Angola is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, Namibia in the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire) in the north, and Zambia in the east. The exclave province of Cabinda is separated from Angola by a tongue of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has also borders with the Republic of the Congo.

Angola occupies an area of 1,246,700 km², compared to it being almost 14 times the size of Portugal, the country's former colonial power, or slightly less than twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas.

Angola has a population of 24.4 million people (census 2014). The largest city and the national capital is Luanda. Spoken languages are Portuguese (official) and several Bantu languages like Kikongo, Kimbundo, Tchokwe, Umbundo and others.

The exclave province of Cabinda is separated from Angola by a tongue of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and also has borders with the Republic of the Congo.

Background: Republic of Angola\República de Angola

Civil war has been the norm in Angola since independence from Portugal in 1975. A 1994 peace accord between the government and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) provided the integration of former UNITA insurgents into the government and armed forces.

The death of Jonas SAVIMBI and a cease-fire with UNITA may bode well for the country. A national unity government was installed in April of 1997, but severe fighting resumed in late 1998, rendering hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Up to 1.5 million lives may have been lost in fighting over the past quarter-century.

President DOS SANTOS (in office since 1979) pushed through a new constitution in 2010, and elections held in 2012 saw him installed again as president. Angola assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2015-16.