Editing History of Angola (section)

== Portuguese Angola ==
The [[Portuguese West Africa|Portuguese colony of Angola]] was founded in 1575 with the arrival of [[Paulo Dias de Novais]] with a hundred Portuguese families and 400 soldiers. Its center at [[Luanda]] was granted the status of city in 1605.

Trade was mostly with the Portuguese colony of Brazil; Brazilian ships were the most numerous in the ports of Luanda and Benguela. By this time, Angola, a Portuguese colony, was in fact like a colony of Brazil, paradoxically another Portuguese colony. A strong Brazilian influence was also exercised by the [[Jesuits]] in religion and education. War gradually gave way to the philosophy of trade.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} Slave-trading routes and the conquests that made them possible were the driving force for activities between the different areas; independent states slave markets were now focused on the demands of American slavery.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} In the high plains (the Planalto), the most important states were those of [[Bié (province)|Bié]] and [[Bailundo]], the latter being noted for its production of foodstuffs and rubber. The interior remained largely free of Portuguese control as late as the 19th century.{{sfnp|Baynes|1878}}

[[File:Portugal na África. A emboscada dos Cuanhamas na clareira de uma floresta, perto do rio Cunene (Angola).jpg|thumb|In the [[Battle of the Cunene]], Portuguese forces were defeated by [[Ovambo people|Ovambo]] warriors on 25 September 1904]]
The slave trade was not abolished until 1836, and in 1844 Angola's ports were opened to foreign shipping with the Portuguese unable to enforce the laws, especially dependent on English naval security. This facilitated the continuation of slave smuggling to the United States and Brazil. By 1850, Luanda was one of the largest Portuguese cities in the [[Portuguese Empire]] outside [[Mainland Portugal]] exporting (together with [[Benguela]]) palm and peanut oil, wax, copal, timber, ivory, cotton, coffee, and cocoa, among many other products – almost all the produce of a continued forced labour system.

The [[Berlin Conference]] compelled Portugal to move towards the immediate occupation of all the territories it laid claim to but had been unable to effectively conquer. The territory of [[Cabinda (province)]], to the north of the river Zaire, was also ceded to Portugal on the legal basis of the [[Treaty of Simulambuko]] Protectorate, concluded between the [[Portuguese Crown]] and the princes of Cabinda in 1885. In the 19th century they slowly and hesitantly began to establish themselves in the interior. Angola as a [[Portuguese West Africa|Portuguese colony]] encompassing the present territory was not established before the end of the 19th century, and "effective occupation", as required by the [[Berlin Conference (1884)]] was achieved only by the 1920s.

Colonial economic strategy was based on [[agriculture]] and the export of [[raw material]]s. Trade in [[rubber]] and [[ivory]], together with the taxes imposed on the population of the Empire (including the mainland), brought vast income to [[Lisbon]].

[[File:Matrícula angolana em 1949.jpg|thumb|Car in Angola, in 1949.]]
[[File:Ford Taunus 1972.jpg|thumb|[[Ford Taunus]] in Angola, in 1972]]
Portuguese policy in Angola was modified by certain reforms introduced at the beginning of the twentieth century.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} The fall of the Portuguese monarchy and a favourable international climate led to reforms in administration, agriculture, and education. In 1951, with the advent of the [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|New State]] regime (''Estado Novo'') extended to the colony, Angola became a province of Portugal (Ultramarine Province), called the ''Província Ultramarina de Angola'' ([[Overseas Province of Angola]]).

However, Portuguese rule remained characterized by deep-seated racism, mass forced labour, and an almost complete failure to modernize the country.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} By 1960, after 400 years of colonial rule, there was not a single university in the entire territory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uan.ao/|title=UAN|website=Universidade Agostinho Neto|language=pt-PT|access-date=2019-11-05}}</ref> To counter this lack of education facilities, overtly political organizations first appeared in the 1950s, and began to make organized demands for human and civil rights, initiating diplomatic campaigns throughout the world in their fight for independence. The Portuguese regime, meanwhile, refused to accede to the nationalists' demands for independence, thereby provoking the armed conflict that started in 1961 when guerrillas attacked colonial assets in cross-border operations in northeastern Angola.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} The war came to be known as the [[Portuguese Colonial War|Colonial War]].<ref>See [[Christine Messiant]], ''L’Angola colonial, histoire et société: Les prémisses du mouvement nationaliste'', Basle: Schlettwein, 2006.</ref>

In this struggle, the principal protagonists were the [[MPLA]] (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), founded in 1956, the FNLA ([[National Front for the Liberation of Angola]]), which appeared in 1961, and UNITA ([[National Union for the Total Independence of Angola]]), founded in 1966. After many years of conflict, the nation gained its independence on 11 November 1975, after the [[Carnation Revolution|1974 coup d'état]] in [[Lisbon]], Portugal. Portugal's new leaders began a process of democratic change at home and acceptance of the independence of its former colonies.