Luanda

Luanda (lăn`də,–än`də), city (1995 est. pop. 3,000,000), capital of Angola, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. It is Angola's largest city, its chief port, and its administrative center. Manufactures include processed foods, beverages, textiles, cement and other construction materials, plastic products, metalware, cigarettes, and shoes. Petroleum, found nearby, is refined in the city. Luanda has a natural harbor, with a fine port. The chief exports are coffee, cotton, sugar, diamonds, iron, and salt. Founded in 1575 by the Portuguese as São Paulo de Luanda, the city has been the administrative center of Angola since 1627 (except for 1640–48). From c.1550 to c.1850 it was the center of a large slave trade to Brazil. After Angolan independence (1975), much of the city's large Portuguese population left and was replaced by large numbers of Cubans, many of them soldiers. In the early 1980s, the city's oil refinery was damaged during civil war. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop. The Univ. of Angola, the 17th-century Fort of São Miguel, and the Governor's Palace are in Luanda.

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Luanda

 or Loanda

City (pop., 1999 est.: 2,555,000), capital of Angola. Situated on the Atlantic coast, it is Angola's largest city and its second busiest seaport. Founded in 1576 by Paulo Dias de Novais, it became the administrative centre for the colony of Angola in 1627. It was a major outlet for slave traffic to Brazil until the 19th century. It is a commercial and industrial area, with oil-refining capacity. It is the seat of the University of Luanda; the old fortress of São Miguel lies beyond the port. It was damaged during the persistent Angolan civil war that ended in 2002.

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Luanda, Loanda

the capital of Angola, a port in the west, on the Atlantic: founded in 1576, it became a centre of the slave trade to Brazil in the 17th and 18th centuries; oil refining. Pop.: 2 839 000 (2005 est.)