Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: How large is Angola?
At , Angola is the world's twenty-third largest country - comparable in size to Mali, or twice the size of France or of Texas. It lies mostly between latitudes 4° and 18°S, and longitudes 12° and 24°E.
Angola has four principal natural regions: the arid coastal lowland, stretching from Namibia to Luanda and characterized by low plains and terraces; green hills and mountains, rising inland from the coast into a great escarpment; a large area of high inland plains of dry savanna, called the high plateau (planalto), which extends eastward and south-east from the escarpment; and rain forest in the north and in Cabinda. The highest point in Angola is Morro de Môco, at 2,620 m. Elevations generally range from .
Angola was a colony of Portugal for more than 400 years, beginning the 15th century. Three principal parties, MPLA, National Front for the Liberation of Angola the FNLA and the National Union for Total Independence of Angola the UNITA, fought for independence. After many years of conflict that weakened all of the insurgent parties, Angola gained independence on 11 November 1975, after the Carnation Revolution overthrew the Marcelo Caetano regime in Portugal. A fight for dominance broke out immediately between the three nationalist movements, resulting in a civil war soon after independence. The civil war continued with UNITA fighting against the ruling MPLA. Both parties received support and backing from other countries.
Angola was a colony of Portugal for more than 400 years from the 15th century. The demand for independence in Angola picked up momentum during the early 1950s. The Portuguese régime, refused to accede to the demands for independence, provoking an armed conflict that started in 1961 when freedom fighters attacked both white and black civilians in cross-border operations in northeastern Angola, which was called the Colonial War. The principal protagonists included the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), founded in 1956, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), which appeared in 1961, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), founded in 1966. After many years of conflict that weakened all of the insurgent parties, Angola gained its independence on 11 November 1975, after the 1974 coup d'état in Lisbon, Portugal, which overthrew the Portuguese régime headed by Marcelo Caetano.
The country of Angola gained its independence on 11 November 1975 following its war for independence. The leftist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), supported by Cuba and the Soviet Union, came to power. In March 1976, the MPLA offered SWAPO bases in Angola for launching attacks against the South African military.
Angola has a large HIV/AIDS infected population. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated adult prevalence at the end of 2003 at 3.9% – over 420,000 infected people. Angola's 27-year civil war (1975–2002), deterred the spread of HIV by making large portions of the country inaccessible. Angola was thus cut off from most contact with neighboring countries that had higher HIV infection rates. With the end of the war, transportation routes and communication are reopening, therefore enabling a greater potential for the spread of HIV/AIDS. Current statistics indicate that the border provinces, especially certain areas bordering Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, currently have higher prevalence than the rest of the country.
Luanda, formerly named São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda, is the capital and largest city in Angola, and the country's most populous and important city, primary port and major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's coast with the Atlantic Ocean, Luanda is both Angola's chief seaport and its administrative centre. It is also the capital city of Luanda Province and the second most populous Portuguese-speaking capital city in the world, after Brasília.
Brazil was the first country to recognize the independence of Angola, in November 1975. Commercial and economic ties dominate the relations of each country. Both countries are former colonies under the Portuguese Empire; Brazil from the early 16th century until its independence in 1822, and Angola until its independence in 1975.
Portugal set Angola's independence date for 11 November 1975. Three prominent liberation movements contended for the role of leading the newly formed independent country, namely: UNITA, FNLA and the MPLA. Each of the three movements received foreign assistance, UNITA from western countries, FNLA from China (and later from the West) and MPLA from the Soviets and Cuba. Although many exhaustive attempts were made (by Portugal) to get the three movements to agree to a peaceful democratic system of power sharing (with multi-party democracy), the specter of being the sole ruler of Angola seemed to undermine any peaceful solution. Cuba added to the failure of the Alvor Accord (to bring the three parties together) by inducing MPLA to believe that with Cuba's backing they could dominate any military confrontation and win Angola's rule.
Huambo, formerly Nova Lisboa (English: "New Lisbon", 1928–1975), is the capital of the province of Huambo in Angola. The city is located about 220 km E from Benguela and 600 km SE from Luanda. The city is the second largest in Angola, after the capital city, Luanda. Huambo is a main hub on the "Caminho de Ferro de Benguela (CFB)" (the Benguela Railway), which runs from the port of Lobito to the Democratic Republic of the Congo's southernmost province, Katanga. Huambo is served by the Albano Machado Airport (formerly Nova Lisboa Airport).
Following negotiations held in Portugal, itself experiencing severe social and political turmoil and uncertainty due to the April 1974 revolution, Angola's three main guerrilla groups agreed to establish a transitional government in January 1975. Within two months, however, the FNLA, MPLA and UNITA had started fighting each other and the country began splitting into zones controlled by rival armed political groups. The MPLA gained control of the capital Luanda and much of the rest of the country. With the support of the United States, Zaïre and South Africa intervened militarily in favour of the FNLA and UNITA with the intention of taking Luanda before the declaration of independence. In response, Cuba intervened in favor of the MPLA, which became a flash point for the Cold War. With Cuban support, the MPLA held Luanda and declared independence on 11 November 1975, with Agostinho Neto becoming the first president, though the civil war continued. At this time, most of the half-million Portuguese who lived in Angola – and who had accounted for the majority of the skilled workers in public administration, agriculture, industries and trade – fled the country, leaving its once prosperous and growing economy in a state of bankruptcy.
The Zambezi River and several tributaries of the Congo River have their sources in Angola. A large number of rivers originate in the central uplands, but their patterns of flow are diverse and their ultimate outlets varied. A number flow in a more or less westerly course to the Atlantic Ocean, providing water for irrigation in the dry coastal strip and the potential for hydroelectric power, only some of which had been realized by 1988. Two of Angola's most important rivers, the Cuanza (Kwanza) and the Cunene (Kunene), take a more indirect route to the Atlantic, the Cuanza flowing north and the Cunene flowing south before turning west. The Cuanza is the only river wholly within Angola that is navigable—for nearly 200 kilometers from its mouth- -by boats of commercially or militarily significant size. The Congo River, whose mouth and western end form a small portion of Angola's northern border with Zaire, is also navigable.
Malanje (often misspelled Malange) is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola with a population of approximately 222,000. It is located east of Angola's capital Luanda. Near it are the spectacular Calandula waterfalls, the rock formations of Pungo Andongo, and the Capanda Dam. The climate is mainly humid, with average temperatures between and rainfall in the rainy season (October to April).
The prison property occupies a area. The size of the prison property is larger than the size of Manhattan. Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, authors of "The Life and Legend of Leadbelly", said that Angola of the 1990s looks "more like a large working plantation than one of the most notorious prisons in the United States." Officers patrol the complex on horseback, as many of the prison acres are devoted to cultivation of crops. By 1999 the prison's primary roads had been paved. The prison property is hemmed in by the Tunica Hills and by the Mississippi River. The perimeter of the property is not fenced, while the individual prisoner dormitory and recreational camps are fenced. Most of the prison buildings are yellow with a red trim.
The state of Louisiana considers Angola to be a multi-security institution; 29% of the prison's beds are designated for maximum security inmates. The inmates live in several housing units scattered across the Angola grounds. By the 1990s air conditioning and heating units had been installed in the inmate housing units. Most inmates live in dormitories instead of cell blocks. The prison administration states that this is because having "inmates of all ages and with long sentences [to] live this way encourages cooperation and healthy peer relationships."
In terms of area, Argentina is the second largest country of South America after Brazil, and the 8th largest country in the world. Its total area is approximately 2.7 million km². Argentina claims a section of Antarctica (Argentine Antarctica) but has agreed to suspend sovereignty disputes in the region as a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty. Argentina also asserts claims to several South Atlantic islands administered by the United Kingdom.
In the Angola–Cuba Declaration of 1984, signed 19 March 1984 in Havana by president José Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola and Fidel Castro, premier of Cuba, the two countries agreed to the withdrawal of Cuban forces from Angola after the withdrawal of South African troops from Angola and Namibia, and after UN-Security Council resolution 435 on Namibian independence was strictly applied.
After a protracted anti-colonial struggle, independence was achieved in 1975 as the Marxist–Leninist People's Republic of Angola, a one-party state supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba. The civil war between the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the insurgent anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), supported by the United States and apartheid South Africa, lasted until 2002. The sovereign state has since become a relatively stable unitary, presidential constitutional republic.
The coast is for the most part flat, with occasional low cliffs and bluffs of red sandstone. There is but one deep inlet of the sea – Great Fish Bay (or Baía dos Tigres). Farther north are Port Alexander, Little Fish Bay and Lobito Bay, while shallower bays are numerous. Lobito Bay has water sufficient to allow large ships to unload close inshore. The coastal lowland rises from the sea in a series of low terraces. This region varies in width from about 25 km near Benguela to more than 150 km in the Cuanza River Valley just south of Angola's capital, Luanda, and is markedly different from Angola's highland mass. The Atlantic Ocean's cold, northwardflowing Benguela Current substantially reduces precipitation along the coast, making the region relatively arid or nearly so shaouth of Benguela (where it forms the northern extension of the Namib Desert), and quite dry even in its northern reaches. Even where, as around Luanda, the average annual rainfall may be as much as fifty centimeters, it is not common for the rains to fail. Given this pattern of precipitation, the far south is marked by sand dunes, which give way to dry scrub along the middle coast. Portions of the northern coastal plain are covered by thick brush.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Angola is one of the 166 country offices of the United Nations Development Programme’s global network, and is located in the country’s capital Luanda. Its stated objective is to empower people's lives and help nations to become stronger and more resilient. As a part of the wider UNDP’s development efforts, the local office is responsible for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in Angola. Specific areas of focus for Angola are poverty reduction, democratic governance, environment and energy, and crisis prevention and recovery. Other development projects target education and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
The British Virgin Islands comprise around 60 tropical Caribbean islands, ranging in size from the largest, Tortola, being long and wide, to tiny uninhabited islets, altogether about in extent. They are located in the Virgin Islands archipelago, a few miles east of the US Virgin Islands, and about from the Puerto Rican mainland. About east south-east lies Anguilla. The North Atlantic Ocean lies to the east of the islands, and the Caribbean Sea lies to the west. Most of the islands are volcanic in origin and have a hilly, rugged terrain. Anegada is geologically distinct from the rest of the group and is a flat island composed of limestone and coral.
Canaima National Park is spread over 30,000 square kilometers to the border with Guayana Esequiba reclamation area now Guyana and Brazil, for its size is considered the world's sixth largest national park. About 65% of the park is occupied by rock plateaus called tepuis. These are a unique biological environment, also presenting a great geological interest. Its steep cliffs and waterfalls (including Angel Falls, which is the highest waterfall of the world, 1,002 m) are spectacular sceneries.Venezuela has many beaches of calm waters and for extreme sports. Besides those already mentioned, most famous sites for its beauty its are:South of Venezuela in the states Bolivar, Amazonas and Delta Amacuro begins the Amazon rainforest, the largest rainforest and the largest nature reserve in the world. This area of the country has great tourism value, because there is the Angel Falls, the highest waterfall of the world; savannah, rivers, forests and tepuis form a ecotourism that has not yet been truly exploited, it is necessary that the national government to promote plans to turn over this Venezuelan soil an essential point for ecotourism in this part of the world.
The geology of Angola includes large areas of Precambrian age rocks. The west of the country is characterized by meta-sedimentary rocks of Proterozoic age including tillites assigned to the Bembe System. Overlying these are a thick pile of limestones and other marine sediments laid down during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Amidst the Proterozoic sequence are areas of crystalline basement dating from the Archaean. More Archaean basement rocks form the Kasai Craton in northeastern Angola. In the north, within the Cassanje Graben are clastic sediments and volcanic rocks of the Karoo Supergroup. Kimberlites and carbonatites resulting from magmatic activity during the Karoo period are found along a northeast-southwest line through the country. Continental sediments of the Kalahari Group are widespread in eastern Angola.
In 1975, in response to the demands of the Carnation Revolution, Portugal decided to pull out of its African colonies. By this time Cuba had already infiltrated and commenced large scale activities in the Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Angola. Of these African colonies, Angola has vast amounts of oil and an abundance of other natural resources. Given that the 1970s became the awakening of the oil age and knowing that Angola's large oil reserves would serve well to make it a rich and strong backer of a Marxist expansion, Cuba focused on primarily supporting Angolan Marxist rebel movements over the liberation movements of other Portuguese colonies, thus beginning the special relationship between Cuba and Angola.
As a former overseas territory of Portugal until 1975, Angola possesses a Portuguese population of over 200,000, a number that has been growing from 2000 onwards, because of Angola's growing demand for qualified human resources. Besides the Portuguese, significant numbers of people from other European and from diverse Latin American countries (especially Brazil) can be found. From the 2000s, many Chinese have settled and started up small businesses, while at least as many have come as workers for large enterprises (construction or other). Observers claim that the Chinese community in Angola might include as many as 300,000 persons at the end of 2010, but reliable statistics are not at this stage available. In 1974/75, over 25,000 Cuban soldiers arrived in Angola to help the MPLA forces at the beginning of the Angolan Civil War. Once this was over, a massive development cooperation in the field of health and education brought in numerous civil personnel from Cuba. However, only a very small percentage of all these people has remained in Angola, either for personal reasons (intermarriage) or as professionals (e.g., medical doctors).
Angola, the seventh largest country in Africa is a west coast country in located in south-central Africa. Angola is roughly square, with a maximum width of about , including the Cabinda exclave located along the Atlantic coast of Angola bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Angola borders the Republic of Congo in the northwest, the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the north and northeast, Zambia in the southeast, Namibia in the South, and the Atlantic in the west.
In addition to Luanda, the country’s capital, other significant urban areas include Malanje, a large northern city located at the eastern end of the Luanda Railway, and the coastal oil towns of Cabinda and Soyo. Along the coastal plain, the port in the historic city of Benguela and Lobito’s industrial center are competitors, while Namibe is the country's largest fishing center in the southern port. Additionally, M'banza in Congo is the historical capital of the Kingdom of Congo, Huambo is surrounded by scattered towns on the Bie plateau, while Lubango controls the Vela highlands. Most of the rural population is concentrated in waterways near highlands, where the Bie plateau contains about half of the rural population. This area is highly agricultural with lots of cattle farming. At the end of the colonial era, the rural population accounted for four-fifths of the total population, a figure known to have fallen to three-fifths in the early 21st century.