A chronology of key events:
1300s - Kongo kingdom consolidates in
the north.
1483 - Portuguese arrive.
1575 - Portuguese found Luanda.
An orphan of war receiving
a school kit from SHARE staff. (SHARE photo)
|
17th and 18th centuries -
Angola becomes a major Portuguese trading arena for slaves. Between
1580 and 1680 a million plus are shipped to Brazil.
1836 - Slave trade officially abolished
by the Portuguese government.
1885-1930 - Portugal consolidates colonial
control over Angola, local resistance persists.
1951 - Angola's status changes from colony
to overseas province.
1956 - The early beginnings of the socialist
guerrilla independence movement, the People's Movement for the Liberation
of Angola (MPLA), based in northern Congo.
1950s - 1961 - Nationalist movement develops,
guerrilla war begins.
1961 - 974 - Revolution in Portugal,
colonial empire collapses.
1975 - Angola gains independence but
power struggle ensues between MPLA, backed by Cuba, and the FNLA
plus Unita, backed by South Africa and the USA.
1976 - MPLA gains upper hand.
1979 - MPLA leader Agostinho Neto dies.
Jose Eduardo dos Santos takes over as president.
1987 - South African forces enter Angola
to support Unita.
1988 - South Africa, Angola, Cuba sign
agreement on withdrawal of Cuba's 50,000 troops from Angola by mid-1991.
South African army withdraws.
1989 - Dos Santos, Unita leader Jonas
Savimbi agree cease-fire, which collapses soon afterwards and guerrilla
activity resumes.
1991 - April - MPLA drops Marxism-Leninism
in favor of social democracy.
1991 - May - Dos Santos, Savimbi sign
peace deal in Lisbon which results in a new multiparty constitution.
1992 -
September - Presidential and parliamentary polls certified by UN
monitors as generally free and fair. Dos Santo gains more votes
than Savimbi, who rejects results and resumes guerrilla war.
1993
- UN imposes sanctions against Unita. The US acknowledges the MPLA.
1994 -
Government, Unita sign Lusaka Protocol peace accord.
1995 -
Dos Santos, Savimbi meet, confirm commitment to peace. First of
7,000 UN peacekeepers arrive.
1996 -
Dos Santos, Savimbi agree to form unity government, join forces
into national army.
Kuito City was heavily destroyed in the
post-elections war. (CNN photo)
|
1997 April
- Unified government inaugurated, with Savimbi declining post in
unity government and failing to attend inauguration ceremony.
1997 May - Tension mounts, with few Unita
troops having integrated into army.
1998 - Full-scale fighting resumes. UN
plane shot down. Angola intervenes in civil war in Democratic Republic
of Congo on the side of President Laurent-Desire Kabila.
1999 - UN ends its peacekeeping mission.
2002 February - Savimbi killed by government
troops.
2002 April
- Government, Unita sign cease fire agreement.
Source:
BBC
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