Luanda

Luanda is the capital of Angola, on the Atlantic coast at a bay sheltered by the long sandbar of the Ilha do Cabo. Its seafront avenue, the Marginal, curves around the bay below the old Fortress of São Miguel and was rebuilt with palm-lined walks in the 2010s.

Paulo Dias de Novais founded the town in 1576 under the name São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda. It became the capital of the Portuguese colony of Angola, and the Dutch held it for a few years in the 17th century before Portugal took it back. Coffee, cotton and diamonds passed through its port in the 20th century, and the discovery of oil off the coast brought new wealth from the 1950s. The city became the capital of independent Angola in 1975 and spread south along the coast in the decades that followed.

The Port of Luanda handles container ships for Angola at its quays inside the bay. Cuca lager has been brewed in the city since colonial times and is sold across the country, and Refriango bottles the Blue soft drinks and juices at its plant on the eastern edge of the city.

The Fortress of São Miguel, built in the 16th century on a hill above the bay, houses the Museum of the Armed Forces and is decorated inside with blue and white tiles. The Iron Palace, a prefabricated metal building shipped from Europe in the late 19th century, has been restored as a cultural center. The Ilha do Cabo is lined with beaches, restaurants and fishing villages along the open sea. Kissama National Park, south of the city, protects elephants, giraffes and sea turtles along the mouth of the Cuanza River.