Angola

Quick facts about Angola

1. It derives its official name from the Umbundu and Kimbundu title N'gola, which was held by the monarchs of the Kingdom of Ndongo prior to 16th-century Portuguese colonial conquest.
2. It achieved formal international independence on November 11, 1975, following the collapse of Portuguese colonial rule, which immediately triggered a brutal 27-year Angolan Civil War that claimed over 500,000 lives before ending in 2002.
3. It features spectacular natural landmarks, including the horseshoe-shaped Kalandula Falls (spanning 410 meters wide and dropping 105 meters on the Lucala River) and the Tundavala Fissure, a massive geological abyss in the Serra da Chela mountains dropping over 1,200 meters.
4. t holds Africa's largest reserves of diamonds alongside massive deepwater crude reserves, standing as the 2nd-largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa with daily extraction exceeding 1.1 million barrels per day.
5. They maintain total sovereign jurisdiction over the Cabinda Enclave, an oil-rich geographic exclave separated from the Angolan mainland by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where separatist guerrilla forces (FLEC) have waged a low-level insurgency since 1975.They maintain total sovereign jurisdiction over the Cabinda Enclave, an oil-rich geographic exclave separated from the Angolan mainland by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where separatist guerrilla forces (FLEC) have waged a low-level insurgency since 1975.