Independence of Angola

The proclamation of Angola’s Independence took place on 11 November 1975, when the then first President of Angola, Agostinho Neto, proclaimed Angola’s independence, de jure and de facto, from Portugal.

Angola’s independence was hastened, to a large extent, by the military and political events that took place a year earlier in Portugal, during the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, which overthrew the dictatorial regime of the Estado Novo, in force since 1933, and began a process that would end with the establishment of a constitutional democratic regime, with broad political opening in the then metropole and the then colonies.^[1][2]

At about 12 noon on 10 November 1975, the Portuguese High Commissioner, Admiral Leonel Cardoso, held a solemn ceremony in the main hall of the Governor’s Palace, where he declared the end of Portuguese administration and “handed sovereignty over to the Angolan People”.^[3] The transfer of sovereignty had no named recipient, a fact that even gave room for the continuation of the Angolan Civil War, which was already under way.^[3] The High Commissioner and the members of his cabinet left the Palace for the Fortress of São Miguel in Luanda, where the “last Portuguese flag on Angolan soil” was lowered.^[3] The High Commissioner, his cabinet and the Military Command went to the Luanda Naval Base, where they boarded the ships “Niassa” and “Uíje”, marking the definitive end of Portuguese colonization.^[3]

At the time of the proclamation of independence, control of Angola was divided among the three largest nationalist groups — the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) — so independence was proclaimed unilaterally by all three movements.^[4]

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