Angola

The nation today known as the Republic of Angola (República de Angola) was originally inhabited by Khoisan-speaking hunter gatherers who were later largely displaced by Bantu-speaking tribes. Known today as "bushmen," the descendants of these indigenous people inhabit only a small percentage of the land comprising the present nation. The BaKongo dominated the region with their superior knowledge of metallurgy, ceramics and agriculture, establishing trade with civilizations along the coast of western Africa, until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century. Several independent states had been establishing by then, including Kongo, Ndongo, and Luanda, with which the Portuguese gladly establishing diplomatic and trade relationships. By the end of the 15th century, however, the Portuguese began establishing permanent forts, settlements and trading posts, from which they exported slaves and raw materials in increasingly higher numbers. Many of these slaves ended up in what is now Brazil to work the thriving plantations there.

Portuguese control over the coastal region gradually increased thanks to its military superiority, with Angola becoming a colony by the late 16th century. The interior remained largely ungoverned, however, until the Berlin Conference of 1885, which established the colony's borders and permitted development of mining, agriculture and railways. It would take another century before full administrative control was achieved. In 1951, the land was declared the Overseas Province of Angola, yet by this time the wave of African nationalism was already taking root in certain parts of the continent and was begining to spread to Angola.

In 1961, prompted by Portuguese refusal to negotiate terms for Angolan independence, a series of attacks against white and black citizens in the north would shortly bring the nation into full civil war. Three distinct movements emerged, all aiming towards a free and independent Angola; these were the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) founded in 1956, the FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola) founded in 1961, and UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) founded in 1966. Following the 1974 coup d'etat in Lisbon which ousted the Portuguese military dictatorship and replaced it with a much more liberal democracy, Portugal's interest in keeping Angola as a colonial possession rapidly waned. Thus on 11 November 1975 Angola achieved independence, while the leaders of the three revolutionary movements were faced with the challenge of how to organize their new government.

A transitional government was establishing in January 1975, but it was very short-lived, and soon the nation again found itself embroiled in a civil war. As the FNLA and UNITA forged an alliance against the MPLA, the Soviet Union and Cuba channeled military assistance to the Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola or FAPLA (the armed wing of the MPLA), aid that would continue well into the 1990s. As the South African Defence Force was leaving the country in February 1976 as many as 11,000 Cuban "advisors" remained, along with a number of Soviet military personnel and a large assortment of war materiel. The government of the MPLA became the de facto government of the nation, with UNITA and the FNLA being relegated to insurgent status. Although they would receive covert support from many nations, including the United States, South Africa, and Zaire, the FNLA eventually capitulated, leaving UNITA to continue waging its war against FAPLA. When its leader, Jonas Savimbi, however, was killed during combat operations in February 2002, UNITA negotiated a cease fire shortly thereafter and by August of that year had given up the armed struggle, declaring its intent to focus on political means of change. Approximately 4.28 million people were displaced over the course of the 27 year Angolan Civil War, with as many as 500,000 people killed.

Angolan Camouflage Patterns

• Chinese-produced copy of the French lizard pattern