ANGOLA CULTURE

ANGOLA IS IN AFRICA AND IS INFLUENCED BY SEVERAL ETHNICITIES.   PORTUGAL OCCUPIED BY COASTAL  ENCLAVE.  PORTUGAL OCCUPIED THE COASTAL AREA SINCE THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURY.  THE TERRITORY WAS RULED BY 1975.

PORTUGAL AND ANGOLA SHARED LANGUAGE  AND RELIGION.  ANGOLA CULTURE IS NATIVE MONGOLAT CULTURE.  MIXED WITH PORTUGUESE CULTURE.  THEY HAD MANY DIVERSE ETHNIC COMMUNITIES.  THEIR LARGEST CITY IS OVIMBUNDU AND HAS 37% OF THE POPULATION BY 1988.  THEY SPEAK UMBUNDU.  THE TOWN IS 1200 M IN ELEVATION.  THE CITY OF OVIMBUNDU HAD MANY GROUPS. 

UNTIL THE PORTUGUESE ESTABLISHED CONTROL OVER THEIR TERRITORY, THE OMBUNDU PLAYED ROLES AS INTERMEDIARIES. IN THE SLAVE, IVORY, AND BEESWAX TRADES.  BY THE END OF THE 1800'S THE SLAVE TRADE ENDED.  FOLKS TURNED TO THE RUBBER TRADE AND ABANDONED SLAVES.  THE RUBBER SLUMP ENDEDAT THE 20TH CENTURY.  THEY WERE DISPLACED BY PORTUGUESE IN TO CASH CROP AGRICULTURE.

THEY BEGAN WITH COFFEE AND LED TO CHANGES IN THE SOCIAL PATTERNS. AFTER A TIME  THE SOIL EXHAUSTED  AND THERE WAS A LACK OF SUPPORT  OF AFRICAN AGRICULTURE BY THE AUTHORITIES WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THEIR L;ACK OF SUCCESS IN AGRICULTURE.  BY THE 1960'S 100,000 OVIMBUNDI WERE MIGRATING ON 1 TO 2 YEAR CONTRACTS TO COFFEE FARMS ELSEWHERE. 

PORTUGUESE ANTHROPOLOGISTS HAVE PLACED SOME OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS AREA WITH THE MBUNDI IN THIS AREA.  THEIR LANGUAGE IS TRANSITIONAL.
MANY DEVELOPMENTS ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ARENA AFFECTED THEM.   THEY DEVELOPED DIAMOND MINES IN ANGOLA EMPLOYING
18,000 FOLKS.  IN THE 80'S THE UNITA INSURGENCY  INTENSIFIED  IN THE BORDER AREAS. SOME LUNDA CHOKWE FAMILIES WERE  FORCED TO MOVE INTO ANOTHER AREA.

THEIR FARMERS WERE IN THE WEST AND ANGOLA AND OTHER GROUPS  RAISED CATTLE.  THE FOLKS IN THE EASTERN DIVISION RELIED ON FISHING.

THE DIFFERENT GROUPS HAD LANGUAGES THAT WERE NOT INTELLIGIBLE.  IN THE SW PART OF ANGOLA THREE GROUPS OF PEOPLE.  THEY HAD TRADE RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES EARLY IN THE 1900'S.  THEY HAD SEVERAL CONFLICTS AMONG GROUPS.  IN THE LOWER 1/3 OF ANGOLA SMALL BANDS WERE NOMADIC HUNTERS AND GATHERERS.  SOME HERDED SHEEP.  THE BANDS LIVED IN A SEMI -NOMADIC LIVES.

SEVERAL HUNTERS, GATHERERS OR HERDING GROUPS DIFERRED PHYSICALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY  THEY MAKE WOODEN  MASKS AND SCULPTURES OF ANGOLA PEOPLE AND ANIMALS.  THEY USE THEM IN RITUALS.

BY THE LATE 1970'S ANGOLA WAS RULED  BY PORTUGAL  AND BOTH COUNTRIES MANY CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS  ASPECTS.
ANGOLAN CULTURE DERIVED FROM BANTU  AND AFRICAN TRIBES MIXED WITH PORTUGAL.

AFTER 1975 INDEPENDENCE  1000'S OF PORTUGUESE LEFT ANGOLA AND THE  AFRICAN FOLKS INCREASED.

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