26 Facts About Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country located on the west coast of Southern Africa.

Angola has an exclave province, the province of Cabinda, that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Portuguese colony that became Angola did not have its present borders until the early 20th century, owing to resistance by native groups such as the Cuamato, the Kwanyama and the Mbunda.

Angola has vast mineral and petroleum reserves, and its economy is among the fastest-growing in the world, especially since the end of the civil war; however, economic growth is highly uneven, with most of the nation's wealth concentrated in a disproportionately small part of the population; the largest investment and trade partners are China and the United States.

Angola is a member of the United Nations, OPEC, African Union, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, and the Southern African Development Community.

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Name Angola comes from the Portuguese colonial name, which appeared as early as Paulo Dias de Novais's 1571 charter.

Under the MPLA, Angola experienced a significant degree of modern industrialisation.

Angola subsequently became a member of the International Monetary Fund; restrictions on the market economy were reduced in an attempt to draw foreign investment.

Angola has a serious humanitarian crisis; the result of the prolonged war, of the abundance of minefields, and the continued political agitation in favour of the independence of the exclave of Cabinda .

Angola had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.

Legislative branch comprises a 220-seat unicameral legislature, the National Assembly of Angola, elected from both provincial and nationwide constituencies.

Angola removed Isabel Dos Santos, daughter of the former president, as head of the country's state oil company Sonangol.

Angola is a founding member state of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, known as the Lusophone Commonwealth, an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language.

On 16 October 2014, Angola was elected for the second time a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, with 190 favorable votes out of a total of 193.

Since January 2014, the Republic of Angola has been chairing the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region .

Angola is classified as 'not free' by Freedom House in the Freedom in the World 2014 report.

Angola ranked forty-two of forty-eight sub-Saharan African states on the 2007 Index of African Governance list and scored poorly on the 2013 Ibrahim Index of African Governance.

Angola has diamonds, oil, gold, copper and rich wildlife, forest and fossil fuels.

Angola has upgraded critical infrastructure, an investment made possible by funds from the nation's development of oil resources.

In 2002, Angola demanded compensation for oil spills allegedly caused by Chevron Corporation, the first time it had fined a multinational corporation operating in its waters.

Travel on highways outside of towns and cities in Angola is often not best advised for those without four-by-four vehicles.

Languages in Angola are those originally spoken by the different ethnic groups and Portuguese, introduced during the Portuguese colonial era.

Angola has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world and one of the world's lowest life expectancies.

In 2014, Angola launched a national campaign of vaccination against measles, extended to every child under ten years old and aiming to go to all 18 provinces in the country.

Angola is home to one of Africa's first competitive leagues.

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Angola has participated in the World Women's Handball Championship for several years.