Angola

Angola, 1975 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed

After a protracted anti-colonial struggle, Angola achieved independence in 1975 as a one-party Republic. Between 1961 and 1975 the MPLA, UNITA, and the FNLA competed for influence in the Angolan population and the international community. The MPLA abandoned its former Marxist ideology at its third party congress in 1990, and declared social democracy to be its new platform. Angola has been a constitutional republic since the end of the civil war in 2002.

Seat of power: Luanda

Rulers

Agostinho Neto

President of Angola, 1975–1979

He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, after leading the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) during the war for independence. He led the MPLA during the beginning of the Angolan Civil War, which began in 1975 and lasted until 2002.

Portrait of Agostinho Neto: Rob Mieremet / Anefo, CC0, file

José Eduardo dos Santos

President of Angola, 1979–2017

He served as the second president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. After Neto's death in 1979, dos Santos was elected by the MPLA as the country's new president. He was elected president in the 1992 Angolan general election over UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi.

Portrait of José Eduardo dos Santos: Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/Agência Brasil, CC BY 3.0 br, file

Lúcio Lara

President of Angola, 1979–1979

He was acting president of Angola for ten days, from 10 September 1979 to 20 September 1979, briefly leading the country between the death of Agostinho Neto and the inauguration of José Eduardo dos Santos.

João Lourenço

President of Angola, 2017 to today

He is currently serving as the third president of Angola since 26 September 2017. Previously, he was the minister of defence from 2014 to 2017. In September 2018, he became the chairman of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the ruling party.

Portrait of João Lourenço: Lula Oficial, CC BY-SA 2.0, file

Culture

Luanda was founded in January 1576 as São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda by Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias de Novais.
Luanda and its metropolitan area is the most populous Portuguese-speaking national capital in the world and the most populous Lusophone city outside Brazil.
The city served as the centre of the slave trade to Brazil before the institution was prohibited.
At the start of the Angolan Civil War in 1975, most of the white Portuguese left as refugees, principally migrating to Portugal.

Picture

Luanda is the capital and largest city of Angola.

Image: Iamdelcioborges, CC BY 4.0, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.