Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0011/00113.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 30KB | 530 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00113}
$Pretitle{259}
$Title{Angola
Front Matter}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Irving Kaplan}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{angola
de
country
percent
portuguese
government
party
states
foreign
independence}
$Date{1978}
$Log{Global Map*0011301.scf
Figure 1.*0011302.scf
Table A.*0011301.tab
}
Country:     Angola
Book:        Angola, A Country Study
Author:      Irving Kaplan
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1978

Front Matter

Foreword

     This volume is one of a continuing series of books written by Foreign
Area Studies, The American University, under the Area Handbook Program. Its
title, format, and substance reflect modifications introduced into the series
in 1978. The last page of this book provides a listing of other country
studies published. Each book in the series deals with a particular foreign
country, describing and analyzing its economic, military, political, and
social systems and institutions and examining the interrelationships of those
systems and institutions and the ways that they are shaped by cultural
factors. Each study is written by a multidisciplinary team of social
scientists. The authors seek to provide a basic insight and understanding of
the society under observation, striving for a dynamic rather than a static
portrayal of it. The study focuses on historical antecedents and on the
cultural, political, and socioeconomic characteristics that contribute to
cohesion and cleavage within the society. Particular attention is given to the
origins and traditions of the people who make up the society, their dominant
beliefs and values, their community of interests and the issues on which they
are divided, the nature and extent of their involvement with the national
institutions, and their attitudes toward each other and toward the social
system and political order within which they live.

     The contents of the book represent the work of Foreign Area Studies and
are not set forth as the official view of the United States Government. The
authors have sought to adhere to accepted standards of scholarly objectivity.
Such corrections, additions, and suggestions for factual or other changes that
readers may have will be welcomed for use in future revisions.

William Evans-Smith
Director, Foreign Area Studies
The American University
Washington, D.C. 20016

Acknowledgments

     The authors are grateful to various individuals who gave of their time,
research materials, and special knowledge to provide data and perspective. In
particular they wish to thank Charles Ebinger, vice president of the energy
consulting firm Conant and Associates in Washington D.C. and a frequent writer
on African affairs.

     The authors also wish to express their gratitude to members of the
Foreign Area Studies staff who contributed directly to the preparation of the
manuscript. These persons include Frederica M. Bunge who, in her capacity as
assistant director for research, reviewed all the textual material; Sheila L.
Ross who edited the manuscript; and Harriett R. Blood who prepared the
graphics. The team appreciates as well the assistance provided by Gilda V.
Nimer, librarian, and Ernest Will, publications manager.

     Special thanks are owed to Shannon Swett who, under the direction of
Michael T. Graham of The American University Department of Art, designed the
cover for this volume as well as the illustrations on the title page of each
chapter. The inclusion of photographs in this study was made possible by the
generosity of various individuals and public and private agencies. We
acknowledge our indebtedness especially to those persons who contributed
original work not previously published.

Preface

     When research and writing were completed for the 1967 edition of the Area
Handbook for Angola, the territory was still under Portuguese colonial
domination. Its independence in November 1975-after the regime in Portugal
itself had been overthrown-was followed immediately by civil war involving
the three major anticolonial movements. By 1978 one of these, the Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular de Libertacao de
Angola-MPLA) had to one degree or another established control over most of
Angola, and its government had been recognized as legitimate by most of the
world's states. The regime was, however, still confronted by a range of
economic and international problems and at least residual opposition from the
other movements, and it had also suffered internal dissension.

     This study is based on a variety of published and unpublished sources.
Some lacunae in information were filled and ambiguities clarified through
direct consultation with individuals having firsthand knowledge of Angola.
Substantial gaps and resulting problems of analysis remain, however,
particularly with respect to the structure and dynamics of Angolan society at
both local and national levels. These have been noted in the text. Given the
limits on time and space, some aspects of Angolan society have been treated
briefly or not at all. Where available books and articles provide
amplification of details and interpretation presented in a chapter, the author
has noted them in a paragraph at the end.

     The authors have tried to limit the use of foreign and technical terms.
These are briefly defined where they first appear in any chapter or reference
is made to the Glossary.

     Most ethnic and language names (and some place-names) in Angola originate
in Bantu languages characterized by the use of class prefixes that vary with
the language (thus Ovimbundu for the people, Ochimbundu for an individual, and
uMbundu for the language; Bakongo for the people, Mukongo for an individual,
and kiKongo for the language). Most prefixes are omitted in the country study,
but in order to distinguish between the people called Mbundu (no prefix) and
the Ovimbundu (who without the prefix would also be Mbundu) the prefix for the
latter is retained as are the prefixes for the major Bantu languages
(kiMbundu-spoken by the Mbundu, Umbundu, and Kikongo).

     All measures are given in the metric system. Place-names conform to the
usage in the publications of the United States Board of Geographic Names
except for those names that were changed by the Angolan government after
independence. Some of these changes have been accepted by the board but not
formally published in the gazeteer. The more important of these are noted in
table A. It may be noted that in 1978 the government of Angola had begun to
alter the Portuguese spelling of certain names to a more widely used African
orthography; the most common change was that from cu to kw before vowels and
from cu to ku before consonants: thus the Cuango River becomes the Kwango and
the Cunene River becomes the Kunene. Because these changes had just been
introduced at the time of writing and were not always followed, the older
Portuguese spelling has been employed in this book.

[See Table A.: Selected Place-Name Changes]

     Under Portuguese rule, the major internal divisions of Angola were
called districts. After independence the same units became provinces.
In this book they are referred to as districts in certain historical
contexts, as provinces otherwise (e.g., Benguela District, Benguela
Province).

     The 1967 edition of the Area Handbook for Angola was prepared by
Alexander J. Bastos, Frederick R. Eisele, Sidney A. Harrison, Howard J.
John, and Tura K. Wieland under the chairmanship of Allison Butler Herrick.
Because of the many changes since it was originally written, little
material from the original volume has been incorporated in the present
study.

     In the nearly six months since the research and writing for Angola:
A Country Study were completed, a number of problems confronting the
regime persisted, and some anticipated developments failed to occur.
Moreover, several shifts in governmental structure and in party policy,
of uncertain import, took place.

     Three of the persisting problems, i