Angola – national flag
Angola – national flag, The flag dates from 1975 and is identical to the party flag of the liberation movement MPLA with the addition of a half cog and a machete (knife) symbolizing industry and agriculture and combined as the communist hammer and seal symbol. The star represents communism and internationalism. The red field symbolizes the struggle and the shed blood for freedom; black stands for Africa.
- Countryaah: What does the flag of Angola look like? Follow this link, then you will see the image in PNG format and flag meaning description about this country.
Angola – history
Angola History Angola was populated in the first millennium AD of immigrant Bantu people who founded several smaller kingdoms, the most important of which were the Loan Kingdom, the Ndonga Kingdom, the Lundar Empire and the Ovimbundur Kingdom; in the north around the year 1400 the kingdoms were organized in the kingdom. In 1483, Portuguese sailor Diogo Cão reached the Angolan coast at the mouth of the Congo River.
- AbbreviationFinder: Check three-letter abbreviation for each country in the world, such as AGO which represents the official name of Angola.
According to a2zgov, the Portuguese began an extensive trade with the various kingdoms, almost all of whom were vassals during the Kingdom. The most important commodity was slaves, which were exported to the Portuguese plantations in Brazil and São Tomé. In the 1570’s, the Portuguese began the construction of an actual colony in the Luanda area. In doing so, they came into conflict with the Ndonga kingdom, whose regent bore the title of ngola- hence the name Angola. In the 1640’s, conflict arose between Portuguese and Dutch. São Paulo de Loanda, the Portuguese most important city on the coast, was taken by a Dutch navy in 1641, but recaptured in 1648. In 1665, the Portuguese defeated the army of the Kingdom, after which the kingdom was dissolved into several warring kingdoms, and in the 1670’s the Portuguese succeeded in submit to the Ndonga Kingdom, which had retained its independence outside the Kingdom.
In the period up to approximately 1850 was the dominant economic activity in Angola exporting slaves. More than 1 million people were exported to Brazil in particular as slaves. However, Portuguese control covered far from all over the country. Not until the 1880’s did Portugal begin to really colonize all of Angola, but continued vigorous resistance from the people of the interior of the country meant that Portugal first gained control of the entire colony around 1920. Despite an official Portuguese declaration in 1917 that it wanted to civilize and assimilating Africans with Portuguese culture achieved only a few of these status as “assimilados”. The rest remained “indigenatos” (“natives”) and were forced labor in the Portuguese-owned coffee, corn and sisal plantations. In 1951 Angola became an overseas province and immigration from Portugal increased from approximately 80,000 in 1950 to approximately 400,000 in 1970.
From the late 1950’s several armed resistance movements emerged, aimed at the Portuguese regime. They culminated in three rival movements in the mid-1960’s: MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola), led by Agostinho Neto, FNLA (Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola), and UNITA (União Nacional para a Independentia Total de Angola), led by Jonas Savimbi.
The struggle against the colonial rule was ended after the so-called ” carnival revolution ” in Portugal in April 1974. In January 1975, the parties set the date of Angola’s formal independence until November 11, 1975. Continued fighting between the resistance movements prevented a peaceful takeover, but the MPLA, which controlled the Luanda, proclaimed Angola to the People’s Republic on the appointed date. At the same time, the conflict was internationalized, with South Africa invading the country and Cuba and the USSR sending troops and weapons. OAU(Organization for African Unity) recognized the MPLA government in February 1976, paving the way for the MPLA’s socialist policy. However, devastated infrastructure, refugee problems and Portuguese mass exodus from the country, as well as UNITA’s and FNLA’s guerrilla war against the MPLA, created major problems. In the late 1970’s, the conflict with UNITA escalated, while the FNLA was partially dissolved. UNITA received support from both Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and South Africa; from the mid-1980’s, the United States openly supported UNITA and began a collaboration with South Africa to push the MPLA government into an agreement to withdraw the approximately 50,000 Cuban troops in Angola. South Africa, in turn, had to withdraw its troops and accept UN Resolution 435 on independence for Namibia. The agreement came to fruition in December 1988, but it did not end the civil war. In May 1991, a peace agreement between the government and UNITA paved the way for multi-party elections in September 1992. The election was won by the MPLA, but UNITA refused to recognize the election results and in October fierce fighting broke out in Luanda. The fighting spread rapidly to the provinces, and by mid-December 1992 UNITA was in control of two-thirds of the country. An MPLA counter-offensive at the end of the same month gained control of most major cities.
The struggles over the cities cost the civilian great sacrifices, and the civil war was characterized as “the worst war in the world” with up to 1,000 dead per year. day.
The civil war continued throughout the 1990’s with varying intensity, with war actions being replaced by periods of relative calm and peace negotiations. The MPLA government controlled most of the country, including the oil production areas, while the UNITA rebel movement controlled most of the diamond areas. Over the years, international support for UNITA weakened, especially after the ANC came to power in South Africa and stopped the country’s support for the movement. US support also declined, which meant that UN sanctions could be imposed on UNITA to force it to the negotiating table and to enter into a binding peace agreement. At the same time, the UN deployed peacekeeping troops in the country. However, the war continued until the spring of 2002, when UNITA chief executive Jonas Savimbi was killed in combat. The new UNITA leadership subsequently entered into new peace talks. The country’s economic opportunities improved with new finds of both oil and diamonds, but the continuing war meant that these reserves could not be exploited. There are extensive reconstruction tasks, including removal of over 10 million land mines that are scattered across the country.
Since 2002, in line with increased revenues from the oil industry in particular, the country has experienced significant economic progress and stability. Politically, the MPLA stands strong while UNITA has been characterized by internal turmoil. However, the government faces increasing criticism that it has on several occasions postponed the holding of a new parliamentary and presidential election. In 2008, the first parliamentary elections were held for 16 years; it was won by the MPLA, whereby its leader, José Eduardo dos Santos, who has held the post since 1979, secured another term of office. MPLA and Dos Santos also won the 2012 election.