Angola Profile

The area now known as Angola became home to Portuguese settlers and traders in the 16th Century, and became a Portuguese Colony in 1655, before its status changed when it became a province of Portugal in 1951. By the end of that decade there was growing unrest in the province, mainly due to enforced cotton harvesting and the Angolan War of Independence erupted in 1961, lasting a long fourteen years and ending with independence just as Portugal's own regime fell. Angola was given independence on 11th November 1975, however, despite a long and bloody war to overthrow Portugal, a further twenty-seven year civil war raged until 2002 as the country broke down into factions. It is estimated that around one and a half million of the country's eighteen million citizens were killed during this Angola war, with millions displaced.