Angola Provinces (original) (raw)

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Updates:

(2016-10-06) Added 2014 provincial census results. See source [10] shared by Sorin Cosoveanu.

I've decided to go with the spellings of province names given at source [9], which seems to be the official government view. There are a lot of variant spellings to be seen. "Cuando Cubango" is especially prevalent, and spaces are often used instead of hyphens.

Update 7 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes, the successor to FIPS standard 10-4, was issued with the date 2012-02-01. It changes the spelling of Cuanza to Kwanza in the province names. Update 8, dated 2012-05-01, changes the spelling of Cuando Cubango to Kuando Kubango.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It changes the spelling of one of the provinces of Angola from Za�re to Zaire. The standard was updated again on 2014-10-29, changing spellings from Cuando-Cubango, Cuanza Norte, and Cuanza Sul to Kuando-Cubango, Kuanza Norte, and Kuanza Sul. Another update ensued on 2014-12-18, changing Kuanza Norte and Kuanza Sul to Kwanza Norte and Kwanza Sul. Yet another update, dated 2015-02-12, changes Kuando-Cubango to Kuando Kubango.

Source [7], dated 2005, has populations and areas of the provinces. The populations are very approximate, most of them rounded to a multiple of 10,000. What's more, they total 8,939,000, which is less than the 1992 estimate and much less than the 2010-07 estimated country population of 13,068,161 given in the CIA World Factbook. Instead of using them, I've updated the population data from the 1992 estimates given before to 1995 estimates in the 2008 Statesman's Yearbook.

Most maps place Bula Atumba and Pango Aluqu�m districts in Kwanza-Norte province. Most current news reports, and many reference pages, place them both in Bengo province. I will assume that they were recently transferred from Kwanza Norte to Bengo, and the maps haven't caught up yet (observed on 2005-10-30).

Country overview:

Short name ANGOLA
ISO code AO
FIPS code AO
Language Portuguese (pt)
Time zone +1
Capital Luanda

In 1900, the area now known as Angola was Portuguese West Africa. By 1906, its boundaries were almost exactly the same as Angola's are today. Angola was an overseas province of Portugal until its independence on 1975-11-11.

Other names of country:

  1. Danish: Angola
  2. Dutch: Angola, Republiek Angola (formal)
  3. English: People's Republic of Angola (formal)
  4. Finnish: Angola
  5. French: Angola m
  6. German: Angola n
  7. Icelandic: Ang�la
  8. Italian: Angola
  9. Norwegian: Angola, Republikken Angola (formal)
  10. Portuguese: Angola, Rep�blica f Popular de Angola n (formal)
  11. Russian: Республика Ангола (formal)
  12. Spanish: Angola, Rep�blica f Popular de Angola f (formal)
  13. Swedish: Angola
  14. Turkish: Angola Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name:

From N'gola, 16th century king

Primary subdivisions:

Angola is divided into 18 prov�ncias (provinces).

Province HASC ISO FIPS Pop-2014 Pop-1995 Pop-1970 Area(km.�) Area(mi.�) Capital Colonial name of capital Tel
Bengo AO.BO BGO AO19 356,641 184,000 31,371 12,112 Caxito 034
Benguela AO.BG BGU AO01 2,231,385 702,000 474,897 31,788 12,273 Benguela 072
Bi� AO.BI BIE AO02 1,455,255 1,246,000 650,337 70,314 27,148 Kuito Silva P�rto 048
Cabinda AO.CB CAB AO03 716,076 185,000 81,265 7,270 2,807 Cabinda 031
Cunene AO.CU CNN AO07 990,087 245,000 89,342 34,495 Ondjiva Pereira d'E�a 065
Huambo AO.HM HUA AO08 2,019,555 1,687,000 837,627 34,274 13,233 Huambo Nova Lisboa 041
Hu�la AO.HL HUI AO09 2,497,422 948,000 644,864 75,002 28,958 Lubango S� da Bandeira 061
Kuando Kubango AO.CC CCU AO04 534,002 137,000 113,562 199,049 76,853 Menongue Serpa Pinto 049
Kwanza-Norte AO.CN CNO AO05 443,386 412,000 304,565 24,190 9,340 N'dalatando Salazar 035
Kwanza-Sul AO.CS CUS AO06 1,881,873 688,000 462,968 55,660 21,490 Sumbe Novo Redondo 036
Luanda AO.LU LUA AO20 6,945,386 2,002,000 569,113 2,418 934 Luanda S�o Paulo de Loanda 02
Lunda-Norte AO.LN LNO AO17 862,566 311,000 302,538 102,783 39,685 Lucapa 052
Lunda-Sul AO.LS LSU AO18 537,587 160,000 45,649 17,625 Saurimo Henrique de Carvalho 053
Malanje AO.ML MAL AO12 986,363 975,000 558,630 97,602 37,684 Malanje 051
Moxico AO.MX MOX AO14 758,568 349,000 189,885 223,023 86,110 Luena Luso 054
Namibe AO.NA NAM AO13 495,326 135,000 52,179 58,137 22,447 Namibe Mo��medes 064
U�ge AO.UI UIG AO15 1,483,118 948,000 386,709 58,698 22,663 U�ge Carmona 033
Zaire AO.ZA ZAI AO16 594,428 247,000 40,365 40,130 15,494 M'Banza Congo S�o Salvador do Congo 032
18 provinces 25,789,024 10,427,600 5,669,504 1,246,700 481,354
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Province codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context,prefix "AO-" to the code (ex: AO-MOX represents Moxico). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4 Pop-2014: 2014-05-16 census Pop-1995: 1995 estimates Pop-1970: 1970-12-15 census Tel: Dialing prefix (mobile phones in Luanda are 09)

Further subdivisions:

See the City Councils of Angola page.

The provinces are divided into 159 city councils.

Territorial extent:

Cabinda is an exclave, separated from the rest of Angola by part of Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UN LOCODE page for Angola lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names:

  1. Cabinda: From an ethnic group of the same name.
  2. Luanda: From a native word luanda = tax. Shellfish caught there were sent as tribute to the king of Congo.
  3. Namibe: From the Namib Desert (see also Namibia).
  4. Zaire: From the Za�re River, from Kikongo nzadi = river (see also Democratic Republic of Congo).

Change history:

  1. 1900: The provinces were Benguella, Kongo, Loanda, Lunda, and Mossamedes. According to source [3] (1911), "Angola is divided into five districts: four on the coast, the fifth, Lunda, wholly inland, being the N.E. part of the province. ... The coast divisions of Angola are Congo on the N. (from the river Congo to the river Loje), ... Loanda [the 105 m. of coast, with its hinterland, between the mouths of the rivers Dande and Kwanza]; Benguella and Mossamedes to the south. Mossamedes is again divided into two portions--the coast region and the hinterland, known as Huilla." Source [4] (1957) says that Angola was "reorganized and divided into 5 provinces [in] 1934." The provinces in 1950 were Benguela, Bi�, Hu�la, Congo (or Luanda), and Malange. Source [5] (1957) lists the following divisions:
Province Population Area(km.�) Area(mi.�) Capital
Benguela 1,226,017 132,110 51,008 Benguela
Bi� 710,841 453,667 175,162 Silva P�rto
Cabinda 50,506 7,270 2,807 Cabinda
Congo 734,067 156,839 60,556 U�ge
Hu�la 548,545 223,169 86,166 Moss�medes
Luanda 164,340 1,549 598 Luanda
Malange 710,950 272,089 105,054 Malange
7 divisions 4,145,266 1,246,693 481,351
Province: Cabinda and Luanda are autonomous districts. Population: 1950-12-30 census (sources [5, 8]).
  1. 1951: Name of country changed from Portuguese West Africa to Angola.
  2. Between 1951 and ~1963, Benguela was split into Benguela, Cuanza Sul, and Huambo; Bi� was split into Bi�-Cuando Cubango and Moxico; Hu�la was split into Mo��medes and Hu�la; Congo was split into Congo and Cuanza Norte; and Malange was split into Lunda and Malange. At this time, a comparison of populations and areas before and after the changes shows that Benguela must have transferred about 17,700 km.� to Bi� and Malange, and Congo must have transferred about 33,060 km.� to Luanda. The following table comes from source [6].
Province Pop-1960 Pop-1950 Area(km.�)
Benguela 487,871 328,765 38,960
Bi�-Cuando Cubango 567,253 475,956 263,730
Cabinda 58,453 50,506 7,270
Congo 503,178 400,153 92,570
Cuanza-Norte 263,101 216,463 31,210
Cuanza-Sul 405,012 296,610 44,850
Huambo 598,545 567,062 30,600
Hu�la 592,451 503,605 188,830
Luanda 347,173 281,791 34,610
Lunda 247,449 266,087 166,880
Malanje 451,719 461,653 114,060
Mo��medes 43,393 44,940 34,340
Moxico 267,079 251,675 198,790
Total 4,832,677 4,145,266 1,246,700
Pop-1960: 1960-12-30 census Pop-1950: 1950-12-30 census (proleptic)
  1. Between ~1963 and 1967, Congo was split into U�ge and Zaire.
  2. ~1971: Bi�-Cuando Cubango province (capital Silva P�rto) split into Bi� and Cuando Cubango.
  3. 1975-11-11: Angola changed from overseas province of Portugal to independent country.
  4. ~1975: Hu�la province (capital S� da Bandeira) split into Cunene and Hu�la.
  5. ~1976: Name of capital of Za�re province changed from S�o Salvador do Congo to M'banza Congo; name of capital of Cuanza Norte province changed from Vila Salazar to N'dalatando; name of capital of Bi� province changed from Silva P�rto to Bi�; name of capital of Huambo province changed from Nova Lisboa to Huambo; name of capital of Cunene province changed from Pereira d'E�a to Ondjiva.
  6. ~1978: Lunda province (capital Saurimo) split into Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul; name of capital of Bi� province changed from Bi� to Kuito.
  7. 1985: Name of Mo��medes (province and capital) changed to Namibe; name of Malange province and city changed to Malanje; Luanda province (capital Luanda) split into Bengo and Luanda.
  8. There have also been minor boundary changes.

Other names of subdivisions:

  1. Benguela: Benguella (obsolete)
  2. Kuando Kubango: Cuando Cubango, Kwando-Kubango (variant)
  3. Kwanza-Norte: Cuanza-Nord (French); Cuanza Norte (obsolete)
  4. Kwanza-Sul: Cuanza-Sud (French); Cuanza Sul (obsolete)
  5. Luanda: Loanda (obsolete)
  6. Malanje: Malange (variant)
  7. Namibe: Mo��medes, Mossamedes (obsolete)

Sources:

  1. [1] L'�valuation des effectifs de la population des pays Africains, Tome I. Groupe de D�mographie Africaine, Paris, 1982.
  2. [2] Library of Congress country study (retrieved 1999).
  3. [3] Encyclop�dia Britannica, 1911 edition (retrieved 2005-02-01).
  4. [4] Webster's Geographical Dictionary. G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, MA, 1957.
  5. [5] The Encyclop�dia Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition.
  6. [6] The Encyclop�dia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition.
  7. [7] Website of the Embassy of Angola in India (dated 2005; retrieved 2011-02-19).
  8. [8] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955. This source calls Luanda a concelho, not a district (retrieved 2011-08-20).
  9. [9] Governadores . Portal Oficial do Governo da Rep�blica de Angola (retrieved 2014-09-29).
  10. [10] 2014 Census Results . Official results of the 2014 census (retrieved 2016-10-06).