officially Republic of Angola formerly Portuguese West Africa
Country, southern Africa.
Its northernmost section of coastland, the Cabinda exclave, is separated from Angola proper by a narrow corridor of Congo territory. Area: 481,354 sq mi (1,246,700 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 10,593,000. Capital: Luanda . The population is made up of mostly Ovimbundu and the Mbundu , while the Khoisan-speaking San (Bushmen) inhabit southeastern Angola. Languages: Portuguese (official), indigenous languages. Religions: Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Protestantism), traditional beliefs. Currency: kwanza. The country contains several plateau regions, which separate it into three distinct drainage systems. One in the northeast drains into the Congo River basin; another in the southeastern sector drains into the Zambezi system; the remaining drainage, westward into the Atlantic, provides most of Angola's hydroelectric power. About 40% of the land area is forest; less than 10% is arable. Despite substantial petroleum reserves, Angola's economy has been unable to take advantage of its resources because of the devastation caused by its protracted civil war. It is nominally a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. An influx of Bantu-speaking peoples in the 1st millennium AD led to their dominance in the area by с 1500. The most important Bantu kingdom was the Kongo ; south of the Kongo was the Ndongo kingdom of the Mbundu people. Portuguese explorers arrived in 1483 and over time gradually extended their rule. Angola's frontiers were largely determined with other European powers in the 19th century but not without strong resistance by the indigenous peoples. Its status as a Portuguese colony was changed to that of an overseas province in 1951. Resistance to colonial rule led to the outbreak of fighting in 1961, which led ultimately to independence in 1975. Rival factions continued fighting after independence. Although a peace accord was reached in 1994, forces led by {{link=Savimbi, Jonas Malheiro">Jonas M. Savimbi continued to resist government control until his death in 2002, after which a peace accord was signed.