Portuguese Angolans

Last updated
Portuguese Angolan
Luso-Angolano
Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Remedios (19929834976).jpg
The Cathedral of the Holy Saviour in Luanda, built by Portuguese colonists in 1628
Total population
~200,000 (2014) [1]
Regions with significant populations
Luanda, Benguela
Languages
Portuguese, a small minority having some mastery of Kimbundu, Umbundu, Kikongo, and other Bantu languages
Religion
Christianity (predominantly Catholic)
Related ethnic groups
Portuguese people, Portuguese Brazilian, Brazilians, Portuguese Africans

Portuguese Angolans (Portuguese : luso-angolano) are citizens of Angola who are either descended from Portuguese people or Portuguese emigrants permanently living in Angola. The number of Portuguese Angolans precipitously dropped during and immediately after the Angolan War of Independence, but several hundreds of thousands have either returned or emigrated to live in Angola.

Contents

History

Portuguese Angolan writer Pepetela Arthur Pestana (Pepetela).jpg
Portuguese Angolan writer Pepetela
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
18451,832—    
19009,198+2.98%
192020,200+4.01%
194044,083+3.98%
195078,826+5.98%
1960172,529+8.15%
1961162,387−5.88%
1970290,000+6.66%
1974335,000+3.67%
197640,000−65.45%
2014200,000 [2] +4.33%
[3]

In 1482, Portuguese caravels commanded by Diogo Cão arrived in the Kingdom of Kongo. Other expeditions followed, and close relations were soon established between the two states. The Portuguese brought firearms and many other technological advances, as well as a new religion (Christianity); in return, the King of the Congo offered plenty of slaves, ivory, and minerals.[ citation needed ]

The Portuguese colony of Angola was founded in 1575 with the arrival of Paulo Dias de Novais with a hundred families of colonists and four hundred soldiers. Luanda was granted the status of city in 1605. Many Portuguese settlers married native Africans, resulting in a mixed-race ( mulato , later generally called mestiço) population. [ citation needed ]

In 1881, of the 1,450 European residents of Luanda, 721 were exiled criminals, degredados. Before the 1920s, despite government incentives, very few Portuguese went to Angola willingly. [4]

In 1960, Angola had up to 172,000 Portuguese settlers, [3] who significantly contributed to its economy. The majority of whom came from rural agrarian backgrounds in Portugal, who saw engaging in commerce in Angola as one of the few means of upward social mobility available to them. [5]

As the Angolan war of independence began in 1961, triggering off a late colonial development of Angola, there was an influx of Portuguese military personnel, as well as civil servants and other people. [6] As a consequence, the number of Portuguese living in Angola went up to about 350,000. [7] This number would have been higher, had a significant part of the settlers not left for other countries, especially Namibia, Brazil, South Africa and the United States. While most Portuguese then living in Angola sided with Portugal's efforts to suppress the anti-colonial revolt, a minority sympathized with the nationalist movements, and a few even joined them in their fight. The Angolan author Pepetela is among these. When the Salazar regime in Portugal was abolished by a military coup in Portugal, in 1974, and independence was granted to the colonies by the new government, whites overwhelmingly left Angola after independence in 1975. Most of them went to Portugal, where they were called retornados and were not always welcomed, while others moved to neighboring Namibia (then a South African territory), South Africa or Brazil, [8] or United States. It is estimated that around 250,000 left the country in 1975 and by 1976 only 30,000 to 40,000 remained in Angola. [9]

Among the departed Portuguese civilians, many were able to take with them only a single suitcase, while some were able to dispatch their household goods and even cars by ship. The majority left everything behind. [10] They boarded planes at Luanda's Craveiro Lopes Airport at the rate of 500 a day[ clarification needed ], but there were not enough flights to cover demand. [11] On arrival in Portugal, those who had been able to draw their savings in Angola could not exchange more than 5,000 Angolan escudos (about US$200) into Portuguese escudos.[ citation needed ] Back in Angola, the new government gave all remaining Portuguese settlers a few months period to choose between Angolan citizenship or to leave the country. A significant minority of them opted for Angola and some of them actively took part in the Angolan Civil War, generally on the side of the MPLA.

After Angola abandoned in 1991 the socialist regime adopted at independence in 1975, many Portuguese Angolans returned to Angola. Due to Angola's economic boom, which started in the 1990s, an increasing number of Portuguese without previous attachment to Angola have migrated to Angola for economic reasons, most importantly the recent national economic boom. [12] As of 2008, Angola was the preferred destination for Portuguese migrants in Africa. [12] Portuguese nationals numbered an estimated 120,000 in 2011, reaching about 200,000 in 2013. [1]

Notable people

Joao Teixeira Pinto Joao Teixeira Pinto 2.JPG
João Teixeira Pinto
Iko Carreira Henrique - Iko - Teles Carreira.png
Iko Carreira

Notable Angolan people of Portuguese descent include:

Language and religion

Their native language is Portuguese, which today is the official language and lingua franca of Angola. Their communities existing in Luanda, Benguela and Moçâmedes spoke until the early 20th-century Portuguese mixed with numerous elements from African languages, especially Kimbundu and Umbundu. In the course of the 20th century, due to the waves of new settlers arriving from Portugal, their language became practically identical with European Portuguese. Some Portuguese Angolans have a lesser or greater mastery of one of the Bantu languages – notably Kimbundu, Umbundu, and Kikongo – but their number has diminished dramatically after independence, and hardly anybody now uses an African language as second languages. The vast majority of Portuguese Angolans are Christians, mostly Catholics, although many of them do not practice their religion. A very small number of them are Jews, whose ancestors escaped the Inquisition.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angola</span> Country on the west coast of Southern Africa

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country in both total area and population and is the seventh-largest country in Africa. It is bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an exclave province, the province of Cabinda, that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and most populous city is Luanda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Angola</span>


Angola was first settled by San hunter-gatherer societies before the northern domains came under the rule of Bantu states such as Kongo and Ndongo. In the 15th century, Portuguese colonists began trading, and a settlement was established at Luanda during the 16th century. Portugal annexed territories in the region which were ruled as a colony from 1655, and Angola was incorporated as an overseas province of Portugal in 1951. After the Angolan War of Independence, which ended in 1974 with an army mutiny and leftist coup in Lisbon, Angola achieved independence in 1975 through the Alvor Agreement. After independence, Angola entered a long period of civil war that lasted until 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MPLA</span> Ruling party of Angola since 1975

The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, from 1977–1990 called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party, is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the Portuguese Army in the Angolan War of Independence from 1961 to 1974, and defeated the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in the Angolan Civil War. The party has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975, being the de facto government throughout the civil war and continuing to rule afterwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Angola</span>

The culture of Angola is influenced by the Portuguese. Portugal occupied the coastal enclave Luanda, and later also Benguela, since the 16th/17th centuries, and expanded into the territory of what is now Angola in the 19th/20th centuries, ruling it until 1975. Both countries share prevailing cultural aspects: the Portuguese language and Roman Catholicism. However, present-day Angolan culture is mostly native Bantu, which was mixed with Portuguese culture. The diverse ethnic communities with their own cultural traits, traditions and native languages or dialects include the Ovimbundu, Ambundu, Bakongo, Chokwe, Avambo and other peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agostinho Neto</span> President of Angola from 1975 to 1979

António Agostinho Neto was an Angolan communist politician and poet. He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, having led the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the war for independence (1961–1974). Until his death, he led the MPLA in the civil war (1975–2002). Known also for his literary activities, he is considered Angola's preeminent poet. His birthday is celebrated as National Heroes' Day, a public holiday in Angola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pepetela</span>

Artur Carlos Maurício Pestana dos Santos is a major Angolan writer of fiction. He writes under the name Pepetela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimbundu</span> Bantu language of northwest Angola

Kimbundu, a Bantu language which has sometimes been called Mbundu or North Mbundu, is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Angola</span>

Portuguese is the only official language of Angola, but 46 other languages are spoken in the country, mostly Bantu languages.

Lúcio Rodrigo Leite Barreto de Lara, also known by the pseudonym Tchiweka, was an Angolan revolutionary, physicist-mathematician, politician, anti-colonial ideologist and one of the founding members of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). He served as General Secretary of the MPLA during the Angolan War of Independence and Angolan Civil War. Lara, a founding member of the MPLA, led the first MPLA members into Luanda on 8 November 1974. He swore in Agostinho Neto as the first president of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 Angolan general election</span>

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Viriato Clemente da Cruz was an Angolan poet and politician, who was born in Kikuvo, Porto Amboim, Portuguese Angola, and died in Beijing, People's Republic of China. He is considered one of the most important Angolan poets of his time. He wrote poems in Portuguese, some of which include phrases in the Angolan Bantu language of Kimbundu. He took part in the political struggle to free Angola from Portuguese rule.

Portuguese Mozambicans are Mozambican-born descendants of Portuguese settlers.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Republic of Angola</span> Self-declared socialist state (1975–1992)

The People's Republic of Angola was the self-declared socialist state which governed Angola from its independence in 1975 until 25 August 1992, during the Angolan Civil War. It was led by the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which won the civil war and has since governed the country as a social democratic republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ganguela</span> Ethnic group in Angola

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References

  1. 1 2 "José Eduardo dos Santos diz que trabalhadores portugueses são bem-vindos em Angola". Observatório da Emigração. Retrieved 22 July 2013. …presença de cerca de 200 mil trabalhadores portugueses no país…
  2. ↑ "Observatório da Emigração".
  3. 1 2 Bender, Gerald J. (1978-01-01). Angola Under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality. University of California Press. p.  228. ISBN   9780520032217.
  4. ↑ Henderson, Lawrence W. (1979). Angola : five centuries of conflict. Cornell University Press. ISBN   978-0801412479.
  5. ↑ Bender, Gerald J. (1978-01-01). Angola Under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality. University of California Press. p.  233. ISBN   9780520032217.
  6. ↑ Contrary to the settlers which often had lived in Angola for two or even three generations, the Portuguese arriving during the last phase of colonial occupation did not become identified with Angola.
  7. ↑ Gerald J.Bender & P. Stanley Yoder, "Whites in Angola on the Eve of Independence", Africa Today', 21 (4) 1974, pp. 23 - 37
  8. ↑ Portuguese Immigration (History) Archived 2012-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Bender, Gerald J. (1978-01-01). Angola Under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality. University of California Press. p.  236. ISBN   9780520032217.
  10. ↑ Kutemba (19 October 2008). "Angola: Sobre a alegria e tristeza de ser um retornado". Global Voices. International. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "MOZAMBIQUE: Dismantling the Portuguese Empire". Time. 1975-07-07. ISSN   0040-781X. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  12. 1 2 , Radio Televisão Portuguesa, September 13, 2008
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