Portuguese Colonization of Angola (1575-1975)
Portugal established Luanda in 1575 as a colonial outpost on Africa’s west coast. Jesuit missionaries converted the Kongo Kingdom to Catholicism by the early 1600s. The lucrative slave trade and coffee plantations drove Portuguese economic interests. Religious conversion provided moral cover for centuries of exploitation. Angola finally gained independence in 1975 after a long struggle against colonial rule.
