Angola 8th Grade

Angola

Angola is located in South Africa between Namibia and the Democratic Republic of El Congo. It's capital is Luanda. It is 1,246,700 sq km. The climate is semiarid in the south and the Atlantic coast, in the north it is a cool climate and changes to a hot rainy season in November. It is rich in natural resources such as petroleum, iron, diamonds, gold and copper. About 2.5% of the land is used for growing crops. Angola's population is over 12 million people. Their official language is Portuguese and they also have Bantu and other African languages. Angola's 3 main religions are catholic, indigenous beliefs and protestant, and the one that predominates is indigenous beliefs.

Portugal has been present in Angola for over 400 years, thats's why both countries share cultural aspects such as  language which is Portuguese and the religion Roman Catholic.  Angola's language origin is African, mostly Bantu because the Portuguese language was actually imported. The diversity of the etnic groups vary the cultural traits, traditions and languages. In this urban culture over the years the Portuguese have been more dominant, but an African influence is evident in music and dance .

Part of Angola's economy is that it has a very rich  subsoil heritage from gold, diamonds, oil, copper as well as wildlife. Although it's plantations and agriculture have dropped scince it's civil war but started recovering in 2002.

Natalia Carías #4

Antonella Comandari #5

The Republic of Angola is 1,246,700 sq. km big, and it has about 13 million to 18 million habitants. It's capital is Luanda and it has 6 million people. Other major cities include Huambo and Benguala, with 1.5 million and 1 million inhabitants, respectively. It's climate is tropical and tropical highland. It's official language is Portuguese, but many African dialects are also very common. The country's currency is in kwanza and lwei. Like expectancy is at 50-53 years of age.

The situation in Angola is terrible, but it is improving. The president has been in power for 30 years. While the country is rich in resources, it is one of the poorest in the world due to bad management and poor administration. A 16 year war that only recently ended in 2002 has left the country torn and divided. Minefields are very common in the country, and so is fighting between the MPLA, the ruling party, and UNITA, the second largest party. Both parties are ex-guerrilla forces, and even when they were they opposed each other heavily. Only the recent death of UNITA's leader, Jonas Savimbi has allowed for peace to come between UNITA and MPLA. Several countries have begun aiding Angola financially, and the country is going through a reconstruction boom.

Paolo Mendoza