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Angola: Ideologically Portugal
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Following Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) took power, but its rule was contested by two other anticolonial movements, including the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA fought a 27-year civil war that caused great suffering and killed an estimated 1.5 million people. UNITA had support from the United States, China and apartheid South Africa. As external support waned, illegal sale of diamonds, mined in UNITA-controlled areas, helped to fund the group's military campaign.
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Explored by the Portuguese navigator Diego Cão in 1482, Angola became a link in trade with India and Southeast Asia. Later it was a major source of slaves for Portugal's New World colony of Brazil. Development of the interior began after the Berlin Conference in 1885 fixed the colony's borders, and British and Portuguese investment fostered mining, railways, and agriculture.
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O sistema ferroviário de Angola compõe-se de cinco linhas que ligam o litoral ao interior. A mais importante delas é a estrada de ferro de Benguela, que faz a conexão com as linhas de Catanga, na fronteira com o Zaire. A rede rodoviária, em sua maioria constituida de estradas de segunda classe, liga as principais cidades. Os portos mais movimentados são os de Luanda, Benguela, Lobito, Moçâmedes e Cabinda. O aeroporto de Luanda é o centro de linhas aéreas que põem o país em contato com outras cidades africanas e européias. O país contínua a manter estreitos laços económicos com Portugal.
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Portugal granted Angola independence in 1975 and the MPLA assumed control of the government in Luanda; Agostinho Neto became president. The FNLA and UNITA... proclaimed a coaliton government in Nova Lisboa (now Huambo), but by early 1976 the MPLA had gained control of the whole country. Most of the European population fled the political and economic upheaval that followed independence, taking their investments and technical expertise with them. When Neto died in 1979, José Eduardo dos Santos succeeded him as president. In the 1970s and 80s the MPLA government received large amounts of aid from Cuba and the Soviet Union, while the United States supported first the FNLA and then UNITA. Although the FNLA faded in importance, UNITA obtained the support of South Africa, which was mounting its own campaigns against the Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), a Namibian liberation group based in Angola.
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After almost 500 years of Portuguese rule, Angola became an independent nation in 1975. Angola, which is the seventh largest country in Africa, has an area of 481,351 square miles (1,246,700 square kilometers). The nation's estimated population is more than 11 million. Angola was Portugal's largest and richest African colony.
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Savimbi was born in Munhango, Angola, when it was still a colony of Portugal. He spent his childhood in southern Angola among the Ovimbundu people, the country's largest ethnic group. Unlike many Angolan children, Savimbi was able to attend school, where he excelled. In 1958 he earned a scholarship to study at the University of Lisbon in Portugal. At first, Savimbi planned to become a doctor, but his interests soon changed to political science. During two years in Portugal, Savimbi was detained three times by the Portuguese secret police.
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