History and Geography
Core concepts
History covers Angola's pre-colonial kingdoms (Kongo, Ndongo, Matamba), the Atlantic slave trade, Portuguese colonisation, the liberation struggle, independence in 1975 and the civil war through to peace in 2002. Geography covers Angola's relief, climate, rivers, resources, population distribution, and general map skills: latitude, longitude, scale, and reading physical and political maps.
Common traps
- Date confusion around 1975 (independence) and 2002 (peace agreement).
- Confusing the Kongo and Ndongo kingdoms and their rulers.
- Map scale errors: a 1:50 000 scale means 1 cm = 0.5 km.
- Latitude vs. longitude reversal.
- Climate zones attributed to the wrong region of Angola.
Worked example
On a 1:50 000 map, a measured 4 cm represents 4 × 50 000 = 200 000 cm = 2 km on the ground.
Rule of thumb
For every historical event, memorise who, what, when, where, and consequence as a five-part card; for maps, always state units when converting scale.