ANGOLA

	CLIMATE
	Angola has a hot, tropical climate, with little temperature variation over the year. It is slightly cooler and wetter in the south. The rainy season lasts from November to April, the rainiest month. The cold, offshore Benguela Current inhibits rain, so the coast is dry.

Kings, Traders, and Slavers

The first peoples of Angola (ang-GOE-luh) belonged to scattered groups of Khoi-Khoi (KOY-koy) and San (SAHN) hunters, who occupied large areas of southern Africa. They lived by hunting wild animals and gathering food plants.

About two thousand years ago, new peoples migrated into the region. These were of a larger stature than the aboriginal peoples and spoke languages of the Bantu (BAN-too) group. They were part of a gradual movement of small groups of Bantu peoples who, between about 100 B.C.E. and 900 C.E., traveled southward and eastward through the continent, starting from western and central Africa. These ironworkers, herders, and millet growers were ancestors of, among others, the three largest ethnic groups of modern Angola—the Ovimbundu (oh-veem-BOON-doo), Mbundu (uhm-BOON-doo), and Kongo (KAHNG-goe).

Sometime in the 1100s Bantu-speaking peoples crossed the Congo River. The state they established was the origin of one of the most powerful kingdoms in the history of Africa. It was called Kongo, and by the 1400s it covered most of Angola as well as large areas of the modern Congo nations (see CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF). The capital was at Mpemba Kazi but later moved to M’banza (uhm-BAHN-zah) Congo. The people farmed, hunted, worked metal, and wove fine cloth.

The great traders of this region were the Ovimbundu, who established over twenty different chiefdoms on the central plateau between the south and the Kongo kingdom. They established routes for trading salt, ivory, and other goods between the coast and the interior of the continent. Khoi-Khoi and San peoples still lived in the far south.

In 1482 a Portuguese explorer called Diogo Cão reached the mouth of the Congo River. He heard reports of the splendid royal court of the Kongolese ruler, which by then was located at M’banza. The Portuguese sent ambassadors to the court. The Kongolese ruler was converted to Christianity, although he soon abandoned the new faith. The kingdom remained a puppet state of Portugal, with no real power. Portugal demanded tribute from the Kongo, took over its existing slave trade, and undermined its power and social structure. The Kongo kingdom also faced repeated attacks during the 1500s by the Jaga (ZHAH-gah) people, who settled in the region around Kuito. They later became mixed with the Mbundu and Ovimbundu peoples.

Another state also emerged in northern Angola during the 1300s. Called Ndongo (ehn-DAWN-goh), it was founded by the Mbundu people, who had originally come from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ndongo territory was based around the Cuanza (KWAHN-zah) River and the coast. The Kongo claimed to rule over the Mbundu, but in fact the Mbundu state was a considerable power in its own right.

The Portuguese traded with Ndongo during the 1500s and attempted unsuccessfully to convert the Mbundu to Christianity. In 1575 the Portuguese built a fortified settlement at Luanda (loo-AHN-duh) and rapidly developed a slave trade. Slaves from the interior of Angola were shipped across the Atlantic to Brazil. This practice continued for about three hundred years, depleting and finally destroying the remaining Angolan kingdoms.

During the 1620s and 1630s, Ndongo declared war on the Portuguese after the Portuguese failed to honor an agreement. The Portuguese finally conquered the Mbundu kingdom in 1671.

Back in Europe, Portugal’s own power declined during the 1700s and 1800s. Angola was neglected, except by the slave traders, who continued their trade long after slavery was officially abolished in 1830. For a time Angola was used as a penal colony, a place where convicted Portuguese criminals were sent for punishment and grueling work.

The late 1800s and early 1900s saw some economic activity. Coffee was planted, railroads were constructed, and diamonds were found. However, the wealth these endeavors created was not used to benefit the peoples of Angola, who suffered military repression and famine. Between 1890 and 1922 the Portuguese conducted ninety military campaigns against the peoples of Angola in an attempt to back up its territorial claims. In 1928 Portugal came under the control of an extreme right-wing dictatorship, which exploited Angolan resources while neglecting the inhabitants. In 1951 Angola was declared no longer a colony but a part of Portuguese territory. However, its peoples received minimal education and health care and no political freedom.

The 1950s produced an economic boom in Angola. Coffee prices rose, oil began to be produced offshore in 1956, and hundreds of thousands of settlers, mostly poor peasants from Portugal or the Cape Verde islands, moved in (see CAPE VERDE). As elsewhere in Africa, the word independence was now on everyone’s lips.