Angola 2019
Yearbook 2019
Angola. The country continued to be plagued by drought during the year. Combined with insufficient efforts, this caused a crisis situation where up to 1 million people in the southern parts of Angola needed emergency assistance. According to a report by UNICEF in April, more than 2.3 million people, including almost half a million children, were at risk of eating too little food. In January, President João Lourenço announced a state of disaster in the three southern provinces of Cunene, Huila and Namibe, and in October the Catholic Church pleaded with him to do so again, as the situation was still critical.
In January, Parliament voted in favor of legislative changes which meant that homosexuality was no longer banned. In addition, anti-discrimination rules were introduced because of sexual orientation.
Around the year 500, there were settled peasants all over present-day Angola. They had a relatively high material development, knew the iron, had large cattle herds and were also fishermen. Until the year 1000, tribal kingdoms and kingdoms emerged. The strongest of the kingdoms were Congo on both sides of the lower Congo River, and Ndongo, south of the Congo. The king of Ndongo was called Ngola, which the Portuguese converted to the name of the state formation Angola. Until Europeans arrived, the various kingdoms lived largely peacefully side by side.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER.ORG: Click to see the meanings of 3-letter acronym and abbreviation of AGO in general and in geography as Angola in particular.
Slave trade and colonization
The first Portuguese rose ashore at the mouth of the Congo River in 1482, thus initiating colonization. It initially took place through mission stations and trade. Only later did the Portuguese start sending expeditions into the country.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Portugal had in the early 1500s become Brazil , where large sugar plantations were built. For them, labor was needed and the slave trade from West Africa began. From 1500 to 1820, 4-5 million slaves were shipped – from Angola alone. It is the direct cause of the dispersed population structure that continues to characterize the country. The earlier development of the country stopped when the most productive part of the population was sent out of the country. The former peace was broken by Portuguese weapons and because tribal chiefs and traders were allowed to use as slave buyers for the Portuguese. The slavery and wars reduced the Angolan population from 18 million in 1450 to just under 8 million in 1850.
The Portuguese colonization of Angola was slow. Especially because the Angolans continued their opposition to the Portuguese colonization. Among the main opponents were: Ngola Kiluange, Nzinga Mbandi, Ngola Kanini and Mandume. The so-called Centennial War (1573-1680) with the Ndongo Empire brought the Portuguese to the River Cuanza, but not until the end of the 1800s and until 1920 did the colonial rulers gain military control over the entire territory. When the European great powers divided Africa between them at the Berlin Conference in 1885, Portugal was awarded the area that is now Angola.
Population 2019
According to CountryAAH, the population of Angola in 2019 was 31,825,184, ranking number 45 in the world. The population growth rate was 3.300% yearly, and the population density was 25.5276 people per km2.
