Study French researchers proved that this African region is inhabited since prehistoric times. But it was in the fifteenth century that began to write in more detail the lines of development of this country.
The Portuguese Diogo Cao sailed to the territory that is now Angola. The date of arrival is not consensual: there are historians who claim that have been in 1482 and others who claim it was in 1484.
The first measure of the Portuguese was to establish an alliance with the Kingdom of Congo, which dominated the entire region. The South of this kingdom also existed the Kingdom of Ndongo and the Kingdom of Matamba, which then were to merge, to give the Kingdom of Angola, in 1559.
Paulo Dias de Novais was the first Governor of Angola. Novais sought to define this vast territory and exploit their natural resources. In 1576, São Paulo da Assunção de Luanda, the current city of Luanda, was founded.
The war that seemed to have no end
In the twentieth century, in the early 1960s, three liberation movements (UPA / FNLA, MPLA and UNITA) started an armed struggle against the Portuguese colonialism.
The Government of Portugal, led by Salazar refused to dialogue with the leaders of these organizations and continued to defend the colony to the limit. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were mobilized for combat.
This fight lasted until the 25th of April 1974 when the Portuguese dictatorship was overthrown by the “Carnation Revolution”. The independence of Angola in 1975 did not end the war, which won international boundaries, since the three movements were supported by foreign powers, such as Russia, Cuba, South Africa, Zaire, China, USA and England.
Despite the declaration of independence, the internal conflict lasted until the early 1990s the end of April this year, the Angolan government announced that it would resume direct contacts with UNITA opposition party MPLA. The following month, UNITA officially recognized José Eduardo dos Santos as head of State. The fall of the Soviet Union, which supported the MPLA, accelerated the process of democratization in Angola and in May 1991 the government published a law authorizing the creation of new parties, putting an end to single party.
Since it began the pacification of Angola that the development indices of this country have been increasing. Peace brought to Angola the conditions that allow you currently have regional power status in Southern Africa.
