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90-657: The native name for the language is Oshiwambo (also written Oshivambo ), which is also used specifically for the Kwanyama and Ndonga dialects. It is the largest spoken local language in Namibia, particularly by the Ovambo people . The language is closely related to that of the Herero and Himba , the Herero language ( Otjiherero ). An obvious sign of proximity is the prefix used for language and dialect names, Proto-Bantu *ki- (class 7, as in

180-673: A Marxist–Leninist one-party state . It embarked on an ambitious programme of nationalisation , and the domestic private sector was essentially abolished. Privately owned enterprises were nationalised and incorporated into a single umbrella of state-owned enterprises known as Unidades Economicas Estatais (UEE). Under the MPLA, Angola experienced a significant degree of modern industrialisation . However, corruption and graft also increased and public resources were either allocated inefficiently or simply embezzled by officials for personal enrichment. The ruling party survived an attempted coup d'état by

270-473: A camp in Damba , where 26% died. Under colonial law, black Angolans were forbidden from forming political parties or labour unions. The first nationalist movements did not take root until after World War II , spearheaded by a largely Westernised and Portuguese-speaking urban class, which included many mestiços . During the early 1960s they were joined by other associations stemming from ad hoc labour activism in

360-467: A large part of the population in many towns, particularly in the south, where there are jobs in the mining industry. For example, in Lüderitz , an 18-hour drive from Ovamboland, at least 50% of the population speaks Oshiwambo. The names Ambo and Ovambo appear to have originally been exonyms. Despite extensive speculation, their origin remains unknown. The country was called Ovamboland and Amboland by

450-459: A number of kindred Bantu ethnic tribes who inhabit what was formerly called Ovamboland . In Angola, they are a minority, accounting for about two percent of the total Angolan population. There are about 2 million people of the Ovambo ethnic group, and they are predominantly Lutheran (97%) and traditional faith (3%). The Ovambo people reside in the flat sandy grassy plains of north Namibia and

540-465: A power base among a large expatriate community from related families, clans, and traditions. People on both sides of the border spoke mutually intelligible dialects and enjoyed shared ties to the historical Kingdom of Kongo. Though as foreigners skilled Angolans could not take advantage of Mobutu Sese Seko 's state employment programme, some found work as middlemen for the absentee owners of various lucrative private ventures. The migrants eventually formed

630-626: A precedent for the bitter factional strife which would later ignite the Angolan Civil War . Throughout the war of independence, the three rival nationalist movements were severely hampered by political and military factionalism, as well as their inability to unite guerrilla efforts against the Portuguese. Between 1961 and 1975 the MPLA, UNITA, and the FNLA competed for influence in the Angolan population and

720-596: A result of protective tariffs , leading to increased development, and a wave of new Portuguese immigrants. Between 1939 and 1943, Portuguese army operations against the Mucubal, who they accused of rebellion and cattle-thieving, resulted in hundreds of Mucubal killed. During the campaign, 3,529 were taken prisoner, 20% of whom were women and children, and imprisoned in concentration camps. Many died in captivity from undernourishment, violence and forced labor. Around 600 were sent to Sao Tome and Principe . Hundreds were also sent to

810-567: A skirmish in the Moxico province . UNITA and the MPLA consented to the Luena Memorandum of Understanding in April; UNITA agreed to give up its armed wing. With the elections in 2008 and 2012 , an MPLA-ruled dominant-party system emerged, with UNITA and the FNLA as opposition parties. Angola has a serious humanitarian crisis; the result of the prolonged war, of the abundance of minefields , and

900-418: A thousand Cuban soldiers in the country. They were kept supplied by a massive airbridge carried out with Soviet aircraft. The persistent buildup of Cuban and Soviet military aid allowed the MPLA to drive its opponents from Luanda and blunt an abortive intervention by Zairean and South African troops, which had deployed in a belated attempt to assist the FNLA and UNITA. The FNLA was largely annihilated after

990-501: Is also brewed and consumed in urban areas. This liquor is then called omangelengele ; it is more potent and sometimes poisonous. New Era , a Namibian English-language daily newspaper, reported that clothes, shoes, and tyres have been found to have been brewed as ingredients of omangelengele . The following table contains the names, areas, dialect names and the locations of the Ovambo according to T. E. Tirronen's Ndonga-English Dictionary. The table also contains information concerning

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1080-445: Is around 53% of the total land area, equivalent to 66,607,380 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 79,262,780 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 65,800,190 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 807,200 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 40% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 3% of

1170-405: Is not for meat ( ombelela ), but primarily as a source of milk ( omashini ). Their food is supplemented by hunting, fishing, and gathering. During the colonial era, the Ovambo were active in elephant ( eenjaba ) hunting for their tusks to supply the ivory demand, and they nearly hunted the elephants in their region to extinction. Each Ovambo tribe had a hereditary chief who is responsible for

1260-419: Is the daughter's lineage that created Ovambo people, according to the traditional beliefs of the matrilineal Ovambo people. The rituals involve elaborate fire making and keeping ceremonies, rain making dance, and rites have involved throwing herbs in the fire and inhaling the rising smoke. The head priest traditionally was the king of a tribe, and his role was in part to attend to the supernatural spirits and be

1350-525: The Atlantic slave trade continued until after Brazil's independence in the 1820s. Despite Portugal's territorial claims in Angola, its control over much of the country's vast interior was minimal. In the 16th century Portugal gained control of the coast through a series of treaties and wars. Life for European colonists was difficult and progress was slow. John Iliffe notes that "Portuguese records of Angola from

1440-495: The Cunene Province in south Angola , sometimes referred to as Ovamboland. These plains are generally flat, stoneless and at high altitude. Water courses, known as oshanas , irrigate the area. In the northern regions of Ovamboland is tropical vegetation sustained by abundant but seasonal rainfall that floods the region into temporary lakes and islands. In dry season, these pools of water empty out. The Ovambo have adapted to

1530-510: The Kwanza River in the south. The Portuguese established their primary early trading post at Soyo , which is now the northernmost city in Angola apart from the Cabinda exclave . Paulo Dias de Novais founded São Paulo de Loanda ( Luanda ) in 1575 with a hundred families of settlers and four hundred soldiers. Benguela was fortified in 1587 and became a township in 1617. An authoritarian state,

1620-524: The Maoist -oriented Communist Organisation of Angola (OCA) in 1977, which was suppressed after a series of bloody political purges left thousands of OCA supporters dead. The MPLA abandoned its former Marxist ideology at its third party congress in 1990, and declared social democracy to be its new platform. Angola subsequently became a member of the International Monetary Fund ; restrictions on

1710-621: The Portuguese and German Empires during colonial rule, which cut through the Oukwanyama tribal area, placing some in Angola and others in Namibia. This results in regular cross-border movement. There are approximately one million Oshiwambo speakers in Namibia and Angola. Though it is mainly spoken in the northern regions of Namibia, it is widely spoken across the rest of the country by populations of migrant workers from Ovamboland. These workers comprise

1800-644: The Republic of the Congo , and Gabon . It established trade routes with other city-states and civilisations up and down the coast of southwestern and western Africa. Its traders even reached Great Zimbabwe and the Mutapa Empire , although the kingdom engaged in little or no trans-oceanic trade. To its south lay the Kingdom of Ndongo , from which the area of the later Portuguese colony was sometimes known as Dongo . Next to that

1890-752: The Soviet Union and Cuba ; the insurgent National Union for the Total Independence of Angola , an originally Maoist and later anti-communist group supported by the United States and South Africa ; the militant organization National Liberation Front of Angola , backed by Zaire ; and the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda seeking the independence of the Cabinda exclave, also backed by Zaire. Since

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1980-612: The United Arab Republic . The MPLA attempted to move its headquarters from Conakry to Léopoldville in October 1961, renewing efforts to create a common front with the FNLA, then known as the Union of Angolan Peoples (UPA) and its leader Holden Roberto . Roberto turned down the offer. When the MPLA first attempted to insert its own insurgents into Angola, the cadres were ambushed and annihilated by UPA partisans on Roberto's orders—setting

2070-461: The highlands , between the Kwanza and Lucala rivers, was nominally a possession of the Kingdom of Kongo . But in the 16th century it was seeking greater independence. Modern Angola was populated predominantly by nomadic Khoi and San peoples prior to the first Bantu migrations . The Khoi and San peoples were hunter-gatherers , rather than practicing pastoralism or cultivation of crops. In

2160-687: The 14th century from the Zambia region to the northeast. They settled near the Angola-Namibia border then expanded further south in Namibia in the 17th century. They have a close cultural, linguistic and historical relationship to the Herero people found in more southern parts of Namibia, and Kavango people to their east settled around the Okavango River . In contrast to most ethnic groups in Africa, their isolated, low-density pastoral nomadic lifestyle left

2250-702: The 16th century show that a great famine occurred on average every seventy years; accompanied by epidemic disease, it might kill one-third or one-half of the population, destroying the demographic growth of a generation and forcing colonists back into the river valleys". During the Portuguese Restoration War , the Dutch West India Company occupied the principal settlement of Luanda in 1641, using alliances with local peoples to carry out attacks against Portuguese holdings elsewhere. A fleet under Salvador de Sá retook Luanda in 1648; reconquest of

2340-565: The Atlantic Ocean. Thus, at Soyo , at the mouth of the Congo River , the average annual temperature is about 26 °C, but it is under 16 °C at Huambo on the temperate central plateau. The coolest months are July and August (in the middle of the dry season), when frost may sometimes form at higher altitudes. The Angolan government is composed of three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch of

2430-542: The Congo to the south. Angola has a favorable coastline for maritime trade, with four natural harbors: Luanda, Lobito, Moçâmedes, and Porto Alexandre. These natural indentations contrast with Africa's typical coastline of rocky cliffs and deep bays. Angola's capital, Luanda , lies on the Atlantic coast in the northwest of the country. Angola had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.35/10, ranking it 23rd globally out of 172 countries. In Angola forest cover

2520-698: The FNLA began massing large numbers of troops in northern Angola in an attempt to gain military superiority. Meanwhile, the MPLA began securing control of Luanda, a traditional Ambundu stronghold. Sporadic violence broke out in Luanda over the next few months after the FNLA attacked the MPLA's political headquarters in March 1975. The fighting intensified with street clashes in April and May, and UNITA became involved after over two hundred of its members were massacred by an MPLA contingent that June. An upswing in Soviet arms shipments to

2610-467: The FNLA with the intention of making a bid for political power upon their envisaged return to Angola. A largely Ovimbundu guerrilla initiative against the Portuguese in central Angola from 1966 was spearheaded by Jonas Savimbi and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). It remained handicapped by its geographic remoteness from friendly borders, the ethnic fragmentation of

2700-512: The German colonial authorities. In English, Ovamboland predominates, though Ambo country is sometimes used, and in English publications from Namibia , Owamboland, Wamboland, and Owambo are seen. The endemic forms are Owambo kingdoms are Ndonga, Kwanyama and Kwambi The people are generally called the Ovambo or Ambo in English. The endemic forms are Aawambo (Ndonga) and Ovawambo (Kwanyama);

2790-451: The Kingdom of Kongo after the death of António I. Much of the stability and access to iron ore and charcoal necessary for gunsmiths to maintain the arms industry was disrupted. From then on, in this period almost every Kongolese citizen was in danger of being enslaved. Many Kongolese subjects were adroit in making guns, and they were enslaved to have their skills available to colonists in

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2880-427: The Kingdom of Kongo was highly centralised around its monarch and controlled neighbouring states as vassals . It had a strong economy, based on the industries of copper , ivory , salt , hides , and, to a lesser extent, slaves . The transition from a feudal system of slavery to a capitalist one with Portugal would prove crucial to the history of the Kingdom of Kongo. As relations between Kongo and Portugal grew in

2970-497: The MPLA and its rivals accepted material assistance from the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China , the former harboured strong anti-imperialist views and was openly critical of the United States and its support for Portugal. This allowed it to win important ground on the diplomatic front, soliciting support from nonaligned governments in Morocco , Ghana , Guinea , Mali , and

3060-627: The MPLA influenced a decision by the Central Intelligence Agency to likewise provide substantial covert aid to the FNLA and UNITA. In August 1975, the MPLA requested direct assistance from the Soviet Union in the form of ground troops. The Soviets declined, offering to send advisers but no troops; however, Cuba was more forthcoming and in late September dispatched nearly five hundred combat personnel to Angola, along with sophisticated weaponry and supplies. By independence, there were over

3150-562: The New World, where they worked as blacksmiths, ironworkers, and charcoal makers. The Portuguese established several other settlements, forts and trading posts along the Angolan coast, principally trading in Angolan slaves for plantations . Local slave dealers provided a large number of slaves for the Portuguese Empire , usually in exchange for manufactured goods from Europe. This part of

3240-471: The Ovamba have preferred a syncretic form of Christianity. Most weddings feature a combination of Christian beliefs and Ovambo traditions. Their traditional dancing is done to drumming (Oshiwambo folk music). The traditional home is a complex of huts surrounded by a fence of large vertical poles linked by two horizontal poles on each side. The complex is a maze with two gates but it is easy to get lost within

3330-466: The Ovambo dialects according to T. E. Tirronen's Ndonga-English Dictionary . The table also contains information concerning which noun class of Proto-Bantu the words belong to. Maho (2009) lists the following as distinct languages in the Ovambo cluster: Omupangi umwe okwa li a nyeka nge embo olo, ndele ta lesha oshipalanyole shalo, nokupula nge ta kondjifa ngeenge ohandi ka ninga umwe womEendombwedi daJehova ile hasho. Translation A nurse grabbed

3420-478: The Ovambo people is the primary faith of less than 3%, as most state Christianity to be their primary faith. The Ovambo's traditional religion envisions a supreme being named Kalunga , with their rites and rituals centered around sacred fire like many ethnic groups in southwestern Africa. The Kalunga cosmology states that the Supreme Being created the first man and first woman, who had a daughter and two sons. It

3510-610: The Ovambo people largely unaffected by Swahili-Arab and European traders before the 19th century. When Germany established a colony in Namibia in 1884, they left the Ovambo people undisturbed. The Germans focused on the southern and coastal regions. After World War I, Namibia was annexed by the South African government into the Union of South Africa as the Territory of South West Africa . This brought major changes, with South African plantation, cattle breeding and mining operations entering

3600-557: The Ovamboland. The Portuguese colonial administration in Angola, who had previously focused on their coastal, northern and eastern operations, entered southern Angola to form a border with the expanding South African presence. The Ovambo people launched several armed rebellions against South African rule in the 1920s and 1930s, which were all suppressed by the Union Defence Force . The South African administration in Namibia continued

3690-754: The Ovimbundu, and the isolation of peasants on European plantations where they had little opportunity to mobilise. During the late 1950s, the rise of the Marxist–Leninist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the east and Dembos hills north of Luanda came to hold special significance. Formed as a coalition resistance movement by the Angolan Communist Party , the organisation's leadership remained predominantly Ambundu and courted public sector workers in Luanda . Although both

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3780-643: The Portuguese depended on assistance from the British Royal Navy and what became known as the Blockade of Africa to enforce their ban on the slave trade. This coincided with a series of renewed military expeditions into the bush. By the mid-nineteenth century Portugal had established its dominion as far north as the Congo River and as far south as Mossâmedes . Until the late 1880s, Portugal entertained proposals to link Angola with its colony in Mozambique but

3870-537: The authoritarian system and the aristocracy. If several villagers were deemed guilty of a crime, it became relatively common for the whole village to be enslaved. The resulting chaos and internal conflict from Garcia II's reign would lead into that of his son and successor, António I . He was killed in 1665 by Portuguese at the Battle of Mbwila 1665, together with a substantial proportion of the aristocracy. The colonists were expanding their power. War broke out more widely in

3960-440: The book from me, looked at the cover, and demanded to know whether I was going to become one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Ovambo people The Ovambo people ( pronounced [ovambo] ), also called Aawambo , Ambo , Aawambo (Ndonga, Nghandjera, Kwambi, Kwaluudhi, Kolonghadhi, Mbalantu, mbadja), or Ovawambo (Kwanyama), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily modern Namibia . They are

4050-639: The brokering of a ceasefire pending negotiations for Angolan independence. Encouraged by the Organisation of African Unity , Holden Roberto, Jonas Savimbi, and MPLA chairman Agostinho Neto met in Mombasa in early January 1975 and agreed to form a coalition government. This was ratified by the Alvor Agreement later that month, which called for general elections and set the country's independence date for 11 November 1975. All three factions, however, followed up on

4140-480: The ceasefire by taking advantage of the gradual Portuguese withdrawal to seize various strategic positions, acquire more arms, and enlarge their militant forces. The rapid influx of weapons from numerous external sources, especially the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as the escalation of tensions between the nationalist parties, fueled a new outbreak of hostilities. With tacit American and Zairean support

4230-463: The chief representative of the Ovambo tribe to the deities. Christianity arrived among the Ovambo people in the late 19th century. The first Finnish missionaries arrived in Ovamboland in the 1870s, and Ovambo predominantly converted and thereof have identified themselves as Lutheran Christians. The influence of the Finnish missions not only related to the religion, but cultural practices. For example,

4320-506: The classification of noun class of the Proto-Bantu language for these words. Angola Angola , officially the Republic of Angola , is a country on the west- central coast of Southern Africa . It is the second-largest Lusophone ( Portuguese-speaking ) country in both total area and population and is the seventh-largest country in Africa . It is bordered by Namibia to

4410-416: The coast in the 16th century. Kongo fought three wars against the Portuguese, ending in the Portuguese conquest of Ndongo. The banning of the slave trade in the 19th century severely disrupted Kongo's undiversified economic system and European settlers gradually began to establish their presence in the interior of the region. The Portuguese colony that became Angola did not achieve its present borders until

4500-875: The continued political agitation in favour of the independence of the exclave of Cabinda (carried out in the context of the protracted Cabinda conflict by the FLEC ). While most of the internally displaced have now squatted around the capital, in musseques ( shanty towns ) the general situation for Angolans remains desperate. A drought in 2016 caused the worst food crisis in Southern Africa in 25 years, affecting 1.4 million people across seven of Angola's eighteen provinces. Food prices rose and acute malnutrition rates doubled, impacting over 95,000 children. José Eduardo dos Santos stepped down as President of Angola after 38 years in 2017, being peacefully succeeded by João Lourenço , Santos' chosen successor. Some members of

4590-509: The daughter's children, not the son's. Polygyny is accepted, with the first wife recognized as the senior. Ovambo brew a traditional liquor called ombike . It is distilled from fermented fruit mash and particularly popular in rural areas. The fruit to produce ombike are collected from makalani palms ( Hyphaene petersiana ), jackal berries ( Diospyros mespiliformis ), buffalo thorns ( Ziziphus mucronata ), bird plumes and cluster figs ( Ficus racemosa ). Ombike , with additives like sugar,

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4680-420: The decisive Battle of Quifangondo , although UNITA managed to withdraw its civil officials and militia from Luanda and seek sanctuary in the southern provinces. From there, Savimbi continued to mount a determined insurgent campaign against the MPLA. Between 1975 and 1991, the MPLA implemented an economic and political system based on the principles of scientific socialism , incorporating central planning and

4770-521: The dos Santos family were later linked to high levels of corruption. In July 2022, ex-president José Eduardo dos Santos died in Spain. In August 2022, the ruling party, MPLA, won another majority and President Lourenço won a second five-year term in the election . However, the election was the tightest in Angola's history. At 1,246,700 km (481,400 sq mi), Angola is the world's twenty-second largest country – comparable in size to Mali, or twice

4860-466: The early 16th century, trade between the kingdoms also increased. Most of the trade was in palm cloth, copper, and ivory, but also increasing numbers of slaves. Kongo exported few slaves, and its slave market had remained internal. But, following the development of a successful sugar-growing colony after Portuguese settlement of São Tomé , Kongo became a major source of slaves for the island's traders and plantations. Correspondence by King Afonso documents

4950-565: The early 20th century and experienced the strong resistance from the native groups such as the Cuamato, the Kwanyama , and the Mbunda . After a protracted anti-colonial struggle (1961–1974), Angola achieved independence in 1975 as a one-party Republic , but the country descended into a devastating civil war the same year, between the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), backed by

5040-470: The end of the civil war in 2002, Angola has emerged as a relatively stable constitutional republic , and its economy is among the fastest-growing in the world, with China , the European Union , and the United States being the country's largest investment and trade partners. However, the economic growth is highly uneven, with most of the nation's wealth concentrated in a disproportionately small part of

5130-587: The fighting between the Portuguese government and local forces, supported to varying degrees by the Portuguese Communist Party . The National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) recruited from Bakongo refugees in Zaire . Benefiting from particularly favourable political circumstances in Léopoldville , and especially from a common border with Zaire, Angolan political exiles were able to build up

5220-407: The first millennium BC, they were displaced by Bantu peoples arriving from the north, most of whom likely originated in what is today northwestern Nigeria and southern Niger . Bantu speakers introduced the cultivation of bananas and taro , as well as maintenance of large cattle herds, to Angola's central highlands and the Luanda plain. Due to a number of inhibiting geographic factors throughout

5310-457: The forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership . Like the rest of tropical Africa, Angola experiences distinct, alternating rainy and dry seasons. In the north, the rainy season may last for as long as seven months—usually from September to April, with perhaps a brief slackening in January or February. In

5400-656: The government is composed of the President, the vice-presidents and the Council of Ministers. The legislative branch comprises a 220-seat unicameral legislature, the National Assembly of Angola , elected from multi-member province-wide and nationwide constituencies using party-list proportional representation . For decades, political power has been concentrated in the presidency. After 38 years of rule, in 2017 President dos Santos stepped down from MPLA leadership. The leader of

5490-554: The homestead. Each hut generally has a different purpose, such as a Ondjugo (the woman of the homestead's hut) or Epata (kitchen area). The Ovambo people lead a settled life, relying mostly on a combination of agriculture and animal husbandry. The staple crops have been millet and sorghum ( iilyavala ), and beans ( omakunde ) are another popular crop. In drier regions or seasons, pastoral activity with herds of cattle ( eengobe / eenghwandabi ), goats ( iikombo / onakamela ) and sheep ( eedi ) becomes more important. The animal husbandry

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5580-482: The inroads from Luanda and Benguela were very limited. Hamstrung by a series of political upheavals in the early 1800s, Portugal was slow to mount a large scale annexation of Angolan territory. The slave trade was abolished in Angola in 1836, and in 1854 the colonial government freed all its existing slaves. Four years later, a more progressive administration appointed by Portugal abolished slavery altogether. However, these decrees remained largely unenforceable, and

5670-444: The international community. The Soviet Union and Cuba became especially sympathetic towards the MPLA and supplied that party with arms, ammunition, funding, and training. They also backed UNITA militants until it became clear that the latter was at irreconcilable odds with the MPLA. The collapse of Portugal's Estado Novo government following the 1974 Carnation Revolution suspended all Portuguese military activity in Africa and

5760-581: The kingdom was due to the salient issue of the slave trade, which had become an increasingly violent struggle. There was a constant need for slaves for the kings and queens to sell in exchange for foreign commodities, the absence of which would prevent them from having any influence with European powers such as Portugal and eventually the Dutch Republic . Kongolese kings needed this influence to garner support from European powers for quelling internal rebellions. The situation became increasingly complicated during

5850-682: The market economy were also reduced in an attempt to draw foreign investment. By May 1991 it reached a peace agreement with UNITA, the Bicesse Accords , which scheduled new general elections for September 1992. When the MPLA secured a major electoral victory, UNITA objected to the results of both the presidential and legislative vote count and returned to war. Following the election, the Halloween massacre occurred from 30 October to 1 November, where MPLA forces killed thousands of UNITA supporters. On 22 February 2002, government troops killed Savimbi in

5940-420: The name of the Swahili language , Kiswahili ), which in Herero has evolved to Otji- and in Ovambo further to Oshi- . After Namibia's independence in 1990, the area previously known as Ovamboland was divided into the Ohangwena , Omusati , Oshana and Oshikoto Regions . The population, estimated at between 700,000 and 750,000, fluctuates remarkably. This is because of the indiscriminate border drawn up by

6030-455: The national currency of nzimbu shells , which could be traded for slaves. These could be sold to gain international currency. As the slave trade was the only commodity in which Europeans were interested in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Kongo economy was unable to diversify or later industrialise outside of sectors in which slavery was involved, such as the arms industry . The increased production and sale of guns within

6120-471: The north. However, because of labor shortage in the Police Zone and South Africa, in part because of massacre of native Africans such as through the Herero and Namaqua genocide , the South African government allowed migrant wage labor. Numerous Ovambo people became migrant laborers in South African towns such as Cape Town and in the Police Zone, where they experienced segregation and lived under highly restrained human rights. The South African Apartheid rule

6210-467: The population as most Angolans have a low standard of living ; life expectancy is among the lowest in the world , while infant mortality is among the highest . Angola is a member of the United Nations , African Union , the Community of Portuguese Language Countries , and the Southern African Development Community . As of 2023 , the Angolan population is estimated at 37.2 million. Angolan culture reflects centuries of Portuguese influence, namely

6300-526: The power of the monarchy. He also established a royal monopoly on some trade. To govern the growing slave trade, Afonso and several Portuguese kings claimed a joint monopoly on the external slave trade. The slave trade increasingly became Kongo's primary, and arguably sole, economic sector . A major obstacle for the Kingdom of Kongo was that slaves were the only commodity for which the European powers were willing to trade. Kongo lacked an effective international currency . Kongolese nobles could buy slaves with

6390-439: The predominance of the Portuguese language and of the Catholic Church , intermingled with a variety of indigenous customs and traditions. The name Angola comes from the Portuguese colonial name Reino de Angola ('Kingdom of Angola'), which appeared as early as Paulo Dias de Novais 's 1571 charter. The toponym was derived by the Portuguese from the title ngola , held by the kings of Ndongo and Matamba . Ndongo in

6480-413: The purchase and sale of slaves within the country. His accounts also detail which slaves captured in war were given or sold to Portuguese merchants. Afonso continued to expand the kingdom of Kongo into the 1540s, expanding its borders to the south and east. The expansion of Kongo's population, coupled with Afonso's earlier religious reforms, allowed the ruler to centralize power in his capital and increase

6570-535: The region, states were formed by the 13th century and organised into confederations. The Kingdom of Kongo ascended to achieve hegemony among the other kingdoms from the 14th century. Portuguese explorers established relations with Kongo in 1483. To the south were the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba , with the Ovimbundu kingdoms further south, and the Mbunda Kingdom in the east. The Portuguese began colonising

6660-464: The rest of the territory was completed by 1650. New treaties with the Kongo were signed in 1649; others with Njinga 's Kingdom of Matamba and Ndongo followed in 1656. The conquest of Pungo Andongo in 1671 was the last major Portuguese expansion from Luanda, as attempts to invade Kongo in 1670 and Matamba in 1681 failed. Colonial outposts also expanded inward from Benguela, but until the late 19th century

6750-539: The rule of Garcia II , who needed the assistance of the Dutch military to drive out the Portuguese from Luanda , in spite of the fact that Portugal was Kongo's primary slave trading partner. By the early 17th century, the supply of foreign slaves captured by the Kongolese externally was waning. The government began to approve the enslavement of freeborn Kongolese citizens for relatively minor infractions, nearly any disobeying of

6840-456: The rural workforce. Portugal's refusal to address increasing Angolan demands for self-determination provoked an armed conflict, which erupted in 1961 with the Baixa de Cassanje revolt and gradually evolved into a protracted war of independence that persisted for the next twelve years. Throughout the conflict, three militant nationalist movements with their own partisan guerrilla wings emerged from

6930-456: The single largest ethnic group in Namibia , accounting for about half of the population. Despite concerted efforts from Christian missionaries to wipe out what were believed to be 'pagan practices', they have retained many aspects of their cultural practices. They are also found in the southern Angolan province of Cunene , where they are more commonly referred to as "Ambo". The Ovambo consist of

7020-404: The singular in both cases is Omuwambo . The language is generally called Ovambo, Ambo, or Oshiwambo in English; the endonym in both standards is Oshiwambo. There are eight dialects, including the two written standards Kwanyama and Ndonga. Oshiwambo culture is more dominant in the northern part of the country. The following table contains the names, areas, dialect names and the locations of

7110-607: The size of France or of Texas. It lies mostly between latitudes 4° and 18°S , and longitudes 12° and 24°E . Angola borders Namibia to the south, Zambia to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north-east and the South Atlantic Ocean to the west. The coastal exclave of Cabinda in the north has borders with the Republic of the Congo to the north and with the Democratic Republic of

7200-508: The so-called "Police Zone" in south, a region created by the Germans with a veterinary Red Line covering about two-thirds of the province later to become Namibia. Ovambo people were not allowed to move into the Police Zone, neither other tribes nor Europeans could move north without permits. This isolated the Ovambo people, preserving traditional authorities and reducing numbers of White farmers in

7290-568: The south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an exclave province, the province of Cabinda , that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and most populous city is Luanda . Angola has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Age . After the Bantu expansion reached

7380-459: The south, the rainy season begins later, in November, and lasts until about February. The dry season ( cacimbo ) is often characterized by a heavy morning mist. In general, precipitation is higher in the north, but at any latitude it is greater in the interior than along the coast and increases with altitude. Temperatures fall with distance from the equator and with altitude and tend to rise closer to

7470-399: The territory of Angola, namely harshly traversable land, hot/humid climate, and a plethora of deadly diseases, intermingling of pre-colonial tribes in Angola had been rare. After settlement of the migrants, a number of political entities developed. The best-known of these was the Kingdom of Kongo , based in Angola. It extended northward to what are now the Democratic Republic of the Congo ,

7560-514: The tribe. Many tribes adapted representation by having a council of headmen who run tribal affairs. Members of the royal family of the Owamboland are known as aakwanekamba , ovakwaluvala , ovakwamalanga , ovakwaanime , aakwanyoka and many more; only those who belong to this family by birth, through the maternal line, have a claim to chieftainship. The tribes figure their descent by a matrilineal kinship system, with hereditary chiefs arising from

7650-425: The typical dress style of the contemporary Ovambo women that includes a head scarf and loose full length maxi, is derived from those of the 19th-century Finnish missionaries. The Ovambo now predominantly follow Christian theology, prayer rituals and festivities, but some of the traditional religious practices have continued, such as the use of ritual sacred fire. They also invoke their supreme creator Kalunga . Thus,

7740-567: The widely varying seasonal weather patterns with their housing, agriculture, and livestock practices. The Ovambo people are a Bantu-speaking group. In Namibia, these are the AaNdonga, Ovakwanyama, Aakwambi, Aangandjera, Aambalantu, Ovaunda, Aakolonkadhi, Aakwaluudhi and Aambandja. In Angola, they are the Ovakwanyama, Aakafima, Evale and Aandonga. The Ovakwanyama are the largest sub-tribe. The Ovambo started migrating to their current location around

7830-508: The winning party at the parliamentary elections in August 2017 would become the next president of Angola. The MPLA selected the former Defense Minister João Lourenço as Santos' chosen successor. In what has been described as a political purge to cement his power and reduce the influence of the Dos Santos family, Lourenço subsequently sacked the chief of the national police, Ambrósio de Lemos, and

7920-469: Was blocked by British and Belgian opposition. In this period, the Portuguese came up against different forms of armed resistance from various peoples in Angola. The Berlin Conference in 1884–1885 set the colony's borders, delineating the boundaries of Portuguese claims in Angola, although many details were unresolved until the 1920s. Trade between Portugal and its African territories rapidly increased as

8010-536: Was brought into the Ovamboland in 1948. The South African government declared the Ovamboland an independent province in 1973, and appointed chiefs aligned with the South African government's policies. The Ovambo people rejected these developments, and in 1975 the appointed chief minister of Ovamboland was assassinated. In conjunction with the armed SWAPO movement, Namibia and its Ovambo people gained independence from South Africa in 1990. The traditional religion of

8100-409: Was the Kingdom of Matamba . The lesser Kingdom of Kakongo to the north was later a vassal of the Kingdom of Kongo. The people in all of these states spoke Kikongo as a common language. Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão reached the area in 1484. The previous year, the Portuguese had established relations with the Kingdom of Kongo , which stretched at the time from modern Gabon in the north to

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