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 Angola| Facts & Figures |
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| President:
José Eduardo dos Santos (1979) Prime
Minister: Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos (2003) Total area: 481,350 sq mi (1,246,699 sq km) Population (2009 est.): 12,799,293 (growth
rate: 2.0%); birth rate: 43.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 180.2/1000;
life expectancy: 38.2; density per sq mi: 25
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Luanda, 2,297,200 Other large cities: Huambo, 171,000;
Lubango, 136,000 Monetary unit: New
Kwanza More Facts & Figures |
GeographyAngola, more than three times the size of California, extends for more
than 1,000 mi (1,609 km) along the South Atlantic in southwest Africa. The
Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo are to the
north and east, Zambia is to the east, and Namibia is to the south. A
plateau averaging 6,000 ft (1,829 m) above sea level rises abruptly from
the coastal lowlands. Nearly all the land is desert or savanna, with
hardwood forests in the northeast.
GovernmentAngola underwent a transition from a one-party socialist state to a
nominally multiparty democracy in 1992.
HistoryThe original inhabitants of Angola are thought to have been Khoisan
speakers. After 1000, large numbers of Bantu speakers migrated to the
region and became the dominant group. Angola derives its name from the
Bantu kingdom of Ndongo, whose name for its king is
ngola.
Explored by the Portuguese navigator Diego Cão in 1482, Angola became a
link in trade with India and Southeast Asia. Later it was a major source
of slaves for Portugal's New World colony of Brazil. Development of the
interior began after the Berlin Conference in 1885 fixed the colony's
borders, and British and Portuguese investment fostered mining, railways,
and agriculture.
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