LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Angola: South Africa
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Capoeira Angola, an ancient martial art of African origin, is one of the many cultural weapons used to break the chains of enslavement in Brazil. Played close to the ground, Capoeira Angola combines fluid, dance-like movements with kicks, head butts, tripping sweeps and the appearance of playfulness or vulnerability. Music is played on traditional instruments to accompany the players, to teach the rhythmic heart of the art, and ... to mask its power. In the eyes of the enslavers it appeared to be a joking and playful acrobatic dance, but eventually its power was realized and Capoeira was outlawed. Death was the penalty paid by those caught playing Capoeira during the slavery era. For almost 400 years Capoeira Angola was taught and practiced in secret, and only in the 1930's did this African martial art become legal to teach and practice.
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The primary objective of the first Portuguese settlers in Angola and the motive behind most of their explorations was the establishment of a slave trade. Although several early Portuguese explorers recognized the economic and strategic advantages of establishing friendly relations with the leaders of the kingdoms in the Angolan interior by the middle of the sixteenth century the slave trade had engendered an enmity between the Portuguese and the Africans that persisted until independence.
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Estimates of Angola's population vary widely, as there has been no census since 1970, but it is estimated at no less than 15.5 million. Angola has three main ethnic groups, each speaking a Bantu language: Ovimbundu 37%, Kimbundu 25%, and Bakongo 13%. Other groups include Chokwe, Lunda, Ganguela, Nhaneca-Humbe, Ambo, Herero, and Xindunga. In addition, mixed racial (European and African) people amount to about 2%, with a small (1%) population of whites, mainly ethnically Portuguese. Portuguese make up the largest non-Angolan population, with at least 30,000 (though many native-born Angolans can claim Portuguese nationality under Portuguese law). Portuguese is both the official and predominant language.
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Angola, China's second largest trading partner in Africa after South Africa, made a number of arms purchases during the Lusaka peace process. For example, in October 1997, Yang Wesheng, Chinese deputy minister of economy, trade and cooperation, announced while visiting Angola that trade had been increasing significantly over the previous six months. Part of this trade involved small arms.52 In October 1998, President dos Santos ... visited China, seeking to "expand bilateral economic ties" in meetings with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and other officials.53
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LISBON - Angola has fined U.S. oil major ChevronTexaco Corp (NYSE: CVX) $2 million for causing environmental damage, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on July 5. The fine is the first the African nation has levied against an oil company operating in its waters, a spokesman for the Ministry of Fisheries and the Environment said.
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In 1987, a series of major battles in the south of Angola culminated in the siege of Cuito Cuanavale by South African and UNITA forces. Although this resulted in a military stalemate, the outcome was a psychological defeat for the South African Defence Forces (SADF), which came to believe they could not win militarily in Angola. This prompted a rethinking of South African military strategy.
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