Angola - After the Shooting Stops

Angola is a large, semi-desert nation in southwest Africa directly in the path of long-period groundswell from the south Atlantic Ocean that was a colony of Portugal for nearly 500 years.

The Portuguese first dropped anchor in the calm bay of Luanda in 1498 and abruptly quit all their African colonies in 1975, leaving behind little but their language and sordid history of slavery and exploitation.

It is estimated that Angola had a larger population at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese than it does today, thanks to the depredations of the massive Atlantic slave trade.