Middle Africa · AGO

Angola

The story · 9 chapters

How it was drawn

Bantu kingdoms such as Kongo and Ndongo, a Portuguese colony that fought its way inland for four centuries, a long war for independence, then a Cold War civil war that ended only in 2002.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Angola fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Kingdom of Portugal1579 to 1671
From Luanda, Portuguese governors wage war on the Mbundu kingdom of Ndongo to seize captives and land. Queen Njinga resists from the 1620s and makes peace in 1656; Portugal finally takes Ndongo's fortress of Pungo Andongo in 1671.
Kingdom of Kongo1622 to 1665
Portuguese Angola and the Kingdom of Kongo, once partners, clash from the 1620s over trade and land. At Mbwila in 1665 a Portuguese army kills King António I, and Kongo sinks into decades of civil war.
Dutch Republic1641 to 1648
The Dutch West India Company seizes Luanda in 1641 and allies with Queen Njinga and Kongo against the Portuguese. A fleet sent from Brazil under Salvador Correia de Sá retakes the city in 1648.
Portugal1902 to 1917
Portugal conquers the interior by force: it crushes the Bailundo revolt of the Ovimbundu in 1902 and defeats the Kwanyama kingdom of King Mandume, in the far south, at Mongua in 1915.
German Empire1914 to 1915
German troops from neighbouring South West Africa clash with Portuguese forces on the southern border and defeat them at Naulila in December 1914. South African forces conquer the German colony in 1915.
Portugal (Estado Novo)1961 to 1974
The war of independence begins in 1961 with uprisings in Luanda and the north. The MPLA, FNLA and UNITA fight Portuguese forces for thirteen years, until the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon in April 1974 opens the way to independence.
South Africa1975 to 1988
Apartheid South Africa invades in 1975 and keeps striking from occupied Namibia to back UNITA and hunt Namibian guerrillas. After the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the New York Accords of December 1988 link its withdrawal to Namibian independence.
Zaire1975 to 1976
Mobutu's Zaire backs the FNLA. In November 1975 an FNLA column with Zairean troops is routed at Quifangondo, just outside Luanda, on the eve of independence, and the movement never recovers.
UNITA1975 to 2002
Jonas Savimbi's UNITA, rooted among the Ovimbundu of the central highlands, fights the MPLA government for twenty seven years. It rejects its defeat in the 1992 election and returns to war, which ends only after Savimbi is killed in February 2002.
Cabinda separatists (FLEC)Since 1975Still open
The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda claims independence for the oil-rich exclave. Its armed wing has kept up a low-level insurgency since the 1970s, and the dispute has never been settled.

Today

Angola now

; by the 10th century various Bantu groups had established kingdoms, of which Kongo became the most powerful. From the late-14th to the mid-19th century, a Kingdom of Kongo stretched across central Africa from present-day northern Angola into the current Congo republics. It traded heavily with the Portuguese who, beginning in the 16th century, established coastal colonies and trading posts and introduced Christianity.

Capital: Luanda
Government: presidential republic
Head of government: João Lourenço
Languages: Portuguese
Area: 1,246,700 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population36.7 million2023 · 4.6 million in 1950
Life expectancy64.6 years2023 · 35.9 years in 1950
GDP per person$6,1182022 · $1,677 in 1950
Living in cities71%2025 · 6% in 1950
Literacy68%2023 · 3% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending1.4% of GDP2025
War deaths0.1 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

France
Portugal
Cuba
Syrian Arab Republic
South Africa

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Angola fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Kingdom of Portugal1579 to 1671

From Luanda, Portuguese governors wage war on the Mbundu kingdom of Ndongo to seize captives and land. Queen Njinga resists from the 1620s and makes peace in 1656; Portugal finally takes Ndongo's fortress of Pungo Andongo in 1671.

Kingdom of Kongo1622 to 1665

Portuguese Angola and the Kingdom of Kongo, once partners, clash from the 1620s over trade and land. At Mbwila in 1665 a Portuguese army kills King António I, and Kongo sinks into decades of civil war.

Dutch Republic1641 to 1648

The Dutch West India Company seizes Luanda in 1641 and allies with Queen Njinga and Kongo against the Portuguese. A fleet sent from Brazil under Salvador Correia de Sá retakes the city in 1648.

Portugal1902 to 1917

Portugal conquers the interior by force: it crushes the Bailundo revolt of the Ovimbundu in 1902 and defeats the Kwanyama kingdom of King Mandume, in the far south, at Mongua in 1915.

German Empire1914 to 1915

German troops from neighbouring South West Africa clash with Portuguese forces on the southern border and defeat them at Naulila in December 1914. South African forces conquer the German colony in 1915.

Portugal (Estado Novo)1961 to 1974

The war of independence begins in 1961 with uprisings in Luanda and the north. The MPLA, FNLA and UNITA fight Portuguese forces for thirteen years, until the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon in April 1974 opens the way to independence.

South Africa1975 to 1988

Apartheid South Africa invades in 1975 and keeps striking from occupied Namibia to back UNITA and hunt Namibian guerrillas. After the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the New York Accords of December 1988 link its withdrawal to Namibian independence.

Zaire1975 to 1976

Mobutu's Zaire backs the FNLA. In November 1975 an FNLA column with Zairean troops is routed at Quifangondo, just outside Luanda, on the eve of independence, and the movement never recovers.

UNITA1975 to 2002

Jonas Savimbi's UNITA, rooted among the Ovimbundu of the central highlands, fights the MPLA government for twenty seven years. It rejects its defeat in the 1992 election and returns to war, which ends only after Savimbi is killed in February 2002.

Cabinda separatists (FLEC)Since 1975Still open

The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda claims independence for the oil-rich exclave. Its armed wing has kept up a low-level insurgency since the 1970s, and the dispute has never been settled.

Angola now

Capital

Luanda

Government

presidential republic

Head of government

João Lourenço

Languages

Portuguese

Area

1,246,700 km²

Then and now

Population36.7 million2023 · 4.6 million in 1950

Life expectancy64.6 years2023 · 35.9 years in 1950

GDP per person$6,1182022 · $1,677 in 1950

Living in cities71%2025 · 6% in 1950

Literacy68%2023 · 3% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending1.4% of GDP2025

War deaths0.1 per 100,0002025