Demographics of Angola
Angola has three main ethnic groups, each speaking a Bantu language: Ovimbundu 37%, Kimbundu 25%, and Bakongo 13%. Other groups include Chokwe (or Lunda), Ganguela, Nhaneca-Humbe, Ambo, Herero, and Xindunga. In addition, mestiços (Angolans of mixed European and African family origins) amount to about 2%, with a small (1%) population of whites, mainly ethnically Portuguese. Portuguese make up the largest non-African population, with at least 30,000 (though many native-born Angolans can claim Portuguese nationality under Portuguese law). In 1975, 250,000 Cuban soldiers settled Angola to help the MPLA forces to fight for its independence. These Cubans are of European and Asian (mostly Chinese descent, while others include those of pure African and mulatto descent, who have ancestors in Angola. But in 1989, almost all Cubans left the country after a peace agreement has been signed between Angola, Cuba, and South Africa. Portuguese is both the official and predominant language, spoken in the homes of about two-thirds of the population, and as a secondary language by many more. Cubans speak Spanish language, but almost none of their descendants speak it.
The great majority of the inhabitants are of Bantu stock with some mixture in the Congo district. In the south-east are various tribes of Bushmen. The best-known of the Bantu tribes are the Ba-Kongo (Ba-Fiot), who dwell chiefly in the north, and the Abunda (Mbunda, Ba-Bundo), who occupy the central part of the province, which takes its name from the Ngola tribe of Abunda. Another of these tribes, the Bangala, living on the west bank of the upper Kwango, must not be confused with the Bangala of the middle Congo. In the Abunda is a considerable strain of Portuguese blood. The Ba-Lunda inhabit the Lunda district. Along the upper Kunene and in other districts of the plateau are settlements of Boers, the Boer population being about 2000. In the coast towns the majority of the white inhabitants are Portuguese.
Crucifixes are used as potent fetish charms or as symbols of power passing down from chief to chief; whilst every native has a "Santu" or Christian name and is dubbed dom or dona. Fetishism is the prevailing religion throughout the province. The dwelling-places of the natives are usually small huts of the simplest construction, used chiefly as sleeping apartments; the day is spent in an open space in front of the hut protected from the sun by a roof of palm or other leaves. Despite all that, Catholicism remains the dominant religion, although recently an increasing number of churches are claiming more followers, particularly evangelicals.
