THROWBACKTHISDAY; Angola gained its Independence.

                  

 

On Thisday November 11 1975 Angola gained its independence.The Angolan War of Independence (1961–1974) began as an uprising against forced cotton cultivation, and became a multi-
faction struggle for the control of Portugal's Overseas Province of Angola among three nationalist movements and a separatist movement.^[25] The war ended when a leftist military coup in Lisbon in April 1974 overthrew Portugal's Estado Novoregime, and the new regime immediately stopped all military action in the African colonies, declaring its intention to grant them independence without delay.

It was a guerrilla war in which the Portuguese Armed Forces waged a counter-insurgency campaign against armed groups mostly dispersed across sparsely populated areas of the vast Angolan countryside.^[26] Many atrocities were committed by all forces involved in the conflict.

In Angola, after the Portuguese had stopped the war, an armed conflict broke out among the nationalist movements. This war formally came to an end in January 1975 when the Portuguese government, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and the National Liberation Front of Angola(FNLA) signed the Alvor Agreement.

Angola officially the Republic of Angola is a country in Southern Africa. It is the seventh-largest country in Africa, and is bordered byNamibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to west. Theexclave province of Cabinda has borders with the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and largest city is Luanda.

Although its territory has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Era, modern Angola originates in Portuguese colonization, which began with, and was for centuries limited to, coastal settlements and trading posts established from the 16th century onwards. In the 19th century, European settlers slowly and hesitantly began to establish themselves in the interior. As a Portuguese colony, Angola did not encompass its present borders until the early 20th century, following resistance by groups such as the Cuamato, theKwanyama and the Mbunda. Independence was achieved in 1975 after a protracted liberation war. That same year, Angola descended into an intense civil war that lasted until 2002. It has since become a relatively stable unitary presidential republic.

Angola has vast mineral and petroleum reserves, and its economy is among the fastest growing in the world, especially since the end of the civil war. In spite of this, the standard of living remains low for the majority of the population, and life expectancy andinfant mortality rates in Angola are among the worst in the world.^[5] Angola's economic growth is highly uneven, with the majority of the nation's wealth concentrated in a disproportionately small sector of the population.

Angola is a member state of the United Nations, OPEC, African Union, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the Latin Union and the Southern African Development Community. A highly multiethnic country, Angola's 24.3 million people span various tribal groups, customs, and traditions. Angolan culture reflects centuries of Portuguese rule, namely in the predominance of thePortuguese language and Roman Catholicism, combined with diverse indigenous influences.

 

THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 45 years and TBT Blog remembers.