The name Angola comes from the Ngola dynasty that ruled the region. Portuguese colonizer Paulo Dias de Novais founded the nation's capital as São Paulo de Assumpção de Loanda in 1575, but it was not until a peace agreement with Queen Ana de Souza Nzinga that Portuguese truly gained control of the region. The city was a strategic site for the transatlantic slave, and by the last shipments in the early twentieth century over three million people had been taken from their homes as slaves. Ironically, by the twentieth century, the flow of people had reversed with many Europeans migrating to Angola. With Angola’s independence in 1975 and a long civil war, many of these European foreigners left. After the end of the civil war, agreements with China to reconstruct Angola brought a massive wave of qualified Chinese workers to the country.

 

Luanda sits on a bay with a peninsula stretching four miles into the sea. The central region of Luanda is divided by Cidade Baixaor lower city--the oldest part of town—and Cidade Alta or high city—a newer area. The museques, or slums, are all over town underscoring the urgency of public policies concerning housing. Despite the museques, Luanda has an eclectic architecture, ranging from colonial forts, neoclassical civic buildings, modernist constructions, and glass towers. Indeed, mostly because of its booming oil industry, Luanda is the most expensive city for expats.

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