Empire , whose obas, called the Alaafins of Oyo , controlled many other Yoruba and non-Yoruba city-states and kingdoms including the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey . The Almoravids were a Berber dynasty from the Sahara that spread over northwestern Africa and
24804-514: Was one of the first African countries to gain independence, the state remained under the control of the country's white minority, initially through qualified voting rights and from 1956 by a system of racial segregation known as apartheid , until 1994. Today, Africa contains 54 sovereign countries. Since independence, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The vast majority of African states are republics that operate under some form of
24963-416: Was reserved for a small percentage of the population. 68.1 percent of mainland Portugal's population was still classified as illiterate by the 1930 census. Mainland Portugal's literacy rate by the 1940s and early 1950s was low by North American and Western European standards at the time. Only in the 1960s did the country make public education available for all children between the ages of six and twelve, and
25122-408: Was to retain responsibility for defense and foreign relations. However, the intent was by no means to grant Angolan independence, but was instead to "win the hearts and minds" of the Angolans, convincing them to remain permanently a part of an intercontinental Portugal. Renaming Angola (like Mozambique ) in November 1972 (in effect 1 January 1973) "Estado" (state) was part of an apparent effort to give
25281-432: Was very limited for most of the colonial period , most were not able to speak Portuguese and did not have knowledge of Portuguese culture and history . Until the 1950s, educational facilities run by the Portuguese colonial government were largely restricted to the urban areas. Responsibility for educating rural Africans were commissioned by the authorities to several Roman Catholic and Protestant missions based across
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