Portuguese Angola

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Province of Angola Província de Angola
1575–1975
Flag (1910–1975) Coat of arms (1951–1975)
Anthem: "Hymno Patriótico" (1808–34) Patriotic Anthem "Hino da Carta" (1834–1910) Hymn of the Charter "A Portuguesa" (1910–75) The Portuguese
Portuguese West Africa in 1905–1975
Status	Colony of the Portuguese Empire (1575–1951) Overseas province of Portugal (1951–1972) State of the Portuguese Empire (1972–1975)
Capital	Luanda
Common languages	Portuguese (official) Umbundu, Kimbundu, Kikongo, Chokwe
Religion	Roman Catholicism[1] Protestantism Traditional religions
Head of State
• 1575–78	King Sebastian I of Portugal
• 1974–75	President Francisco da Costa Gomes
Governor General
• 1575–1589	Paulo Dias de Novais[2]
• 1975	Leonel Alexandre Gomes Cardoso
Historical era	Imperialism
• Establishment of Luanda	1575
• Independence of Angola	11 November 1975
Currency	Portuguese real (1575–1911) Portuguese escudo (1911–14) Angolan escudo (1914–28; 1958–77) Angolan angolar (1926–58)
ISO 3166 code	AO
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Kongo Kingdom of Ndongo Mbunda Kingdom Lunda Empire People's Republic of Angola Democratic People's Republic of Angola Republic of Cabinda
Today part of	Angola

Part of a series on the
History of Angola
Precolonial history to 1575 Colonization 1575–1641 Dutch occupation 1641–1648 Colonial history 1648–1951 Portuguese province 1951–1961 War of Independence 1961–1974 Sovereign socialist state 1975–1992 Civil War 1975–2002
Post-war Angola’s
2000s 2010s 2020s
See also
Years in Angola
v t e

In southwestern Africa, Portuguese Angola was a historical colony of the Portuguese Empire (1575–1951), the overseas province Portuguese West Africa^[a] of Estado Novo Portugal (1951–1972), and the State of Angola of the Portuguese Empire (1972–1975). It became the independent People's Republic of Angola in 1975.

In the 16th and 17th century Portugal ruled along the coast and engaged in military conflicts with the Kingdom of Kongo, but in the 18th century Portugal gradually managed to colonise the interior highlands. Other polities in the region included the Kingdom of Ndongo, Kingdom of Lunda, and Mbunda Kingdom. Full control of the entire territory was not achieved until the beginning of the 20th century, when agreements with other European powers during the Scramble for Africa fixed the colony's interior borders.

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