Summary
Continent: Africa
Population: 29,784,193 (2017 UN)
Literacy: 67.4% (Wikipedia)
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Angola is officially the Republic of Angola. It is a country along the west coast of Middle or Southern Africa. It is located between Namibia and Democratic Republic of the Congo. It borders the South Atlantic Ocean. It also shares borders with the Republic of the Congo and Zambia.
Along the Atlantic coastline there is narrow coastal plain. This rises abruptly to vast interior plateau. Along the coast, the climate is semiarid to Luanda. The inland plateau to the north has a cool dry season from May to October and a hot rainy season from November to April.
History
Following the prehistoric hunter gatherers, the first people to live in what is now Angola were bushmen. However, they were forced out by farmers, Bantu, during the Bantu expansions.
In the first century, relatives of the Bantusprach family began to immigrate to Angola. Over the years, these newcomers established independent kingdoms. Probably the most important of these kingdoms was the Congo. From 1400 CE, northern parts of the area belonged to the great kingdom of Congo.
Angola got its name from another kingdom, the Ngola. At the end of the 15th century, Portuguese seafarers began exploring the country from the mouth of the Congo river. They established commercial settlements along the coast. Over time they converted the population to Christianity. They used this to establish strong trade relations. Angola became a Portuguese colony.
On 11 November 1975, Angola acceded to independence. This followed a war of liberation and a military coup in the then metropolis.
Modern Times
The population of Angola is now about 29 million people.
The official language, Portuguese (71.2%) is spoken by most of the population. Many other languages are also spoken. The most common of these are Umbundu (23%), Kikongo (8.2%), Kimbundu (7.8%), Chokwe (6.5%), Nhaneca (3.4%), Nganguela (3.1%), Fiote (2.4%), Kwanhama (2.3%), Luvale (1%), and Muhumbi (2.15%).
In terms of ethnicity, most of the people in Angola are Ovimbundu (37%). Other common ethnic groups include Kimbundu (25%), Bakongo (13%), Mestico (2%), and European (1%). Another 22% belong to other ethnic groups.
The majority religion is Roman Catholic (41.1%). There are also Protestant denominations (38.1%).
Genetics
This section is under development.
mtDNA
Genographic ProjectGeno 2.0 Data
Data from Geno 2.0 is derived from the The National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project — the DAR. The Hg ID is specific to this site and is used to protect the identities of those who take part in Genographic research. Birth Country, Mother's Birth Country, and Maternal Grandmother's Birth Country have been normalized from DAR database fields. The Maternal Origin is determined based on the three previous fields.
Note: Geno 2.0 results currently use Phylotree build 16. I am working on changing results over to build 17.
| Hg ID | Hg Build 16 | Birth Country | Mother's Birth Country | Maternal Grandmother's Birth Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hap10026350 | H1a3 | Portugal | Angola | Unspecified |
| Hap10067190 | L1c2a1a | Angola | Angola | Angola |
| Hap10067680 | L2a1c1a2 | Zambia | Angola | Angola |
| Hap10069261 | L3e2b | Angola | Angola | Angola |
Sources and Resources
Background
- Angola – CIA World FactBook
- Angola – Wikipedia
- Angola History – Wikipedia
Journal Articles
- Oliveira, S., Fehn, A.M., Aço, T., Lages, F., Gayà‐Vidal, M., Pakendorf, B., Stoneking, M. and Rocha, J. (2018). Matriclans shape populations: Insights from the Angolan Namib Desert into the maternal genetic history of southern Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, -, -.
- Pinto, J.C., Oliveira, S., Teixeira, S., Martins, D., Fehn, A.M., Aço, T., Gayà‐Vidal, M. and Rocha, J. (2016). Food and pathogen adaptations in the Angolan Namib desert: Tracing the spread of lactase persistence and human African trypanosomiasis resistance into southwestern Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, in press, in press.
- Melo, Miguel Manuel M.; Carvalho, Monica; Lopes, Virginia; Anjos, Maria Jo ao J.; Serra, Armando; Vieira, Duarte Nuno N.; Sequeiros, Jorge & Corte-Real, Francisco (2010). Genetic study of 15 STRs loci of Identifiler system in Angola population. Forensic Science International: Genetics, 4(5), e153-7.
- Barbieri, C., Butthof, A., Bostoen, K. and Pakendorf, B. (2013). Genetic perspectives on the origin of clicks in Bantu languages from southwestern Zambia. European Journal of Human Genetics, 21(4), 430-436.