Knowra Angolan War of Independence Angolan War of Independence An armed struggle from 1961 to 1974 in which Angolan nationalist movements fought Portuguese colonial rule. It ended with Portugal’s withdrawal and Angola’s independence in 1975.
People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola : An Angolan nationalist movement, commonly called the MPLA, that fought Portuguese rule and later governed independent Angola. The MPLA opened an urban revolt in Luanda in February 1961 and became one of the principal armed movements.
Portuguese Angola : The Portuguese colony that occupied the territory of present-day Angola from the sixteenth century until independence in 1975. Its political and economic structures formed the colonial order the nationalist movements sought to end.
Agostinho Neto : An Angolan poet, physician, and politician who led the MPLA and became Angola’s first president. Neto led the MPLA through the independence struggle and into the postcolonial government.
Angolan Civil War : A conflict fought among Angolan factions from 1975 to 2002, with shifting foreign involvement. The rivalry among liberation movements persisted after independence and became a prolonged civil war.
African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde : A political and military movement, commonly called PAIGC, that led the independence struggle in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. The PAIGC achieved a more unified liberation struggle than Angola’s divided nationalist movements.
National Front for the Liberation of Angola : An Angolan nationalist movement, commonly called the FNLA, that fought Portuguese rule from bases in neighboring countries. The FNLA launched attacks in northern Angola in March 1961, widening the uprising.
Baixa de Cassanje revolt : A 1961 uprising by cotton workers and residents in Angola’s Malanje region against forced labor and colonial authority. The revolt exposed rural grievances shortly before the war’s better-known armed campaigns began.
Jonas Savimbi : An Angolan political and military leader who founded UNITA and led it through the independence struggle and civil war. Savimbi built UNITA into a rival liberation movement and rejected the postwar political balance.
Angolan independence : The establishment of the Republic of Angola as an independent state on 11 November 1975. It was the war’s formal outcome, though the movements did not agree on a unified government.
FRELIMO : The Mozambique Liberation Front, which fought Portuguese rule and became the governing party after Mozambique’s 1975 independence. FRELIMO’s dominance contrasted with Angola’s competition among three major liberation movements.
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