Angola: On the Road of Reconciliation and National Reconstruction.

Abstract

Historically, the Angolan nation state has been market by several occurrences that have immensely affected the division of its peoples. The people inhabiting the Angolan territorial land are divided into three main ethno-linguistic Bantu groupings namely, Ovimbundu (37%), Kinbundu (25%), and Bakongo (13%). Apart from the three main ethnic groups, the other peoples of Angola also inclue, among others, the Chokwe, Ganguela, Mucubais, Mumuilas, Nhaneca-Humbe, Ambo, Hereto, and Windunga as well as the Mestico (or miwed African and European race). The Portuguese colonization began as early as the 1490s, culminating into the establishment of the first Catholic Church in Angola around the mouth of the Zaire River. Initiatlly, the Portuguese were interested in missionary activities spreading the message in the Kongo Kingdom along the Zaire River and southwards in the Mbundu Kingdom. However, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries slave trade shipped mainly to Brazil, Cuba and North...