Mining Industry of Angola - Angola's History in Brief

Angola's History in Brief

The Portuguese arrived 1475 at the coast of what today is Angola. Until the 19th century, they practically remained confined to the bridgeheads of Luanda, Benguela and Moçâmedes and their hinterland. They used these vantage points in order to play a pivotal role in the Atlantic slave trade: until 1830 well over a million Angolan people were exported as slaves, mainly to Brazil, but also to the Caribbean and North America. They obtained slaves through raiding, but mostly by buying them from key figures in the African kingdoms East of Luanda. Territorial conquests were hesitantly attempted during the 19th century, but the occupation of what then became Angola was not achieved before the 1920s. During the Portuguese colonial rule of Angola cities, towns and villages were founded, railroads were opened, ports built, and a Westernized society was being gradually developed. Since the 1920s, Portugal's administration showed an increasing interest in developing the countries' economy and social infrastructure. In 1956 the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) began to fight Portuguese rule and the forced labor camps that many of the people were relocated from their homes. In 1974 the Carnation Revolution in Portugal caused the Estado Novo regime to collapse, and Angola become independent from Portugal in 1975. Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA movement began fighting his political rivals soon after independence and gained the support of the United States and South Africa. The MPLA was led by Agostinho Neto, who declared himself president of the country with the backing of Cuba and founded a Marxist-Leninist inspired regime. After his death in 1979, José Eduardo dos Santos became his successor. Unrest occurs for the next 27 years between UNITA and the MPLA, but in the early 1990s UNITA loses support from the United States and South Africa due to their refusal to accept a settlement that implied a peaceful integration in the multiparty system the MPLA introduced in 1991. Cuba also pulls out from the civil war leaving the MPLA and Unita to fight each other with no outside support from world powers. During the war the diamond mines where constantly being fought over making it unsafe for miners to work, and usually after the mine was taken by the other side there would be land mines planted everywhere. This made it difficult to extract the diamonds but did not prevent the MPLA or UNITA to use the diamonds to help fund the war. The constant military spending due to the vast amount of diamonds and oil in the country could have funded the war for another 27 years but the UNITA leader Savimbi was killed by MPLA soldiers in 2002 which led to an almost immediate cease fire.